His Majesty The King and Information Technology By Thaweesak Koanantakool All photographs in this Photo Gallery have been digitized from the TV Pool broadcast during His Majesty's regular visit to the Princess Mother at Siriraj Hospital in 1995. The Weather Map The public television report showed His Majesty's concern for the safety of the people and natural disaster such as flood and typhoons. In this particular case, His Majesty closely monitored the typhoon Angela which passed over the Philippines on 1st November 1995,and caused severe damage to the country. The cyclone was moving towards Vietnam and was expected to affect Thailand severely. However, only three days after it caused damage to the Philippines, it appeared to be "thinner" and became just a small depression quickly after it reached Vietnam on 6th November. All of His Majesty's remarks went against the predictions and over-alarming message announced by the Meteorological Department even when the cyclone had "thinned" down. His Majesty, with the information technology at hand, was certainly well-informed of the events with up to date information. The good news that the storm had thinned down during the few hours after it reacheed vietnam was certainly pleasing information that His Majesty received from the satellite earlier than anybody else in the country. The sequence of GMS-5 satellite weather maps shows clearly the situation. His Majesty mentioned that IT (Information Technology) was used to let him see all these storms. His Majesty showed the satellite weather map taken from GMS-5 Satellite and processed by University of Hawaii and University of Tokyo. The satellite pictures are available free of charge to any Internet users. Local copy of the map can easily be obtained at NECTEC at the location http://www.nectec.or.th/weather.html. Photo Gallery Please click the small image to view the larger photographs from the photo album. x22 x23 x25 x26 x27 x27 x28 x29