Reply #56: Not really

[Xithras]

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Network was built and staffed by the United States for one purpose...to protect the PACIFIC coasts from a repeat of the 1964 quake that killed people from Alaska to California. The detection buoys are simply the first link in an established network that stretches from the middle of the ocean to the desks of local law enforcement in every coastal town and county in the US. When a tsunami is detected, everyone knows exactly who to call and which alerts to send.

Contrary to oft-spoken belief, we DO have the ability to contact other nations that we detect tsunamis heading towards, but the entire network is tuned towards the Pacific ocean. If we detect a large quake generated tsunami in the Pacificour phone trees have local and national contact numbers for emergency response facilities in nations from Micronesia to Japan, China, or Canada.

The problem in this case was simply that the tsunami was detected OUTSIDE of the area the network was designed to monitor, so there was no protocol in place to quickly contact those nations and perform the evacuations. Despite that, we DID manage to contact some areas, including Thailand, before the wave hit. Those governments themselves were either unable or unwilling to propogate the message to their citizens.