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South Pacific tsunami raises fresh questions about warning systems
Published in Saudi Press Agency on 03 - 04 - 2007


A tsunami early warning system
would have been little use for the thousands of people in
the Solomon Islands hit by deadly waves, since they had
only minutes to escape, AP quoted an American earthquake expert as saying
Tuesday.
An Australian official meanwhile acknowledged that a
tsunami warning issued for the Queensland coast was
undermined by widespread panic and a lack of clear
information about whether the waves were actually headed
their way.
«We got the emergency people together and we were trying
to ascertain, 'Is there really a tsunami coming, if so how
big is it and how far are we going to need to encourage
people to leave the coastline?»' Queensland Premier Peter
Beattie told the Seven Network on Tuesday.
«We couldn't get that information. ... We didn't know the
extent of the problem. We were shooting blind,» Beattie
said.
Critics said Monday's tsunami, which killed at least 28
people, exposed the limitation of a warning system that
supporters have championed as the best way to help avoid a
repeat of the 2004 Indian Ocean disaster.
That disaster, which left some 230,000 people dead or
missing in a dozen countries, prompted the United Nations
and six governmental donors, including the United States,
to create the US$130 million (¤97 million) Indian Ocean
Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System which is expected to
be operational at the end of 2008.
Indonesia, which was hit hardest by that disaster, is in
the process of installing dozens of tidal gauges and
deep-ocean tsunami monitoring buoys to detect tsunami waves
as well as more than 150 seismometers to detect
earthquakes.
The United Nation's Michael Rottmann, the special
coordinator for the tsunami early warning system in
Indonesia, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he is
confident the system will alert most people within 10
minutes of an undersea temblor.
«I think a lot of lives can be saved if you have a
warning in less than 10 minutes,» Rottman said, noting
that it took 15 minutes for waves from the 2004 quake to
reach the coastline of Sumatra. «If you have five minutes
and you have a reliable warning, you can get very far. You
could go up into a hill or get away from the beach.»
The tsunami Monday hit the shores of the Solomon Islands
approximately five minutes after the islanders felt the
earthquake.
Critics of the early warning system are not confident.


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