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| Southeast Asia | |
| The U.S. knew about the tsunami | |
| 2004-12-30 | |
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center is an international system of monitoring stations stationed in Hawaii. It monitors the Pacific and warn nearby countries of any expected disasters. But the problem with Sunday's deadly earthquake is that the Indian Ocean isn't guarded by such systems. The Atlantic Ocean isn't monitored because there are comparatively few earthquakes there. LaDouce said that there are plans to establish a warning system in the Caribbean after a volcanic collapse on the island of Montserrat resulted in a tsunami last year. | |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #23 Something to think about the next time you go on vacation Indeed. Not that there will be another tsunami, but there are a thousand things that can go wrong on a trip. Why bother visiting third world kleptocracies? |
| Posted by: lex 2004-12-30 9:32:58 PM |
| #22 Bush knew! |
| Posted by: Howard Dean 2004-12-30 8:31:27 PM |
| #21 I blame Neptune... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2004-12-30 4:11:53 PM |
| #20 Had any of these nations even had the most basic early warning system Something to think about the next time you go on vacation. |
| Posted by: Rafael 2004-12-30 3:22:07 PM |
| #19 i'm surprised it took this long too blame it on the US or too say that we actually caused it. |
| Posted by: smokeysinse 2004-12-30 3:16:16 PM |
| #18 What Laurence said. Nothing has caused more third world deaths and more misery than the callous incompetence of third world kleptocratic regimes. Had any of these nations even had the most basic early warning system, tens of thousands of lives would have been spared. |
| Posted by: lex 2004-12-30 3:14:02 PM |
| #17 Knew about the tsunami? Of course the US did, as did ever person in the damn world who ever studied geology or even read a book where geology was mentioned. Tsunamis after earthquakes are friggin normal. I told my wife right after hearing about the quake there'd be tidal waves. Maybe these morons should just blame me for not calling up the Sri Lankan embassy. Or, better yet, these countries should each buy one less crappy Russian fighter plane next year and invest in a warning network. Something high tech, like say, telephones and radios. |
| Posted by: Laurence of the Rats 2004-12-30 11:20:53 AM |
| #16 Well, of course we knew. We were, y'know, paying attention. Unlike some. Who ya gonna call? TsunamiBusters? |
| Posted by: mojo 2004-12-30 11:02:25 AM |
| #15 Fluid dynamics does not follow intuition... Now you tell me. |
| Posted by: Dean Chenowith 2004-12-30 10:35:01 AM |
| #14 The phenomenon is called refraction. Tsunamis are indeed waves and refract like other waves (a good example is how a straw in water will look displaced due to refraction of light). In addition to refraction there are also other wave phenomena such as interference. In constructive interference (see .com's example), waves are amplified. In destructive interference, waves are cancelled out. |
| Posted by: Spot 2004-12-30 10:30:34 AM |
| #13 "but refused to issue an alert for fear of endangering the tourist trade" Since an alert was NOT issued, I am not in fear anymore. Since everything is just peachy over there and the failure of an alert did not endanger the tourist trade, I think I hop on the next plane right away. I heard the same story about a day ago. If this is true, it doesn't surprise me at all. On a normal day these tsunami affected governments could care less about its citizens, what makes anyone think a catastrophe will do otherwise. |
| Posted by: Poison Reverse 2004-12-30 9:05:09 AM |
| #12 The earth moved 100feet at the epicenter. This compares to 18 feet at the 1906 SF earthquake. Think of the earth's tectonic plate as a paddle moving 100 feet in nearly an instant under water and pushing that much water in one direction. That's a lot of energy. And that's why Sumatra gets spared. It's not like a bomb being dropped. |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2004-12-30 8:05:11 AM |
| #11 Ya know, it must really suck to work in that NOAA office right now. They knew, they tried to do something, but.. could only watch helplessly as tens of thousands died beyond their reach. Yuck. |
| Posted by: Dishman 2004-12-30 2:46:00 AM |
| #10 Interesting stuff, scientifically speaking, but on the humanistic level... I saw a picture of a Swedish boy holding a sign saying "Missing parents and 2 brothers". That one got me. |
| Posted by: Rafael 2004-12-30 2:34:48 AM |
| #9 Subsea and surface topography plus energy determine everything in tsunamis. There was a documentary about a year ago, one of the first things I saw after getting back to the US, about a tsunami from a subsea landslide off Japan. One island in Northeastern Indonesia had a nearly perfectly round island about .5 km offshore between it and the tsunami's source. Instead of blocking the wave, creating a shadow the width of the island, what happened was the wave followed the island contour around on both sides and accelerated and where the wave met on the backside corresponded to the hardest-hit spot on the island behind. Fluid dynamics does not follow intuition... |
| Posted by: .com 2004-12-30 2:11:27 AM |
| #8 Notice the "wrap-around effect", as I call it. For instance, the entire coast of Sri Lanka was hit. |
| Posted by: Rafael 2004-12-30 2:02:43 AM |
| #7 No prob. Of course the color and shading was not meant to be representative of the actual height of waves, I don't think (rather, the energy generated). But it sure looks like Sri Lanka and Thailand got clobbered. I thought Sumatra would be more affected by the waves than Thailand. |
| Posted by: Rafael 2004-12-30 2:00:16 AM |
| #6 Excellent video - with only the quibble: the smaller islands were not shown well - the Maldives, for instance. Thx, Rafael! |
| Posted by: .com 2004-12-30 1:48:49 AM |
| #5 Here is an interesting Quicktime animation of the Tsunami. Of course the US knew about it. The QT animation proves this! disclaimer: pointless seething |
| Posted by: Rafael 2004-12-30 1:45:36 AM |
| #4 AC - Are you joking regards the CNTBTO? Everyone? How, um , European, heh. |
| Posted by: .com 2004-12-30 1:35:13 AM |
| #3 Seismologists much closer to the scene, in India, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, could have predicted the tsunami at least as easily as the Americans. There was a report from Thailand that officials received a timely warning, but refused to issue an alert for fear of endangering the tourist trade if it turned out to be a false alarm. In Vienna, the data streaming into the headquarters of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization, which operates the best seismic monitoring center in the world, went unnoticed because the center's 300 employees were on vacation. |
| Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy 2004-12-30 1:32:09 AM |
| #2 Of course we did. We know everything and everything is our fault. |
| Posted by: .com 2004-12-30 1:25:27 AM |
| #1 Old news. The head guy was interview shortly after it happened. Expect the MSM to harp on it how we were evil and hid it. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom 2004-12-30 12:41:53 AM |