Reply #14: Actually, the scientists DID tell them -- but no evacuation system

[Nothing Without Hope]

It's heartbreaking - there was no one to spread the word and no system in place to warn or evacuate the potential victims. Talks are now -- FINALLY -- scheduled to organize such a system among the countries bordering the Indian Ocean.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&e=5&u=/usatoday/20041228/ts_usatoday/scientistsinusasawtsunamicoming

Scientists in USA saw tsunami coming

Tue Dec 28, 7:11 AM ET

By Dan Vergano, USA TODAY

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.

The problem is that Sunday's earthquake struck the unmonitored Indian Ocean. An international system of buoys and monitoring stations - the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center based in Hawaii - spans the Pacific, alerting nations there to any oncoming disasters. But no such system guards the Indian Ocean.
(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)