"It does, indeed, appear that commercial concerns trumped human considerations, as the scientists bent to pressure to protect the country's important tourism industry."

It's an old, sad story. Anybody remember the film these lines came from?

"You knew it was dangerous, but you let people go swimming anyway...

Chief Brody, are you going to close the beaches?"

Same motivations, same tragic results.

Personally, I suspect you would have made a different decision and played it safe, regardless of the consequences of being wrong.

"We could go under, if the [tsunami] didn't come," said a source who attended the meeting.

Looks like they went under when it did.

The attitude of the officials in charge is typical:
1.) Deny the truth
2.) Act justified

Supharerk denied that tourism factored into the discussion at the 11th hour. "I think we have done our best," he said.

Great job. Here's a shovel, you can help bury the bodies.

Yeah, the comparison to the similar situation "Jaws" was so obvious that I knew most readers would make the connection.

I hope I would have erred on the side of caution. However, as crass as it sounds, such decisions must always be made with some kind of risk-weighted cost/benefit analysis in the back of your mind.

Major difference in degree here, but I remember reporting on efforts by groups to get school boards in Texas to cut back on the 'school year.'

The concern raised by these groups - chambers of commerce, professional organizations, business advocacy lobbies, etc. - was that starting school in late August deprived local communities - and the state as a whole - from valuable tourism proceeds, with families missing out on the busy Labor Day weekend for travel.

Like I said - difference of degree, this wasn't life-and-death. But it was a genuine matter of concern for these groups. And there were a varietry of other, non-business-related factors that came into play as our West Texas school boards went about setting their calendars.