Mariano Rojas deserves the sack for failing to warn of an impending post-earthquake tsunami.
Posted on 03/05/2010 6:07:35 PM PST by myknowledge
Chile has sacked the head of the navy's Oceanography Service (SHOA), saying he failed to provide a clear warning of the killer tsunami that followed a huge earthquake.
SHOA chief Mariano Rojas was immediately removed from the post, while the head of the Navy was opening an investigation "on the circumstances of the decision process after the natural catastrophe hit the country", an official statement said on Friday.
Along with the emergency response agency ONEMI and the president's office, SHOA headed the official response to Saturday's massive 8.8-magnitude tremor and ensuing tsunami waves, which killed more than 800 people and left about two million homeless.
As early as the day after the disaster, military officials admitted an "error of diagnosis" and said they transmitted "very unclear information" to President Michelle Bachelet on whether to lift or maintain a tsunami alert along the coast.
In a series of contradictory official messages, the alert was placed and lifted multiple times while three towering waves lashed the coastline, devastating cities and towns like central Constitucion.
Mariano Rojas deserves the sack for failing to warn of an impending post-earthquake tsunami.
“The sea was angry that day, my friends - like an old man trying to send back soup in a deli. I got about fifty feet out and suddenly the great beast appeared before me. I tell you he was ten stories high if he was a foot. As if sensing my presence, he let out a great bellow. I said, “Easy, big fella!” And then, as I watched him struggling, I realized that something was obstructing its breathing. From where I was standing, I could see directly into the eye of the great fish.” ~ George Costanza
This guy sounds about as capable as George!
Why isnt there a call for the NOAA chief to resign?
The earthquake hit at 3:45am........and the tsunami hit 30 to 45 min later...
What level of warning could have changed anything?
“Could be an opportunity to save some budgetary expenses as it will be a long time before his input would be valuable again.”
LOL I shouldn’t laugh....but I think you nailed it.
I thought the death toll number was significantly reduced from the 800 mentioned in the article.
This is the "moderate socialist" president's last week in office too. Perhaps there's a little Katrina-style politics going on.
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