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Asian
and a number of governments were warned some
months ago that the Indian Ocean was threatened
by a tsunami and they should set up an
early-alarm system. Undoubtedly a warning
network would have saved the lives of thousands
who perished as a result of colossal undersea
earthquake, according to one of the world's
foremost tsunami expert.
"My conservative
estimate is that 90 per cent of the lives would
have been saved and, more realistically, 95 per
cent," said a retired federal government
scientist who helped established Canada's West
Coast tsunami alert program.
"Sure, there would
have been some loss of life from the earthquake
itself, which we cannot do anything about, but
in this case, the earth-quake itself killed very
few people. It was the tsunami that did all the
damage." The scientist pointed to Japan as an
example of a country that is hit regularly by
tsunamis and suffers few casualties. "The waves
are totally predictable," the scientist said.
"From where this earthquake happened to hit, the
travel time for waves to hit the tip of India
was four hours. That's enough time for a
warning." In June, experts at a meeting of the
UN Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission
concluded that the "Indian Ocean has a
significant threat from both local and distant
tsunamis" and should have a warning network.
While we may not have a major destructive
tsunami tomorrow or next year, certainly it will
happen one of these days, and we should be
prepared.
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