Say Anything Blog

This is ridiculous (via Wizbang).

Medford, Oregon - Tsunami - Tidal Wave - Indonesia - The USA has the most sophisticated earthquake monitoring system in the world. A monster earthquake occurred in Indonesia during the Christmas holiday weekend. The USGS failed to issue a warning to coastal countries which were most likely to suffer tsunami destruction from that earthquake. Tens-of-thousands have died. Who is going to accept responsibility for the failure to issue the tsunami warning?

Call me crazy, but how about we blame the people who were aware of the tsunami in SE Asia and refused to sound the alarm?

The article continues"

Tidal waves which impacted Sri Lanka, Thailand, India and countries along the African coast have killed tens of thousands.

Why weren't those countries warned? Thousands of sun-bathers on coastal beaches had no warning at all"they just laid on their chaise lounges and grass mats until the waves crashed onto them.

It is monstrously irresponsible for the United States of America to have monitored the 9.0+ Richter scale earthquake in Indonesia from its sophisticated US Geological Service facilities in Denver, Colorado, Hawaii and Alaska, and then failed to warn SE Asian coastal countries of an impending tidal wave disaster.

The author might have a point in this regard"had the USGS actually failed in warning the world. This comes from Al Jazeera, not exactly a bastion of pro-America sentiment.

Al Jazeera - International ocean monitors predicted that a tsunami would likely follow the deadly earthquake that hit the Indian Ocean on Sunday. But they didnt know who to inform.

"We put out a bulletin within 20 minutes, technically as fast as we could do it," said Jeff LaDouce, an official in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

LaDouce noted that they e-mailed Indonesian officials, but said that he wasnt aware what happened after they sent the e-mails.

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 Sundays deadly earthquake is that the Indian Ocean isnt guarded by such systems.

This tragedy was caused by a natural disaster. Could some lives had been saved by a better tsunami response system in SE Asia? I'd have to say so, but that's hardly the fault of America. What use are our warnings when the region in question has no system for responding to the warnings?

Lets just hope that the countries who were effected by this tragedy learn a lesson and invest some time and money in a warning system.