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Coffee House => Coffee House Boards => CH / Science and Technology => Topic started by: asian1 on December 26, 2004, 12:37:42 PM
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Hi
There is a tsunami warning system in Pacific Ocean.
Is it possible to create a similar system in Indian Ocean?
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http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=7179121
The world's fifth-largest quake in a century hit southern Asia on Sunday, unleashing a tsunami that crashed into Sri Lanka and India, drowning thousands and swamping tourist isles in Thailand and the Maldives.
A wall of water up to 10 meters (30 feet) high triggered by the 8.9 magnitude earthquake swept into Indonesia, over the coast of Sri Lanka and India and across southern Thai tourist islands, leaving up to 3,100 feared dead in seaside towns and villages.
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I know it may seem calous, but be thankful that this was out to sea, had it been right next to a major city, such as tokyo or LA, then the death toll would have been much greater.
As for a warning system, I would imagine that its only so good as you've got time to give out a warning, looking at a map of where this happened, any such warning would not have made it out in time to save many if any.
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Hum,
yeah, the tsunamis travel fast, about 600mph...
that would leave only about 1-2 hours (max) before it hit the worst affected coasts and islands.
But then again , its a question of money and resourses.
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Hi
The latest update: 23000 people are dead.
The tsunami had reached East Africa and Oman/Yemen.
2 people in Kenya, 9 people in Seychelles and 16 people in Somalia are dead. Fortunately East African governments had issued warnings.
If there were no warning in Africa, the number of casualties may reach 40 thousand / more.
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East African Standard:
Two people were reportedly killed and a third seriously injured in Watamu late yesterday as the Kenyan coastal beaches were hurriedly evacuated to avert a disaster linked to a tidal wave occasioned by a strong earthquake which devastated southern Asia claiming more than 7,000 people. Property of unknown value including boats was destroyed near Watamu location where the effects of the tidal wave was severe. The dead were identified by the local community.
They were swimming at the time and were swept by the raging waves.
The Government immediately issued an alert urging for great care for those inhabiting the more than 1,000 kilometre Kenyan coastline.
Environment Minister Kalonzo Musyoka said people living on the path of the phenomenon should take precautions against and avoid venturing into the beaches until further notice.
Kalonzo told The Standard, he had been in touch with his counterpart in the Indian Ocean island of Sychelles where the biggest impact of tsunami on the east African coast had been felt earlier in the day.
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Independent Online (South Africa):
In the Seychelles, nine people were reported missing and a key bridge linking the country's main airport and the capital, Victoria, was destroyed. In Somalia, at least 16 people were feared dead.
Nine people were reported missing in the north-eastern Kabaal region, and seven in the port of Elmaan, 35km north of Mogadishu.
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Putting this very simply.......... man is nothing put up against mother nature, it just shows how weak we realy are against such an uncontollable force of power.
This is a sad time indeed.
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/me takes his hat off and stays silent for a minute to honour the dead.
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My best mate went back out to Thailand about a month ago.
He rang me either late on Christmas night or early on the 26th and told me that he was 'running away from the weather', or something. (I was rather drunk at the time and didn't think much of it.)
I haven't been able to contact him since. I'm sure he'll be OK but it is a little worrying.
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@swift240,
"man is nothing put up against mother nature"
I'm sure somebody will try to link this with man made global warming. I can hardley wait to hear this spin.
Chris
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hum,
seems that a proposed tsunami early warning system was rejected last year.
link: (http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2004/12/27/latest/20384Government&sec=latest)
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More fuel for the great earthquake machine conspiracy theory i think...
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I'm watching the news report on BBC right now and am moved to tears knowing that 20,000+ lives have been lost at a time of year when we like to remember those closest to us.
Without intentionally being OTT I find myself weeping almost uncontrollably as I learn more about what happened. I hope that each of us can find it within ourselves to make a contribution to the aid efforts, to in some small way help those who's lives have been affected in this awful tragedy.
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Greetings,
I'm really far from danger yet it could/may happen here since most of these things are tectonic in orign. Asia is sitting on a time bomb just waiting to blow anytime(ring of fire). In this century, according to BBC this the worse. The last big-one was in Alaska which killed thousands.
Thanks U.N. countries for your help. Keep it comming(help).
/me mourn in silence for the thousands have died helplessly.
:cry:
Regards,
Gizz72
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This is an absolutely monumental disaster and my thoughts are with the dead and their relatives.
Hard to believe that something over 7 times more of a disaster than 9/11 could happen but it has :-(
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But even with a warning system, where would you run on, for example, the Maldives :-(. I can't believe there's anything left of those atolls.....
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The authorities did get a warning, but they chose not to follow it, because it might harm tourism. :pissed:
The death toll is now over 40000.
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Hum,
I think most geostationary survey satellites couldn’t actually pick up the small height differences in the sea - they `re mostly designed to look at land usage.
However, I managed to find a NOAA QuickTime movie of the event
here (http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/video/tsunami-indonesia12-2004.qt)
(http://mysite.freeserve.com/blobrana/newpic/12.27.04.noaa.tsunami.jpg)
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Minion wrote:
This is an absolutely monumental disaster and my thoughts are with the dead and their relatives.
Hard to believe that something over 7 times more of a disaster than 9/11 could happen but it has :-(
actually, it's NOT hard to believe there are and have been more disasters than 9-11.
there have been volcanic explosions that have wiped out species......a long time ago, but still
the difference is that I can respect "mother nature". one has to.
but i will never respect a bunch of idiots who think their petty concerns are more important than anyone elses and that justifies harming people. and I'll never respect other idiots thinking that gives them the excuse to start wars.
none of these persons understand the enormity of nature, and that life is a one time deal. lose it and you lose forever.
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JFC!!! The death toll is now over 55000! :-(
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Animation (http://staff.aist.go.jp/kenji.satake/animation.gif) of the wave (probably similar to the .mov posted earlier, wasn't able to watch that).
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UN Warns of Huge Bill as Tsunami Toll Mounts (http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3936867) [Scotsman.com]
The cost of rescues and reconstruction is going to cost billions of dollars!
The US has given $35 million dollars in aid (the republicans spent $240 million on advertising alone in the run-up to the elections.) They were just gonna give $15 million until the UN called them stingy. And good old Blighty has forked out a whopping £15 million.
These might seem like vast sums of money to you and me but on a global scale it really is peanuts. Nothing near the billions needed which could easily be afforded. It shows how much our governments really care about people.
-zudo
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various (http://jlgolson.blogspot.com/2004/12/tsunami-video.html) movies, stills, etc.
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An update to my earlier post...
Britons Donate to Disaster Appeal on 'Unprecedented' Scale (http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3944409)
After our governments shockingly poor gesture of aid to the tune of £15 million, many Britons were unsatisfied and we have put our hands in our pockets and raised a further £22 million. Showing the governments donation up for what it was, they have had to react and be a tiny weenie bit more generous - the new figure from new labour is £50 million.
hmm.
I'm still not particularly satisfied with this. We could easily do better. I have an idea, lets ditch the ID card and personal information database (http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?t=13110) idea that most people don't really want (or shouldn't if they do ;-) ) which is going to cost countless billions and give the kind of aid that is really needed. A hundred times what we've raised so far would be more like it. And the US could be even less "stingy" if it really wanted to too.
-zudo
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QuikSanz wrote:
"man is nothing put up against mother nature"
I'm sure somebody will try to link this with man made global warming. I can hardley wait to hear this spin.
Get over that and have some f**king respect.
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@ zudobug,
"The US has given $35 million dollars in aid (the republicans spent $240 million on advertising alone in the run-up to the elections."
1) The $240 million did not come from the government.
2) The $35 million is just the first in the pipeline. OUR planes need to be scheduled on pace. Where are yours?
3) Our government and people will deliver more than any 2 or 3 other countries combined.
4) That number is only what is going thru the decrepid UN. With their track record, I wouldn't want to go thru them either. They, ahem, misplace more money than my government.
Chris
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@ that_punk_guy,
So sorry old boy. Attacking my compasion won't cut it. I am in amazment at what happened. It can happen here where I live, west coast US. What I do despise are people trying to increase their credibility on others suffering. So, read it another way. Try looking at it from a 90 degree perspective.
Chris
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QuikSanz wrote:
@ that_punk_guy,
So sorry old boy. Attacking my compasion won't cut it. ..... What I do despise are people trying to increase their credibility on others suffering.
And who would that be?
I only see one person doing that in this thread.
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@ Wilse,
Lets start with those who are throwing harpoons at us because "we're stingy"
Chris
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can we PLEASE not make this a pissing contest about who is more "generous", less stingy, etc , ad nauseum.
there's a mindboggling amount of misery on the other side of the earth. let's stay focused.
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I take it I'm the guy wielding harpoons in Chris' mind. I believe this to be either another case of me being seen to be American-people-bashing when in fact I only intend (rightly or wrongly) to bash the American government, or a case of patriotism created resentment because I *am* bashing the great, powerful and unquestionable Bush government. Either way I couldn't care less and make no apologies.
If this dude is right and the US (government) are going to be much more favourable to the people in desperate need then I am all for it and I salute them for it. And I have read about and acknowledge the vast sums of money being raised by American people and I salute them too.
Seeing as this is such a touchy subject I'll let it drop. But I stand by what I have said no matter how others will try yet again to distort me.
[edit]Whoops, forgot the important bit:
My comment about the US (government not people) was an after-thought and I wish I hadn't bothered making it now. I'm more concerned with our government being "stingy". So I guess I'm antiUK too. I'm anti-myself. It sux.[/edit]
-zudo
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@ cecilia,
Yes Ma'am, just getting tired of all the bashing.
Chris
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Bash, bash! (http://members.lycos.nl/vbbtestsite/tsunami_aid_bs.jpg)
;-)
If it's any consolation I do know that the USA will donate a lot of money to this appeal, even though it's economy isn't particularly good at the moment (not a problem to the UK, who have donated approximately 100 million dollars so far). But these people need it now. They are going to die of starvation and disease and don't have any use for promises. America could donate more than the whole world put together, but less would be okay - it just needs to be done NOW.
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U.S. ups tsunami aid from $35 million to $350 million (http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/12/31/us.aid/index.html)
Actual details seem sketchy, though.
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Well being a newly jobles bum I have managed to attack my fat by third world standards wallet and danate to the cause.
Have al of you. I just hope the toll would stop :( 125,000 at last count. It beggars belief :(
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Well being a newly jobles bum I have managed to attack my fat by third world standards wallet and danate to the cause.
Have al of you. I just hope the toll would stop :( 125,000 at last count. It beggars belief :(
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Yep and 17 billion to save iraq. :|
Disgusts me. :-?
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Well being a newly jobles bum I have managed to attack my fat by third world standards wallet and danate to the cause.
Have al of you. I just hope the toll would stop :( 125,000 at last count. It beggars belief :(
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Minion wrote:
Yep and 17 billion to save iraq. :|
Disgusts me. :-?
:roll:
How much did we spend putting a footprint on the moon? Is it disgusting, even though it's not "instead" of the aid?
I don't see any connection.
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Minion wrote:
Well being a newly jobles bum I have managed to attack my fat by third world standards wallet and danate to the cause.
Have al of you. I just hope the toll would stop :( 125,000 at last count. It beggars belief :(
We don't usually donate to any specific cause individually, but we did bite the bullet and cough up quite a bit this time... regrettably the amount was decided on impulse and will hurt me a bit next month. :/
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Lots of fresh information about the disaster and relief efforts in the area can be found on the following blog:
The South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami Blog (http://tsunamihelp.blogspot.com/)
-zudo
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It's a little lame to bash the U.S. for not supporting the victims with more money. After all, the general tone on this board, is that the U.S. should stop meddeling in other peoples' affairs. :-P
On a more serious note, I have to admit that I find this whole thing to be wierd. Right now 0,4‰ of Sweden's population is simply gone (not that many people, I know, but for example in a country like USA it would mean over 100 000)
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QuikSanz wrote:
@ Wilse,
Lets start with those who are throwing harpoons at us because "we're stingy"
Your original comment was that someone would try to blame it on global warming, which is what you were picked up on.
Your excuse for this ridiculous comment is now that someone accused your government of being 'stingy'?
I'm not seeing the connection.
150,000 people now dead. :-(
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Wilse wrote:
150,000 people now dead. :-(
Truly awful.
I think we all need to keep focused on doing what we can and not arguing for a change.
PS: First post since coming back - suffice to say I wish it were under happier circumstances.
For what it's worth, Happy New Year.
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Hi
In Aceh, similar to Brazil, on certain month, the sea will surge slowly to the coastal area and create lagoons / lakes for several weeks. Because of global warming, the size of submerged area increase each year.
The rise of sea level may increase the damage from the Tsunami by increasing the size of disaster area.
Aceh really need good communication & wireless Internet (for aid distribution /coordination). The wireless can also be used for future schools in Aceh.
The military often use Aerostat / Baloon for rapid deployment of wireless telecommunication.
If Aceh can get project Capanina, perhaps this baloon can also be used for:
1. Tsunami early warning system by receiving signals from buoy / instruments at the sea.
2. Replacing BTS / damaged Cellphone network.
3. TV, radio transmission.
4. High speed internet for aid distribution / coordination.
5. Education in future schools.
6. Tele Medicine / major hospitals / medical specialist can support small regional hospitals.
7. Radar / Air Traffic regulator.
Is it possible to implement / buy Capanina from EU for Aceh / Srilanka?
http://www.capanina.org
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Wilse wrote:
150,000 people now dead. :-(
160k ppl dead
gosh let that body count stop (well, not the actual counting of the bodies, just, no more dead, please)
160k dead, that's too much, way too much
Governments should for once stop thinking about themselves and send some REAL help
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Karlos,
I think we all need to keep focused on doing what we can and not arguing for a change.
But what can we do? Where do we go from here? There is a very good Leader article (http://www.newstatesman.com/200501100001) in the New Statesman this week with some suggestions which are worth look at:
It would be wrong to belittle the generosity of many westerners - often those who, by the standards of their own societies, are hard up - and wrong, too, to deny that it may be more uplifting to give voluntarily than to be forced to contribute through taxation. Yet the hard truth is that, if we really wish to help developing countries, we have to do more than deny ourselves a few glasses of wine. We have to pay more for the goods we buy from those countries; allow them more favourable terms of trade; forgive them many billions of pounds in debt; permit them to manufacture and sell cheaper medicines; require multinationals to repatriate more of their profits; welcome economic migrants more warmly; pledge a fixed proportion of our national income in aid for years to come. All these are within the power of governments, rather than individuals, and all would have uncomfortable implications for western consumers, western jobs, western businesses, western financial institutions and western economies in general. Do Gordon Brown and Tony Blair really have the courage to propose and see through such a programme? And would people vote for them if they did?
Sorry for the big quote. I had trouble trimming that down and gave in.
If anything positive is to come from this terrible event it might be to prove that we who have been very fortunate to be born in rich countries (or be accepted residence in them) do care about our brothers and sisters in poor parts of the world and do want to reduce or even end their suffering, even if it means causing ourselves some inconvenience.
As I've already gone overboard, here's the final part of the article on the questions about how God could allow such a thing as the tsunami to happen:
These are the wrong questions, and atheists have no business wasting their time on them. It is far more pertinent to ask how human beings, particularly the more powerful and wealthy among us, can remain indifferent to a daily toll of poverty, disease and hunger that it is well within their means to end. The condition of Africa and much of Asia questions our humanity, not the divinity of a hypothetical God.
Amen to that.
-zudo