Reply #67: They didn't issue the warning

[sandnsea]

Because they didn't want to upset the tourism industry if it wasn't actually bad. They had the info. Some places had as much as 4 hours lead time from when the earthquake hit. This wasn't originally released. Plus, you're assuming there will always be that much forewarning on the west coast. I live here, I know there might well be as little as 30 minutes warning. Finally, that area doesn't tend to get hit by tsunamis the way the actual Pacific region does. That's why they didn't have a complete siren type warning system, not just money. And again, what good is a warning system if the tourism industry decides not to use it. In the end, the rich Westerners may have caused the deaths of these thousands of poor people. Between hotels that caused natives to live and work on the coasts where they never used to, changes in the coastline for shrimp beds and construction that used to break tidal waves, and not issuing the warning; I'd say I'm not proud to be born "rich" (ha) and Western at all.