No System Can Protect Against A Sudden Tsunami

[george]

Tsunami warning systems

BANGKOK: -- Many cities around the Pacific, notably in Japan and Hawaii, have warning systems and evacuation procedures in the event of a serious tsunami.

Tsunamis are predicted by various seismologic institutes around the world and their progress monitored by satellites.

The first rudimentary system to alert communities of an impending tsunami was attempted in Hawaii in the 1920s.

More advanced systems were developed in the wake of the April 1, 1946 and May 23, 1960 tsunamis which caused massive devastation in Hilo, Hawaii.

The United States created the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (http://www.prh.noaa.gov/pr/ptwc/) in 1949, and linked it to an international data and warning network in 1965.

One system for providing tsunami warning is the CREST Project (Consolidated Reporting of Earthquakes and Tsunamis) implemented on the West coast (Cascadia), Alaska, and Hawaii of the United States by the USGS, NOAA, the Pacific Northwest Seismograph Network, and three other university seismic networks.

Tsunami prediction remains an imperfect science.

Although the epicenter of a large underwater quake and the probable tsunami arrival times can be quickly calculated, it is almost always impossible to know whether massive underwater ground shifts have occurred, resulting in tsunami waves.

As a result, false alarms are common.

No system can protect against a sudden tsunami.

A devastating tsunami occurred off the coast of Hokkaido in Japan as a result of an earthquake on July 12, 1993.

As a result, 202 people on the small island of Okushiri lost their lives, and hundreds more were missing or injured.

This tsunami struck just three to five minutes after the quake and most victims were caught while fleeing for higher ground and secure places after surviving the earthquake.

Another devastating series of tsunamis just took place in South and Southeast Asia, as well as part of Africa on 26 December, 2004, caused by one of the strongest earthquakes in the Indonesian resort island of Sumatra, measured 9.0 on the richter scale, leaving over 120,000 dead, and thousands more injured and still missing.

In Thailand alone, the death toll has risen to over 4,500 this morning, with over 9,000 injured and scores of others still missing.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra forecast yesterday that the final death toll could hit 6,800.

While there remains the potential for sudden devastation from a tsunami, warning systems can be effective.

If there were a very large subduction zone earthquake (magnitude 9.0) off the west coast of the United States, people in Japan, for example, would have a little more than 12 hours (and likely warnings from warning systems in Hawaii and elsewhere) before any tsunami arrived, giving them some time to evacuate areas likely to be affected, according to Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia.

--TNA 2004-12-31