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Oregon and RAINS (Regional Alliances for Infrastructure and Network Security) are launching a locally-targeted emergency alerting service featuring real-time tsunami warnings with evacuation routes.
'We are proud of this important enhancement that will ensure that our families and communities along the Oregon Coast remain safe in the event of a tsunami,' said Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski. 'By deploying RAINS' state-of-the-art technology, we can expand and accelerate the delivery of tsunami warnings to the coastal communities of Clatsop and Tillamook counties, which will also expedite the implementation of evacuation plans when necessary.'
RAINS' Connect & Protect service captures NOAA/National Weather Service's tsunami warnings when issued, and immediately sends localized alerts via computers, pagers and cell phones, to local citizens responsible for public safety - thus dramatically increasing the speed and reach of the warnings within a community.
Initial installations are in Oregon's Clatsop and Tillamook Counties and a pilot program is being launched in El Segundo, Calif. This service provides official warnings with associated response information directly to communities and citizens at risk of a tsunami and can be readily deployed in other communities at risk for Pacific tsunamis. In addition, this service will soon provide weather warnings, watches and advisories.
The Connect & Protect tsunami warning system is the nation's first state-sanctioned, community-sponsored targeted alert system for tsunami warning and response - and a direct result of the unique state-sponsored RAINS private/public alliance at work.
(Источник: govtech.net) |
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Coral buffeted by the Indian Ocean tsunami in December last year withstood the onslaught, according to an investigation of reefs in the Andaman Sea. The discovery contradicts anecdotal reports suggesting that the region's reefs had been decimated by the disaster.
Last week, Coral Cay Conservation, an international organization based in London, published an assessment of the damage to the coral reefs of the Surin Islands Marine National Park, a group of five jungle-covered, granite islands about 60 kilometres off the western coast of Thailand.
Coral Cay's team of marine scientists, led by researcher James Comley, measured damage to 28 kilometres of reef in February and March. They reported instances of upturned or broken coral, coral covered with sediment and coral displaced by the collapse of a reef.
But while some sites suffered severe damage, Comley's team concludes that overall, only 8% of the coral coverage before the tsunami will ultimately have been lost, even if all of the tsunami-damaged coral dies.
'This exceptionally low statistic was a surprise to the survey team,' says Comley. In other areas of Thailand, he says, 'the proportion of live coral damaged by the tsunami is many orders higher.'
However, the damage to reefs elsewhere may be less severe than feared, Comley says, because the researchers also observed early signs of regrowth in broken and upturned corals. 'It would appear that a healthy coral reef system may be capable of regenerating rapidly even in the aftermath of a natural event as momentous as a tsunami,' the report says.
(Источник: www.nature.com) |
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The international drive to help victims of the Asian tsunami faces difficult times, with frustration amongst survivors at the pace of reconstruction, the U.N.'s top aid official has warned.
Reporting on the United Nations' efforts some three months after the disaster that killed up to 300,000 people, Jan Egeland said the world's initial response had been hugely successful, but the problem now was to maintain the momentum of assistance.
'There is in some communities a growing frustration. They have heard of the large sums of money pledged but they have not yet got their house rebuilt nor their livelihood and it will take more time,' the U.N.'s disaster relief coordinator said.
Egeland said the United Nations was raising its initial appeal for help for countries around the Indian Ocean basin, particularly Indonesia and Sri Lanka which took the brunt of the December 26 earthquake and giant waves, to $1.08 billion (570 million pounds) from $970 million.
Some 80 percent of the appeal had already been raised or firmly pledged - a record response to a U.N. call for help. Total international promises of assistance stood at nearly $6 billion, although much of it could take years to materialise, he added.
The initial emergency response had provided food for some two million people, with a similar number receiving medical assistance, which helped prevent any major disease outbreaks.
'It has been a truly remarkable effort. In the United Nations we have never ever recorded such generosity,' he told a news conference.
(Источник: today.reuters.co.uk) |
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Why do some earthquakes spawn tsunamis that kill thousands while others hardly stir a ripple on the ocean surface?
'Thats one of the mysteries of seismic science,' said Caroline Bell, spokeswoman for the U.S. Geological Survey. 'We are hoping that with an increase in the seismic [monitoring] system ... in the Atlantic, Caribbean and around the world, [we] will be able to determine why some offshore earthquakes cause tsunamis and some dont.'
Monday nights quake in the Indian Ocean was centered 60 miles north on the same fault line of the earthquake on December 26, 2004, that launched tsunamis that left more than 300,000 people dead or missing.
'This looks like a fraternal twin of the December 26 earthquake,' said Kerry Sieh, a professor of geology at the California Institute of Technology. 'Its not a duplicate. It occurred a little bit further south, a couple kilometers further south. But its the same type of earthquake.'
The December quake was registered 9.0, the biggest in 40 years. The magnitude of the quake Monday night was recorded between 8.5 and 8.7, according to various monitoring agencies, but caused only a slight wave.
The USGS reported that a tide gauge near the Cocos Islands in the eastern Indian Ocean recorded a 'small' tsunami, but its size was unclear. The agency said no major tsunami was observed near the epicenter of the earthquake.
Robert Cessaro of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said Monday's quake could have sent its energy farther to the south than last year's quake.
'All that pressure to the north would have been relieved' by that quake, Cessaro said. 'We think this event probably ruptured to the south, with the beam of energy probably propagated to the south toward Mauritius and ... Rodrigues [islands].'
(Источник: edition.cnn.com) |
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A seismologist in India says that the country has moved closer to Indonesia due to the massive earthquake which triggered the tsunami in December. Dr Vineet Gahlaut said that India had shifted a few centimetres eastwards.
He said the earthquake had increased stress on the fault system separating India and Indonesia and heightened the threat of another big earthquake. Dr Gahlaut made his comments after a one-month survey of the Earth's surface in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
(Источник: news.bbc.co.uk) |
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The new strategy for tourism was presenting of behalf of the Royal Thai Government by Mrs Juthamas Siriwan , governor of Tourism Authority of Thailand, during her speech at the press conference held in Phuket last week. More than 1.000 travel editors, and tourism agents was invited by the Royal Thai Government and Thai Airways to inspect the areas of the country and to confirm that most of the areas are open and in operation.
The Thai government has appointed 9 sub-committees that are responsible to provide relief and aid recovery from the loss of lives, property, homes, businesses, jobs, and prosperity.
Last January, senior government officials of the Indian Ocean governments met in Phuket to finalize plans for establishing an early warning system against future tsunamis. The details and structure of Early Warning System Phase 1 will be completed and operational soon.
The plan involves a vast network of media communication links, radio and television, and SMS text message facilities and watchtowers. Awareness campaigns as well as special training programs will be conducted to help educate local people, tourism industry personnel, students, and tourists about what to do in case a tsunami strikes again.
The Thai government has designated a Tourism Restoration Committee, with full authority and resources to execute the following 5 main restoration strategies of Andaman Tourism.
(Источник: www.traveldailynews.com) |
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The Sri Lanka Red Cross Society (SLRCS) together with International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) and International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC) has pledged to repair 32 government hospitals in all districts affected by tsunami.
Accordingly at least one district hospital in each affected district throughout the country will be rehabilitated, a Sri Lanka Red Cross Society news release said.
SLRCS volunteers have provided first aid service to more than 36,000 affected people in Hambantota, Matara, Galle, Kalutara, Colombo, Puttalam, Mullativu, Kilinochchi, Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Ampara and Jaffna so far and more than 75,000 persons have been benefited from mobile health clinic services conducted by SLRCS.
Psychosocial counselling in various displaced centers such as in Ampara and Hambantota are being carried out by SLRCS Red Cross volunteers trained by Danish Red Cross are engaged in psycho-social counselling in Ampara, the message said.
The ICRC has delivered essential medical items such as vaccines, antibiotics and dressings to Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi hospitals. The ICRC has also provided chemicals for the central water pumping station in Colombo.
An Emergency Response Unit with 200 beds is operating in Mullativu with the support of the German Red Cross while Italian Red Cross has installed a water purification plant in Batticaloa with a production capacity of 5,400 litres per hour.
Sri Lanka Red Cross Society has also pledged to build 15,000 houses under the auspices of the government for the displaced throughout the country.
(Источник: www.dailynews.lk) |
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Prince Charles has seen first-hand the damage caused by the Asian tsunami on a visit to eastern Sri Lanka. The prince walked along a debris-strewn beach and talked to villagers in Batticaloa district, where one in 10 inhabitants died in the disaster.
He is later expected to meet the Sri Lanka President, Chandrika Kumaratunga, before travelling to Australia.
(Источник: news.bbc.co.uk) |
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Japan and the United States will provide early tsunami warnings as early as next month to nations battered by the December 26 waves which killed more than 290,000 people, an official said.
The Japanese weather agency and the US Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, based in Hawaii, will give their tsunami alerts as a stop-gap measure until the Indian Ocean nations have their own system which is expected in mid-2006.
'As soon as these countries have systems to receive warning information, we will start providing information, as early as March,' said Noritake Nishide, director of the Seismological and Volcanological Department at the Japan Meteorological Agency.
'To do that, we need to know who and which divisions are really responsible for taking, analyzing and disseminating our information to the public,' Nishida said.
The Japanese agency was considering using so-called global telecom systems, which can instantly transmit data worldwide en masse, as well as by conventional means such as fax and the Internet.
'If we have no choice but to use the Internet, we need to make sure whoever receives our information knows what he is getting. If we use fax machines, there is a danger that some countries could receive warnings faster than others. So we would rather avoid using that,' he said.
'And if they were confused by information from us and the US agency, I would suggest they take information with graver warnings,' the official said.
He made his remarks at the end of a three-day seminar by officials from 11 nations battered by the giant waves to see how Japan's tsunami warning systems work.
(Источник: news.yahoo.com) |
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Photographs from the camera of a Canadian couple killed in Asia's tsunami include their final shots of a huge wave as it rushed toward them at their beach resort in Thailand.
John and Jackie Knill of North Vancouver, frequent visitors to the popular Thai resort, Khao Lak, were apparently on the beach when the tsunami hit December 26.
The couple disappeared and relatives say they were notified about a week ago that the identities of their remains had been confirmed.
Searchers later also recovered the couple's destroyed digital camera but were able to print photos from its memory card.
In a sequence of photos over the course of a few minutes, some curious onlookers are shown wandering onto suddenly exposed tidal flats, a sign of the impending tsunami. In one, a large wave appears to be breaking in the distance.
The pictures show that within minutes, the wave grows larger and some beachgoers begin to take notice.
'I don't know why they didn't run,' their son Christian Knill told Global TV in Vancouver. 'Either they knew they couldn't or they didn't know the power of the wave.'
A photo taken at 8:30 a.m. shows a wall of water churning up sand and mud. A final shot a couple of minutes later shows the tsunami hitting the beach.
(Источник: edition.cnn.com) |
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