Tsunamis: Monitoring, Detection, and Early Warning Systems

Recently, numerous congressional inquiries have asked about the possibility of
tsunamis occurring in U.S. coastal areas; the extent to which these areas are currently
monitored; how tsunamis can be detected; and whether there is a national capacity
to issue evacuation warnings for tsunamis. These concerns stem from the December
26, 2004, tsunami triggered by an underwater earthquake off the west coast of
northern Sumatra in Indonesia. That earthquake was measured at Mw 9.0.1 The
ensuing tsunami devastated many coastal areas around the northern Indian Ocean,
and caused loss of life and damages in other areas. International disaster agencies
currently estimate that at least 150,000 people lost their lives to the tsunami.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the
Department of Commerce and various international science agencies have indicated
that there were few, if any, tsunami early warning systems monitoring the Indian
Ocean on December 26, 2004. However, nations bounded also by the Pacific Ocean,
including Australia and Indonesia, had tsunami early warning systems monitoring the
Pacific shores where they perceived a threat.2 Because of the lack of infrastructure
to receive tsunami warnings rapidly, some have pointed out that for people on
Indonesia’s Indian Ocean shores, emergency communications were useless in many
cases.
Although most deadly tsunamis have occurred historically in the western Pacific
Ocean, there are examples of recoded events in the Atlantic. In 1692, a tsunami
generated by massive landslides in the Atlantic Puerto Rican Trench reached
Jamaica’s coast, causing an estimated 2,000 deaths. In 1775, a tsunami struck in the
eastern Atlantic Ocean on the coast of Portugal, killing an estimated 60,000 people.
More recently, in 1929, a tsunami generated in the Grand Banks region of Canada hit
Nova Scotia, killing 51.
On January 5, 2005, the House Science Committee, House Coastal Caucus, and
House Oceans Caucus co-sponsored a briefing organized by the U.S. Geological
Survey (USGS) of the Department of the Interior. One purpose of the briefing was
to consider the possible implications of the Indian Ocean tsunami for the United
States. Experts from USGS and NOAA delivered presentations on the circumstances
surrounding that tsunami disaster, and discussed current capabilities for monitoring,
detection, and early warning around the globe.4

Posted by Aneka Tips on 17.21. Filed under Article, Books, Earthquake, Tsunami . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Feel free to leave a response