The western coast of Phuket, where the main resorts of this tropical island are concentrated, was hit by waves that the locals called a tsunami. On Sunday morning, the streets of the Thai resort were flooded, the tourists had a panic mood at the sight of the consequences of earthquakes near Andaman.
According to Thai media, rough seas and strong waves in the Andaman Sea and Phang Nga Bay caused a small earthquake in northern Sumatra (a large island in Indonesia) earlier Sunday morning. As a result, Phuket flooded the road to Kalim Beach, located next to the popular Patong Beach. Eyewitnesses described the royal tide they saw as a “tsunami”: before their eyes, waves poured into the street and a busy road, which sowed panic. Some tourists, being at a safe distance near the Sarasinsky bridge in the north of the resort island, managed to take photos.
Earlier Sunday morning there was a small earthquake in the north of the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. An earthquake measuring 4.9 happened on land. At the same time, there was no tsunami warning from emergency services. The tremors peaked at 7:11 am local time, almost 6 hours before the royal tide reached its maximum, crashing into some resort areas along Phuket's west coast.
The tsunami also caused some damage Maya Bay Pier on the east side of Phi Phi Leh Island, where the steel structure of the pier broke away from floating plastic pontoons. After the incident, access to Maya Bay was closed. The construction was completed only at the end of last year to reopen Maya Bay and for the convenience of boats, which no longer needed to enter the bay from the entrance side and park inside the bay, as was the case in the past.
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