Från Phuket Gazette strax före kl.14
TSUNAMI ALERT UPDATE: The Patong office of the Department of Disaster Mitigation and Prevention (DDPM) has confirmed that a small wave, believed to have been the tsunami, has reached Patong Beach.
Officer Sampawan Wannasangkam, who was staioned literally on Patong Beach this afternoon, told the Phuket Gazette that at about 6:25pm he was ordered to leave the beach.
"The time had passed for when t...he tsunami was expected to arrive. I did not see any larger-than-normal waves, but my superior officer reported seeing a wave measuring only centimeters higher than the normal waves and he believed that was the tsunami," he said.
The National Disaster Warning Center (NDWC) reported that a monitoring station in the Similian Island archipelago reported that a wave measuring 10 centimeters - and believed to have been the tsunami - was observed reaching the shores of Koh Miant (Island Number 4) just before 6pm.
The tsunami-response team of Patong DDPM officeres have been ordered to remain on standby until 8pm, and to await further orders, Mr Sampawan said.