The Dec. 26 tsunami may have pushed the Phuket Island farther out to sea, survey engineers from Chulalongkorn University of Thailand has said.

"In fact, I have to say the quake deformed all land near the Andaman Sea, not only Phuket," said engineer Itthi Trisirisatayawong, who heads a team surveying the geographic effects of the quake and subsequent tsunami.

A team report based on a mathematical computer model suggested Phuket was expected to move southwest by 15 centimeters, which has prompted military experts from the Royal Thai Survey Department toconduct an immediate inspection to verify the projection.

Changes in land and island positions occur naturally by a half millimeter a year, however, these change, if verified, will be very huge, Itthi was quoted by Bangkok Post newspaper as saying onThursday.

North of Phuket, another change was witnessed at Ranong's Tambon Ratchagrud where villagers found a one-kilometer crack in the ocean floor. And a steady stream of air bubbles is surfacing 500 meters offshore in Laem Son Bay.

The area is near the passive Ranong fault, which had been inactive for years, said Muang Ranong district chief Chanat Kaewbamrung.

"It is possible that the tsunami has revived the dormant Ranongfault. When a fault active, it releases bubbles," said Lerdsin Raksasakulwong, director of Geology Office of the Mineral Resources Department. Enditem