Long-time U.S. Senate colleagues Dan Inouye of Hawaii and Ted Stevens of Alaska have joined with others to introduce The Tsunami Preparedness Act (S.50) to "modernize the nation's tsunami warning and mitigation capabilities", according to a press release issued by the Senate Commerce Committee today.
“The appalling scope of the Indian Ocean tragedy illustrates the importance and necessity of our work of the past ten years, and with stark clarity, we can see that despite our best efforts, much remains to be done,” said Inouye. “Now, as before, Senator Stevens and I have come together to lead the charge toward national and international tsunami preparedness.”
The Act's summary includes encouraging references to so-called low-tech communications methods as advocated by this web log: "This (NOAA research) program shall investigate, in consultation with the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information and the Federal Communications Commission, the potential for improved communications systems for tsunami and other hazard warnings, including telephones, wireless and satellite technology, the Internet, television and radio, and any innovative combination of these technologies."
The senators are encouraged to immediately require NOAA to disclose its current planning to issue warnings over TV and radio after earthquakes that may trigger tsunamis. By its own admission, NOAA did not alert news organizations with global reach after the Sumatra earthquake and before the tsunami struck some Indian Ocean countries. This web log believes lives were lost because of the apparent absence of communications planning to issue alerts through existing technology, including broadcast and cable television and radio.
There's no reason to wait for these plans to be disclosed, and if they haven't even yet been written, Congress would do well to require NOAA's immediate compliance.
Doug Carlson
Honolulu, HI
January 24, 2005
www.DougCarlsonCommunications.com
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