Naturally, the armchair quarterbacks in Congress criticized the U.S. government's NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.)
"The U.S. weather agency didn't have the phone numbers nor staff to alert all Indian Ocean coastal countries when it saw the first signs that tsunamis could be heading their way."
"In the face of stern questioning by some in Congress over whether enough was done, the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said his agency did all it was responsible for doing in warning 26 countries in the Pacific."
" "We cannot watch tsunamis in the Indian Ocean," said Conrad C. Lautenbacher, the Commerce Department's undersecretary for oceans and atmosphere and a retired Navy vice admiral, noting that no warning system exists for all 11 countries where the death toll has now topped 117,000."
On their website, NOAA said:
"NOAA scientists at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii went to work within minutes of getting a seismic signal that an earthquake occurred off the west coast of Northern Sumatra, Indonesia. NOAA issued a bulletin indicating no threat of a tsunami to Hawaii, the West Coast of North America or to other coasts in the Pacific Basin—the area served by the existing tsunami warning system established by the Pacific rim countries and operated by NOAA in Hawaii."
"NOAA scientists then began an effort to notify countries about the possibility that a tsunami may have been triggered by the massive 9.0 undersea earthquake. The Pacific Basin tsunami warning system did not detect a tsunami in the Indian Ocean since there are no buoys in place there. Even without a way to detect whether a tsunami had formed in the Indian Ocean, NOAA officials tried to get the message out to other nations not a part of its Pacific warning system to alert them of the possibility of a tsunami. However, the tsunami raced across the ocean at speeds up to 500 mph."
Then there's this story:
"Thailand's foremost meteorologists, meeting in a crisis session before the tsunami hit, decided not to issue a warning "out of courtesy to the tourism industry," according to a report in the Thai paper The Nation. The economic impact on the nation's tourism industry dissuaded them from warning those most in danger."
posted by jr at 02:33 P.M. EST on Fri Dec 31, 2004 #
An e-mail I received:
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Subject: help tsunami victims and enjoy a bowl of New Year's soup of blessing
On this Sunday (Jan. 2) at 1 pm, Hanmi Covenant Presbyterian Church, located at Secor and Central, across the Westgate Shopping mall, is going to treat a bowl of Korean traditional New Year's Soup for those who come in and make financial contribution to a Christian NGO in Sri Lanka called LEADS(Lanka Evangelical Alliance Development Service) helping the Tsunami victims in Sri Lanka.
The soup, called 'tdug-kuk' in Korean, has very gentle taste, similar to egg drop soup, made of rice cake. Traditionally Koreans eat this soup on the New Year's day hoping for fortune, health and prosperity for the upcoming year.
The soup treat starts at 1 pm for two hours. The money will be used for medicines, food, bedding and later for contructing homes through LEADS. Distribution will be done through local churches or NGOs who have strong presence locally.
For further information, please call pastor Kim at 419-410-7452.
posted by jr at 02:41 A.M. EST on Sat Jan 01, 2005 #
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