Tsunami Warning Systems

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Tsunami Warning Systems
Text compiled by Ronnie Strohsahl Slide Design by
Dave Chiapoco
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Following the destruction of the Tsunami in 2004
in Southeast Asia, which left over 250,000 dead
and resulted in an estimated 43 billions dollars
of damage, many sought to seek an early warning
system to prevent a future catastrophe.
This presentation is about one such system
currently in development, called DARTS.
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D.A.R.T.S.
Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis
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• The DART system relies on detection of a tsunami
  after it has formed and is able to detect minor
  changes in height in the water by a passing
  tsunami.
• Because the waves travel at upwards of 600 miles
  per hour, to be successful in making a warning to
  the people researchers must receive the warning
  from the buoys way in advance.
• With the absence of a warning system in the
  Indian Ocean, the surrounding countries had to
  rely on seismic data in order to predict if a
  tsunami would actually occur. Once Australian
  researchers predicted one would occur, the
  warning was 20 minutes too late.

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• The DART Tsunameter operates by taking averages
  of the ocean height every 15 minutes and
  reporting them through satellite to a ground
  stations throughout the world. From these
  averages, the DART Tsunameter can detect minor
  changes in the oceans height.
• These slight changes in the oceans height are
  caused by a quickly passing tsunami and results
  in sending the Tsunameter into event mode. In
  this stage it signals satellites to alert the
  ground stations where researchers can send alerts
  to the public.
• Any earthquake registering above 7.5 on the
  Richter scale that is detected on the sea floor
  by the additional sensors, automatically puts the
  ground stations on tsunami alert.

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www.ndbc.noaa.gov/dart.shtml - Provides real
time data from the buoys
Once a tsunami threat is identified, local
government officials nationwide are alerted to
sound evacuation alarms and broadcast information
on radio and TV. Coastal towns can also shut
water gates to prevent waves from heading inland
via low-lying river networks.
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• Problems with DARTs
• Its large cost each buoy costs about 250,000
  and to operate and maintain a convoy of these
  buoys puts the cost around 20 million dollars.
• To pay the researchers and train them in
  detecting a tsunami from the information buoys
  costs another 20 million dollars and the prices
  continue to climb.
• The destructiveness of a tsunami also takes its
  toll on the amount of money the countries in
  Southeast Asia can spend on developing a warning
  system.

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• (Left) Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher Jr.,
  undersecretary of commerce for oceans and
  atmosphere and NOAA administrator, speaking at a
  Washington, D.C., news conference on plans to
  expand the tsunami warning system
• The trick to the tsunami warning system is that
  it must be quick enough to alert a large amount
  of people in a very short time. Usually the alert
  needs to go out for evacuation in under 10
  minutes.
• In the past, this urgency has led to false
  alarms, which dilutes the effectiveness of
  subsequent warnings. In fact, NOAA reported that
  75 percent of all tsunami warnings since 1948
  have been false. -CNN Michael Coran
• In addition, each false alarm costs about 30
  million dollars in evacuation costs. However, one
  actual tsunami wave can cost upwards of 10 times
  this amount.

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• The critical importance of an effective
  communications system is highlighted by the fact
  that some people say they were unable to alert
  the authorities in their countries to the danger
  of the Asian earthquake.
• Samith Dhammasaroj, a meteorological expert in
  Thailand, realized that the massive ocean quake
  might produce a deadly tsunami, but was unable to
  contact government officials to raise the alarm.
  Even if an alarm was raised, getting the
  information to everyone on the coast seems to be
  the biggest problem.
• In many areas, there is a lack of technology so
  in Indonesia there are no phones, radios or
  televisions to warn the people.

• A system of sirens, which should reach more
  people more quickly, is planned for the future in
  Indonesia. While in California, new technology is
  allowing cell phones and pagers to be alerted for
  a small fee. The companies hope that these people
  will help to warn the surrounding public.
• Ultimately, education is the most important
  factor affecting survival of a tsunami. The
  population must be educated about tsunamis and
  how to respond when it comes," said Professor
  Bill McGuire, director of the Benfield Hazard
  Research Centre at University College London.

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Salvano Briceño, Director of the secretariat of
the United Nations International Strategy for
Disaster Reduction (ISDR) says, If the warnings
do not get to the people at risk and into public
education and preparedness programmes, they will
be ineffective.
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• For the victims in Sumatra, the quake occurred so
  close to land that they only had 20 minutes until
  the tsunami struck land.
• Unfortunately, the closest warning system was in
  Australia and the alert came too late for the
  people to be notified.
• On the shores of Sumatra, a lack of education
  brought many of the people down to the shore,
  rather than to higher ground.
• Ultimately this lead to their demise as the wave
  crashed upon shore.
• The alerts to people on the coastline would have
  needed to be within 10 minutes to allow for
  proper evacuation, leaving only 10 minutes for
  them to get to higher ground.

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• Beyond DARTS Animal Warning Systems?
• Although no conclusive evidence has been found
  yet to suggest the presence of a sixth sense
  for danger in animals, it cannot be ignored that
  there were significantly less deaths to animals
  than humans from the tsunami.
• Perhaps over time natural selection has provided
  animals with a extrasensory ability to detect
  disaster before it occurs.
• It has been noted that 10 minutes before the
  wave struck, animals were fleeing for higher
  ground. While ironically, humans the most
  advanced species on Earth, went towards the
  water.
• It has been proposed that animals are able to
  detect the vibrations in the Earth and associate
  them with past events which selected for by
  Natural Selection the response to head toward
  higher ground after an earthquake.

"No elephants are dead, not even a dead hare or
rabbit. I think animals can sense disaster. They
have a sixth sense. They know when things are
happening," H.D. Ratnayake, deputy director of
Sri Lanka's Wildlife Department
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References
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_files/Page957.html www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories
2005/images/dart-buoy www.noaanews.noaa.gov/storie
s2005/ http//www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/science/01/06
/tsunami.science/ http//www.masternewmedia.org/i
mages/China_wave_2002_350.jpg http//news.bbc.co.
uk/2/hi/science/nature/4442942.stm http//www.new
scientist.com/article.ns?iddn6839 http//www.geo
phys.washington.edu/tsunami/general/warning/warnin
g.html http//www.theage.com.au/news/Science/Lack
-of-warning-system-cost- lives/2004/12/27/110399
6496454.html