By Elizabeth Miles
The twin earthquake-tsunami disaster in Indonesia late last week raised new questions about how prepared the global system is to react to future events. Since the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami devastated countries throughout the region, a global system of regional and national centers has sprung up to react to the first tremors along the ocean floor. The response of individual countries now largely relies on a densely interconnected system of seismological data detection centers and high-tech ocean buoys. The regional data analysis and dissemination systems in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, in the Northeast Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Caribbean provide one strong example of international cooperation. “Tsunami forecasting is an excellent example of how science, diplomacy, and [international relations] come together for common good and to save lives,” said Christa von Hillebrandt-Andrade, the manager of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and National Weather Service’s Caribbean Tsunami Warning Program in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. When a major wave propagates, as Harry Yeh, a professor of engineering at Oregon State University, put it, “it’s not the one country’s business.” The four regional tsunami warning and mitigation systems operate under the guidance of UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission.
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But once the tsunami warning is transmitted to regional and national tsunami warning centers, the national capability to mitigate damage depends on how prepared countries are to send emergency messages and evacuation orders, mobilize emergency services, shut down some areas of infrastructure and transportation, and respond to injuries. After the recent Indonesia disaster cost more than 1,500 lives, there have been immediate questions as to the failure of the cellphone and siren alert system. In addition, many coastal communities still need more training in how to respond at the individual level, said von Hillebrandt-Andrade and Diego Arcas, the director of the NOAA Center for Tsunami Research at the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle.
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