WASHINGTON, Driven by the suffering and destruction from the Indian Ocean tsunami and the potential for a similar calamity in the United States, the White House and Congress have moved quickly to offer plans for significantly beefing up an early-warning system to detect killer waves. Yet despite bright science and good intentions, the long-term success of a more robust tsunami warning system could hinge more on politics and the competition for scarce dollars than on technical wizardry.
Critics who fear that the funds needed for such a project would be at the expense of other existing US natural disaster warning systems say that the best protection, involves technology and education. People must know the warning signs and how to respond. Using an experience in Sri Lanka to illustrate the point. Shortly before the tsunami struck, people flocked to the beach to watch the ocean's dramatic and unusual retreat. That, of course, is a telltale sign of an approaching tsunami, but few people understood the phenomenon.
In my opinion, a tsunami early warning system should not just be a country's burden but a global initiative undertaken, possibly by the UN. A tsunami could hit anytime and anywhere in the world.
Source : Seattlepi.com
News - Politics could sink revamped tsunami warning system
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