It has been known for some time now that animals are extremely sensitive to events leading up to earthquakes and the earthquakes themselves.
Indeed, the entire world now marvels at reports that no animals perished in the during the recent devasting tsunami.
All that would be needed for an effective worldwide warning system would be based on small GPS tracking chips (recently developed and already variously deployed) implanted into thousands of wild and domestic animals that could be tracked by a computerized pattern recognition system.
When a sudden mass migration or other unusual pattern of movement of said animals is detected by the system, voile' -- it's time for humans to evacuate buildings and coastal areas and for ships at sea to prepare for tsunamis.
BTW, it would really suck if one of our aircraft carrier groups or even an oil tanker were ever wiped slick by an unexpected tsunami.
Further studies of animals' detection and migration in response to various seismic events would serve to fine-tune and increase the sensitivity, specificity, and overall reliability of such a system.
As long as our "experts" and "leaders" continue exhibit an ability to think "outside the box" that is less than that of many FReepers, the peoples of the world will continue to be sitting ducks as they were last week in around the Indian Ocean basin and beyond.
Sheesh. Do we have to tell them everything? Perhaps a government functionary trolling this forum could occasionally pick up a great idea or two from the Free Republic and become a hero by filching it for the common good. More power to him/her -- I would watch with a $#!t-eating grin the ceremony at which said troll received a major award for science in the public interest and would not bore anyone by claiming I had been "robbed."
The only scoreboard I'm concerned with is maintained by our Heavenly Father, who has blessed many with the grey matter necessary to bring to pass much good for the benefit of His children here on earth.....
“Herds of animals” do not “migrate” before a tsunami comes, and they did not do it this time. They were simply less likely to be on the populated coast, more agile in avoiding the water and the story sounds too cool to not report it despite its minimal truth factor.
And BTW, if this tsunami passed under our aircraft carrier battle groups at sea it wouldn’t have been noticed. And all ports capable of berthing them are sheltered.
It is much more simple and could have been done in this case (in fact the U.S. government issued the warning but no one listened). It is known that when you have an earthquake of over a 7.5 or so magnitude, there might be a tsunami. Issue warnings based on that. It is not a big deal to keep people off the beaches for a day or two.
As a biologist, I don't think your animal sensor idea would work, is not cost-effective and could be highly inaccurate
without better understanding of animal behavior.