| "I suggested an early warning system
be put in place for tidal waves, such as alarm sirens at beachside
hotels in Phuket, Phangnga and Krabi, the three provinces which
have now been hit. I alerted senior officials in these provinces,
but no one paid any attention."- Dhamasaroj,
former director general of the Thai Meteorological Department, told
the Australian |
| "It is always on the agenda...
Only two weeks ago it would have sounded crazy. But it sounds very
reasonable now. The millions of dollars needed would have saved
thousands and thousands of lives." - Vasily
Titov, a tsunami researcher in the US |
| |
| |
| |
|
| AsianTsunami:
Mother of all Failures |
|
8:00 AM Sumatran time 26/12/04
|
One
of the most massive earthquake in the last century occurred, registering
9 on the Richter scale. |
| After 8 min. |
An alarm was triggered at the
Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawaii by seismic signals transmitted
from stations in Australia |
| After 11 min |
A message was sent to other observatories in the Pacific |
| After 14 min |
An alert notified all countries participating
in the network about the quake, indicating that it posed no threat
of a tsunami to the Pacific. |
| After 30 min |
Tsunami hit Aceh's west
coast, then curled around the northern tip, flattening the provincial
capital of Banda Aceh, and proceeded down the east coast |
| After 1 hour |
Tsunami battered the coastline of southern Thailand,
along with the tourist resorts of Phuket and Phangnga. |
| After 2 hours |
Hit Sri Lanka's east coast and Tamil Nadu |
 |
| |
map: cnn.com
|
| # countries affected: > 11 |
| Dead: > 155,000 |
| Missing: > 16,000 |
| Homeless > 1,000,000 |
|
Tsunami waves travels at the speed of 800 kmh depending on the
depth of the water.
|
| "the airbase in Madras
received communications from the Nicobar Islands an hour before
the tsunami struck southern India" - Indian
Express |
| " A hi-tech system
covering not just the Indian Ocean, but all of the world's oceans,
could be set up for as little as $150 million.Sea-level gauges cost
as little as $5,000 each. The better ones, linked to high-speed
communications, are more expensive-about $20,000." - Los
Angeles Times |
|
"The real tragedy of all these is that the
systems is there, the technology is there, the capacity is there,
it just wasn't in place in the Indian ocean when the thing hit."
- Alan Clark, Pacific Disaster Centre.
|
 |
| Poombuhar,
India (30/12/03) imol pic. |
|
Source: cnn.com, nytimes.com,
The Star
|
|
|
