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Subject: Re: [emergency-msg] Quake waves: "Lack of warning systemintensifies loss"
Yup. Thanks, Eliot, it's good to hear from you. Ciao, Rex At 4:45 AM -0500 12/27/04, Eliot Christian wrote: >This event underscores the need for the kind of public warnings >that would be issued through the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP). > >--------------------------------------------------------------- > > Lack of warning system intensifies loss > By Andrew Revkin, The New York Times > > The earthquake that struck northwest of Sumatra, > Indonesia, at dawn on Sunday was a perfect wave-making > machine, and the lack of a tsunami warning system in the > Indian Ocean essentially guaranteed the devastation that > swept coastal communities around southern Asia, experts > said Sunday. > > Although waves swamped parts of the Sumatran coast > and nearby islands within minutes, there would have been > time to alert more distant communities if the Indian > Ocean had a warning network like that in the Pacific, > said Tad Murty, an expert on the region's tsunamis who > is affiliated with the University of Manitoba in > Winnipeg. > > Within 15 minutes of the earthquake, in fact, > scientists running the existing tsunami warning > system for the Pacific, where such waves are far more > common, sent an alert from their Honolulu hub to 26 > participating countries, including Thailand and > Indonesia, that destructive waves might be generated > by the Sumatra tremors. > > But there was no way to convey that information > speedily to countries or communities an ocean away, > said Laura Kong, a Commerce Department seismologist > and director of the International Tsunami Information > Center, an office run under the auspices of the United > Nations. > > Phone calls were hurriedly made to countries in the > Indian Ocean danger zone, she said, but not with the > speed that comes from pre-established emergency > planning. > > "Outside the Pacific these things don't occur very > often at all, so the challenge is how to make people > and government officials aware,'' she said. > >--------------------------------------------------------------- > > > >To unsubscribe from this mailing list (and be removed from the >roster of the OASIS TC), go to >http://www.oasis-open.org/apps/org/workgroup/emergency-msg/members/leave_workgroup.php. -- Rex Brooks President, CEO Starbourne Communications Design GeoAddress: 1361-A Addison, Berkeley, CA, 94702 USA, Earth W3Address: http://www.starbourne.com Email: rexb@starbourne.com Tel: 510-849-2309
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