Adam
Member
Registered: 1st May 01
Location: Hurstbourne Tarrant
User status: Offline
|
Tsunami victims sue Thailand, U.S. and the Accor group
Lawyers in the U.S. and Austria have filed a lawsuit demanding Thailand, U.S. forecasters and the French Accor group to answer accusations that they failed in a duty to warn populations hit by December's Tsunami disaster, a lawyer said Monday.
The lawsuit was filed at a New York district court on behalf of tsunami victims by lawyers including U.S. attorney Edward Fagan who is known for lawsuits in the 1990s against Swiss banks over Holocaust-era accounts. The lawsuit demanded an account of the actions of the accused three on December 26th.
"We expect a hearing within 30 days," Austrian lawyer Gerhard Podovsovnik said.
The disaster left about 300,000 people dead or missing in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Maldives, Bangladesh and East Africa. Hundreds of thousands lost their homes.
The U.S. and Austrian lawyers filed the lawsuit on behalf of around 60 named plaintiffs from Austria, Germany, France, Netherlands and other countries, but Podovsovnik said they were also acting on behalf of at least 40 more not named.
The lawsuit states that the Thai government and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which operates a Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii, failed to issue the requisite warnings.
"Respondent NOAA did not notify all involved countries which lay in the tsunami's path. From public information it appears that ... NOAA failed to issue an alert that would notify countries where the tsunami hit that the deadly wave was coming," the lawsuit said.
"Published reports emerged that upon receipt of the NOAA alert and other data, the seismological and oceanographic experts of Thailand spent more than one hour talking about what the risk may or may not have been, instead of immediately issuing a warning to their population," it said.
The lawsuit also accused Thailand of failing to notify Sri Lanka that a tsunami wave was headed its way.
While the French group Accor, which owns the Sofitel hotel chain, is charged with the failure to equip its luxury resort and spa in Khao Lak, Thailand with a state-of-the-art seismic detection and warning systems, despite its location "in an earthquake and tsunami fault zone."
Last month, Accor issued a statement denying media reports of possible negligence in connection with the tsunami disaster. "The allegations concerning Accor are completely unfounded," Accor said on its Web Site.
[Edited on 11-03-2005 by Adam]
|
3CorsaMeal
Member
Registered: 11th Apr 02
User status: Offline
|
they lived in a paradise for all those years, and we live in snow, rain sleet and wind, they have 1 disaster (fair play it was bad) but its not the end of their world.
|
PaulW
Member
Registered: 26th Jan 03
Location: Atherton, Greater Manchester
User status: Offline
|
absolutely pathetic
yeah lets sue someone cos of a natural disaster...
yeah can I sue the weatherman then for forcasting the weather wrong as he said it would be nice yet it rained??
no...
dumb american fcuks!
|
Lynny
Member
Registered: 3rd Jan 03
Location: oop north! Where people talk properly
User status: Offline
|
its the way of the world now, everything is about money and greed, if something doesnt go your way, why not just sue someone 
|
Half Pint
Member
Registered: 25th Mar 02
User status: Offline
|
I have decided that i am not going to give any more money to victims.....
Watching the TV the other day and couldn't believe my eyes when this so called victum comes on the TV and what do i see in his driveway, 3 cars and a boat 
bloody chancers ! 
|
3CorsaMeal
Member
Registered: 11th Apr 02
User status: Offline
|
i wanna be a terrorist some days
people in this world have lost all reality of real life, we live in a world ruled by silly laws and so wrapped up in justice its unreal
|
|
