Probably a naive question, but what the hell. (Re tsunami alert)

[Squatch]

This AM's earlier conversation about the NOAA's inability to disseminate a tsunami warning to relevent authorities in SE Asia has me wondering about something.

Are our scientists not, and pardon the overly-used alliteration, "thinking outside of the box"?

1) Quake occurs, NOAA determines that there is a significant tsunami threat in SE Asia.
2) They call and e-mail authorities in those nations.
3) They wait for news like the rest of us.

Now, I am not going to place blame with them at all. In fact, I think they operated well within the scope of their duty.

And, I guess that's what's bothering me. Not going above and beyond, so to speak.

A significant number of the people present in the disaster stricken areas were European, American, Australian tourists. These tourists bring all sorts of media materials with them including cell phones, laptop computers, PDAs, etc.

A number of the tourists down there were maintaining blogs of their vacations, sending updates of their activities back to their home countries. And, as we all know, news can travel with amazing speed over internet and other networks, a lot of times faster than the government.

1) Was this a missed opportunity for people at NOAA or other orgs to try to get the word out that way? They had about 6 total hours in which to identify a number of friends, relatives, bloggers, people in AIM chatrooms, etc. and start the ball moving.

2) How wired are these tourist spots? Are there internet cafes, digital cell communications, WiFi networks etc?

[NMDemDist2]

1. there was a post that the Thai authorities didn't want to "hurt tourism"

so didn't send out any warnings

here's a link

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1104420

[Squatch]

2. Yeah, I saw those...my question is asking about contacting

tourists directly.

[idiosyncratic]

5. I don't think they had anywhere near six hours to contact people

Those waves were traveling 500 miles an hour. Maybe they could have contacted people in Somalia, but just about anywhere else was too close to the epicenter to figure out how to get out the warning.

[theboss]

3. What if a panic starts and no tsunami happens?

I don't pretend to be an expert on this, but as an attorney, I can't imagine that warning the world of a potential natural disaster through a blog is a good idea. I think you give the information to the local authorities and leave it in their court.

When smallpox is released in DC, I don't want to get my warning from freakin' Wonkette.

[Squatch]

6. That was the authoritys' answer, too

What if we're wrong, we just destroyed the tourist season.

I'm not saying that NOAA and USGS establish a blog, but contact those people in SE Asia who are connected via internet, text messaging, cell phone, etc. and who can effect some sort of an evacuation.

[theboss]

11. Those people would be the president, governor, whatever

Again, I can't imagine a good system where a reporter from the Washington Post prepares and leads an evacuation. If the local authorities are not involved, all these plans are doomed to failire.

[DustMolecule]

4. Also, if you're on VACATION in as beautiful a spot as Phuket or

Phi Phi Island, for example, you're looking at the beautiful little jelly fish, sea anemones, coral, monkees, thinking about buying a $10 massage on the beach, going jet skiing, or admiring your wonderful SO (or, for the single, someone you haven't met yet)....you're NOT spending too much time being wired into the world. That's what you went on vacation to a place like that to get away FROM.

[Squatch]

7. Today, I have seen no less than one dozen bloggers

actively updating their websites from the Bangkok airport, on the island of Phuket, etc.

They are more connected than we think.

[DustMolecule]

13. Well, let's see.....for starters......

"from the Bangkok airport, on the island of Phuket"

Look at the map. Find Bangkok. Find Phuket. You really don't know your preliminary facts. The fact that bloggers are doing this TODAY after a MAJOR disaster - FROM THE AIRPORT is no surprise. End of discussion.



on edit: I hope you get the fact that Bangkok airport is no-where near Phuket, which has it's own airport AND Phuket is NOT an island.

[rman]

8. do scientists have to do everything?

"Was this a missed opportunity for people at NOAA or other orgs"

Maybe it's just me but i'd guess emergency response is a matter for "other organisations".

[Squatch]

9. NOAA is an emergency response organization

that maintains the tsunami warning system in the Pacific, among other functions.

[rman]

14. so what's with "are scientists not thinking outside the box"

that you cite as a possible cause for lack of warning?

[Solon]

10. The problem is that it would have taken hours to contact them...

Even with the advanced technology of today, you would need the Cell phone numbers, E-Mail Addresses, and also Web Addresses to even try to contact them. And even then, it would most likely be unsuccessful. If I was a tourist on the beach, cell phone rang, and some guy claiming to be from the NOAA said a tsunami was on the way, I would have said bullshit and hung up on him. Granted I would probably be dead because of that, but the point remains, there is no way to publically establish you are the authority in a situation like that without relying on local authorities, for bulletins and such. Hence the reason why NOAA should try to establish protocols and procedures with ALL authorities around the world, so that standardized warnings about natural disasters can be brought about in a timely manner that would actually save lives.

[Nothing Without Hope]

12. Maybe not six hours, but there should be a "super alert" protocol

This was one of the stories discussed earlier in the day:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&e=5&u=/usatoday/20041228/ts_usatoday/scientistsinusasawtsunamicoming

Minutes after a massive earthquake rocked the Indian Ocean on Sunday, international ocean monitors knew that a tsunami would likely follow. But they didn't know whom to tell.

"We put out a bulletin within 20 minutes, technically as fast as we could do it," says Jeff LaDouce of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. LaDouce says e-mails were dispatched to Indonesian officials, but he doesn't know what happened to the information.
(snip)
LaDouce notes that warnings are of little use without evacuation plans, given how quickly a tsunami can travel. Tsunami waves struck Sumatra minutes after the quake and hit Thailand within an hour.
(snip)

I agree that the tsnunami alerts should be blasted as loudly and broadly and quickly as possible, not just "sent through channels." This should be one of the first things that is changed in the international response to detection of tsunami hazards: there must be an "extreme urgency priority" news alert protocol. But to avoid more deaths due to chaos and confusion, there must also be practiced, practical evacuation plans in place that can be triggered by these alerts.

Less an hour is not a lot of time to work with. There are major challenges in setting up a protocol that has a realistic chance of saving lives the next time this happens. But it must be done.

In the meantime, why couldn't the scientists detecting the quake CALL the officials in the tsunami zones instead of sending an email that took 20 minutes, and then assuming someone would eventually read it and so something? This sounds INSANE to me, almost nonchalant as it is described in the story above.