Posted on 06/16/2005 7:30:19 AM PDT by phoenix_004
California's first tsunami warning in more than a decade triggered an uneven response in coastal communities up and down the state, with some agencies rushing to evacuate beaches and others deciding not to warn the public at all. On Wednesday, as officials assessed the way they had handled the emergency, there was general agreement that much more needed to be done.
"I don't think all the agencies got an A-plus on their response," said Los Angeles Councilwoman Janice Hahn, who has asked for a report on how emergency teams handled the tsunami warning. "We're lucky we just had a trial run."
The tsunami alert, issued by the National Weather Service after a 7.2 magnitude quake struck off the coast of Northern California on Tuesday night, trickled down to local emergency officials in inconsistent ways.
Many received teletype messages from the state, but in some cases local authorities got the notices just as the wave was projected to hit. Some officials said they learned about the alert by watching television or receiving calls from panicked residents who had heard about the alert on TV.
The warning, the highest possible alert from the federal government, prompted confusion at some police departments. In Santa Monica, officials thought it was "just informational, only a bulletin," said Police Sgt. Jeff Wiles. Assuming that they would receive an update if the situation became more serious, city officials decided not to open their emergency operations center.
In Huntington Beach, the police watch commander on duty had trouble interpreting the bulletins and wasn't sure whether a tsunami warning was actually in effect. "They were confusing to read through," said Lt. Craig Junginger. "It talks about wind variables and knots and waves."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Wouldn't it be nice if they got their act together ping.
Last night I was talking to a friend on the west coast of Vancouver island and she told me they also had tsunami warnings and people were scrambling around like chickens with their heads cut off, mostly speeding for high ground. She was on the phone and missed the whole thing. Didn't even hear about it until the next morning.
As I suspected the Warning Center actually doesn't directly contact the media at all; It's "Teletypes" to assorted governmental offices.
They need to get set up to contact the Cable News networks and local TV and radio stations DIRECTLY.
Hollywood please stay in place-don't move! One way to clean our country up!
Hollywood is never going to be impacted by a Tsunami. It's well inland.
Fron what nations have we heard that one before?
"Wouldn't it be nice if they got their act together ping."
First there will have to be another Tsunami that hits our west coast.
Then, Bush, Cheney, Rummy, Abu Grab and Gitmo will be blamed.
There will be months of whining by Pelosi Galore, Boxer, Fineswine and other rats in congress.
All agencies, regardless of function in coastal states will demand more money and expensive training programs.
Then some half @@, you know what program, will come out.
Reading this article, It's abundantly clear that if even if the Indian Ocean nations had gotten warnings quickly down the the local level, that basically nothing would have happened, making the whole "WHY WEREN'T THEY WARNED?" controversy over the Dec. 26 tsunami moot.
Crescent City lost 11 citizens and suffered millions of dollars in damage in the Tsunami of 1964...Click Here
Yup! And yet those same nations and people who didn't issue the warning are suing the US as a result of their own negligence. I bet some hapless yahoo in California sues because he wasn't informed there was a potential tsunami on the way.
"Hollywood is never going to be impacted by a Tsunami. It's well inland."
Well, if a tsunami is out of the realm of the possible, can we at least hope for the mother of all mudslides?
ROFL!!
Your Government at work.....not a pretty sight!
Particuliarly out here in California, when the state, county and local governments gear up to try and get more funding to pay for what they should have been doing in the first place.
Then, Bush, Cheney, Rummy, Abu Grab and Gitmo will be blamed.
There will be months of whining by Pelosi Galore, Boxer, Fineswine and other rats in congress.
Couldn't we have it arranged so that the RATs are touring the beaches? :-)
What's so disgusting is... We all know it's true!!!
Yet our government(s) keep goofin around with alla this GANG-GREEN garbage!!!
"Couldn't we have it arranged so that the RATs are touring the beaches? :-)"
That might be tough to schedule.:)
To be fair, the likelihood of a dangerous tsunami from a 7.0 in that location was less than 1%, and the agravation factor of millions of people who would feel like somebody cried wolf probably played into this.
Government just doesn't have enough money to do that. Government never has enough money, so don't expect anything. Except higher taxes. Which means that, eventually, there still won't be enough money.
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