Today in the aftermath of yesterday's catastrophic earthquake and tsunami, it would appear from the following Reuter's news article published yesterday that someone did in fact have ample time to warn people about the tsunami despite the fact that no official warning system is in place.
"In Los Angeles, the head of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said U.S. officials who detected the undersea quake tried frantically to get a warning out about the tsunami."
This presents us all with the obvious disturbing question:
Who were the US officials who tried frantically to get a warning out about the tsunami and how exactly did they do it?
It seems to me that a simple posting on the internet, perhaps a bulletin might have been a step in the right direction, however, the only warning I have been been able to find was the following which stated only that "there is a possibility of a tsunami near the epicenter". Hardly frantic if you ask me.
I have written to both Dr. Laura S.L. Kong and Mr. Charles McCreery asking the question and have yet to hear back.
UPDATE: Since posting this, the original "Tsunami Information Bulletin" has editted and/or changed and no longer has the warning that "there is a possibility of a tsunami near the epicenter". The original warning was on Tsunami Information Bulletin 01.
"In Los Angeles, the head of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said U.S. officials who detected the undersea quake tried frantically to get a warning out about the tsunami."
This presents us all with the obvious disturbing question:
Who were the US officials who tried frantically to get a warning out about the tsunami and how exactly did they do it?
It seems to me that a simple posting on the internet, perhaps a bulletin might have been a step in the right direction, however, the only warning I have been been able to find was the following which stated only that "there is a possibility of a tsunami near the epicenter". Hardly frantic if you ask me.
I have written to both Dr. Laura S.L. Kong and Mr. Charles McCreery asking the question and have yet to hear back.
UPDATE: Since posting this, the original "Tsunami Information Bulletin" has editted and/or changed and no longer has the warning that "there is a possibility of a tsunami near the epicenter". The original warning was on Tsunami Information Bulletin 01.
I don't agree that a posting on the internet would be a step in the right direction. If you're working frantically to warn millions of people, the chance that a handful of them might be reading the appropriate web site isn't any consolation. It would have been a waste of the precious little time they had. (Besides, there's likely no Wi-Fi on the beaches of Sri Lanka :(
ReplyDeleteHow many people splashing around in the surf are carrying a radio or TV with them?
ReplyDeleteIf posting warnings on the internet are such a waste of time as you claim then why are they done now?
Here's a copy of Google's cache for the page - the live page was edited; the cached page shows the warning 3 lines from the bottom.
ReplyDeleteOh damn. Here's the link: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/1309132/posts?page=7#7
ReplyDeleteYou are correct young1sw, there is an internet cafe almost every ten feet in Phuket. They are open 24 hours and always packed with tourists.
ReplyDeleteAny type of warning posted on the internet would have been picked up in minutes and saved many lives.