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Originally Posted by LadyShea
Here in the US, we have early warning systems and FEMA and all manner of relief....these poor people didn't know it was coming and had no place to run  |
Yeah, much of the developed world is kitted up with early warning systems for known disaster risks. Unfortunately many of the poorer countries do not; and the costs in human, environmental and economic terms are great.
I was just reading
this, and hoped that this would prompt the wealthier nations to make sure that international early warning systems truly are international.
Quote:
Officials in Thailand and Indonesia conceded that immediate public warnings of gigantic waves could have saved lives. The only known warning issued by Thai authorities reached resort operators when it was too late. The waves hit Sri Lanka and India more than two hours after the quake.
But governments insisted they couldn't have known the true danger because there is no international system in place to track tsunamis in the Indian Ocean, and they could not afford the sophisticated equipment to build one.
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Hopefully the following quote will amount to more than just talk and something real and effective will be put into place.
Quote:
Australian Prime Minister John Howard said he would investigate what role his country could play in setting up an Indian Ocean warning system. The head of the British Commonwealth bloc of Britain and its former colonies called for talks on creating a global early warning system for tsunamis.
Egeland said the issue of creating a tsunami warning system would be taken up at the World Conference on Disaster Reduction in Kobe, Japan from Jan. 18-22.
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That said, it can still be hard to predict earthquakes and the tsunami that it created moved super quick! 500mph!
