People were saying when an earthquake is imminent, there will be signs. There were early warning devices which can detect such signs and measures could be taken to minimise damage. Unfortunately, there were none in the Indonesia / India region, resulting in loss of lives of at least 60,000.

I just read in a news article that Thailand's meteorological department actually detected it. But they had delayed sending the warning because the Tourism board says that such warnings will harm their tourism industry. The warning did go out on Sunday to tourist resorts in south Thailand. Apparently they did not take it seriously enough. Now the tourism industry is really hit big time for the Tourism's board actions.

Related article: Today online