Posted on 01/03/2005 3:24:10 PM PST by swilhelm73
In the aftermath of the horrific Asian tsunamis of Dec. 26, which have killed more than all 20th-century tsunamis combined, many attempts will be made to place blame or quickly "fix" this problem. A little reflection on the history of past reaction to destructive tsunamis may help.
The history of tsunami hazard mitigation tracks well with the history of destructive tsunamis in the U.S. Following the 1946 Alaska tsunami that destroyed the Scotch Cap lighthouse in Unimak, Alaska, and then killed 173 people in Hawaii, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center was established in Hawaii by a predecessor agency to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Following the 1960 Chilean tsunami that killed 1,000 people in Chile, 61 in Hawaii and 199 in Japan, the International Tsunami Information Center, sponsored by the U.N., was formed to coordinate tsunami warning efforts of the Pacific countries. Many research and mitigation efforts were focused on the distant tsunami problem, ignoring the local tsunamis that we now know as far more common. Following the 1964 Alaskan tsunami that killed 120 people in the U.S., the Alaska Tsunami Warning Center in Palmer, Alaska, was established to confront the local tsunami problem. In 1968, the International Coordination Group for the Tsunami Warning System in the Pacific was formed by Unesco. Its purpose was to assure that tsunami watches, warning and advisory bulletins are disseminated throughout the Pacific to member states in accordance with specific procedures. It presently has 26 member states out of the 129 that participate in the U.N. Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission. No membership fees are required, but a member country has to petition for the service and identify local disaster management officers capable to interpret and act in the event of a tsunami warning.
(Excerpt) Read more at opinionjournal.com ...
The only people who have any fault is the governemnt of the country affected PERIOD! It is their own responsibility to protect their citizens.
What good would it do any small fishing village if the govt of Sri Lanka had more notice? NOT ONE BIT! THEY had plenty of notice, they did not notify EVERYBODY.
Well gee whiz --- according to the leftist radical America haters, everybody should have had at least 24 hours notice and a chicken in every pot!
Well, individuals who live in any society have an obligation to work for good, clean, competent governments -- good governments don't just "happen."
Unfortunately, there are only a handful of good governments (at most) in the world.
I believe that they should have gotten a six-month warning. This way, they would have had plenty of time to sell off their oceanfront property.
I've been critical of governments in this region for not being better prepared. But the author of this piece makes some good points. If the last very destructive tsunami in the Indian ocean was in 1882, I guess I can understand how this risk was given a low priority.
All a resort manager had to do is register with the USGS website to receive notification of seismic updates in the area. They could have pinged his cell phone, and he could have had enough time to evacuate the inhabitants of the resort. The cost would have been miniscule.
I am curious as to when the lawsuits are going to start piling in on the resort owners for not giving adequate warning? I'm sure a bunch of lawyers are already hot on the case.
1) The average resort owner probably has about as much knowledge of seismology as he does of how to build an atomic bomb
2) Only a tiny fraction of large quakes cause tsunami
3) By the time the wave hit the quake was not recognized as being of M9.0 yet. It was still listed as 8.0
Even the Krakatoa tsunami didn't really do any damage at all to Sri Lanka, India, or Thailand. That damage was concentrated around the Sunda strait.
It's entirely possible that it's been 1,000 years since the last similar tsunami in the Indian Ocean. And it may be 1,000 years to the next one.
On the other hand, I don't have a degree in meteorology, but I know tornadoes are a bad thing. Chances are when a tornado watch is in effect, there won't be a tornado, but it still would impact my plans. Certainly there could be a "tsunami watch" issued, and the patrons could make up their minds whether or not they want to take the risk.
And another for meteor collisions, another for volcanos, another for shark alerts, another for pickpockets, another for bad Thai restaurants.....
Living is a dangerous proposition.
'Certainly there could be a "tsunami watch" issued.."
Unfortunatly, you would see nothing. This wave movement is not visible from the air, sat photos etc.. You only see a huge wave form as it nears shallow coast lines as it starts to rapidy decelerate. Then it is to late. And depending on the near off shore geology, e.g. sea base angle, smoothness verse lets say undulated hills and valleys, will further dictate when the wave turns into a normal looking tidal type wave.
Of course I appreciate your caring sentiments.
It just seems that in this day and age with terrorism all over the world there would have been some kind of emergency notification.
The radio....a bullhorn...smoke signals...c'mon on now, something.
I was amazed at how many people appeared to be busy filming when they were swept away.
Roger that, Commodore...a bad Thai restaurant cost me three days in the fetal position in 1983.
Semper Fi,
Well, most of the footage was from areas that were hit by relatively lower waves. No one's going to be filming if a 30+ foot wave is coming at them, or a 100-foot wave, as at Scotch Cap.
More info on Scotch Cap:
That tsunami killed over thirty thousand people, and may be part of the reason Islamist loonies got a toehold in Indonesia. It was worth remembering.
Could it be life, imitating art? - tom
Mayor Vaughn:
Martin, it's all psychological.
You yell barracuda, everybody says, "Huh? What?"
You yell shark, we've got a panic on our hands on the Fourth of July.
Tsunami Warning Was Stopped Wizbang ^ | December 28, 2004 | The Nation
Just minutes after the earthquake in the Indian Ocean on Sunday morning, Thailand's foremost meteorological experts were sitting together in a crisis meeting. But they decided not to warn about the tsunami "out of courtesy to the tourist industry", writes the Thailand daily newspaper The Nation. snip
...We finally decided not to do anything because the tourist season was in full swing. The hotels were 100% booked full. What if we issued a warning, which would have led to an evacuation, and nothing had happened. What would be the outcome? The tourist industry would be immediately hurt. Our department would not be able to endure a lawsuit...
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