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| Southeast Asia |
| Bad Equipment Hurt Tsunami Warning Efforts |
| 2005-01-01 |
| I'll leave it to all of you as to just how disgusted I am by this article. BANGKOK, Thailand - Faulty equipment, poor communications and cumbersome bureaucracy are being blamed for the failure of nations around the Indian Ocean's rim to warn communities about to be hit by one of the world's most devastating natural disasters. Who'da thunk it? A sensor system in Indonesia that could have warned of Sunday's huge waves was not working because it had been hit by lightning. In India, bureaucrats faxed a warning of possible disaster to the wrong official. A Thai meteorologist acting on a hunch sent an alert to radio stations, but it doesn't appear the warning was widely relayed. Even if the Indian Ocean had an international tsunami alert system, like one in the Pacific, the warning likely would have come too late for the people of Sumatra, the Indonesian island closest to the epicenter of the magnitude 9 earthquake that set off the killer waves. Indonesian officials said they do have a bare-bones sensor system to gauge the possibility of a tsunami hitting the nation's main island of Java — but it was knocked out by a lighting strike two weeks before the disaster. No hurry to fix that balky little item. Yet, even if had been working, Indonesian officials acknowledge they have no way to alert villages. "Even if we did know about the tsunami, how can we (disseminate) information," said Prih Harjadi of the Indonesian Meteorological & Geophysical Agency. Media reports of the tsunami also didn't prompt any alerts from the agency, he added. "We didn't call anyone because we didn't know who to call." File that excuse with, "Isn't this the way we always do it?" Most residents and foreign tourists in southern Thailand's resort region were caught unaware. "There was no warning from the meteorological department or any other agencies," said Phuket Gov. Udomsak Asawarangkul. An alert of some kind got through to some places — at a few beaches officials yelled through bull horns telling tourists to get off the beaches. Most people got no warning. "The (first) warning was that the ocean went out and people were walking down the beach wondering why there were fish flapping on the sand," said Steve Hall, an Australian who moved to Thailand a decade ago. "By the time they realized, it was too late." Darwin had already entered the building. Kathawudhi Marlairojanasiri, a meteorological department weather forecast chief on duty Sunday, said the office did send warnings to radio and television stations an hour before the first waves hit — on a hunch the quake off Sumatra might trigger tsunami waves. Thai authorities apparently didn't relay it, in fear of scaring tourists with a possible false alarm. "Pesky things those false alarms, always scaring off the rubes." "Five years ago, the meteorological department issued a warning of possible tidal wave after an earthquake happened in Papua New Guinea but the tourism authority complained that such a warning, if it turned out to be false, would hurt tourism," said Sulamee Prachuab, director of Meteorological Department's Seismological Bureau. Wouldn't want to hurt tourism now, would we? "There was a 7.6-magnitude earthquake occurred in the same location in Sumatra five years ago but there was no tsunami," she added. The first word Indians got of the tsunami was on the news after the water roared ashore, even though waves swamped India's Andaman and Nicobar islands north of Sumatra an hour before they reached the southern coast of the Indian mainland. [Bugs Bunny] Stunning, isn't it? [/BB] Officials in southern India who had gotten a report from a military base on a Nicobar island mistakenly faxed the news to the home of the government's former science and technology minister, rather than his successor. "Dag nabbed Rolodexes are so complicated to maintain and operate!" "It looks like they forgot to update their records," said Ashok Kavdia, an aide of the former minister, who was away from home Sunday. Something tells me their employee files are about to be updated. Sri Lanka's president said Thursday that the leaders of a seven-member group of South Asian countries plan to discuss installing a disaster early warning system at a summit Jan. 9. The 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations will discuss the idea next week. For the Nth time. Even a high-tech warning system might not help India, a political analyst said. Nothing else much does. "In such disasters, we require rapid and specific responses. The Indian bureaucracy by its training and conditioning can't do it," said Balbir Arora, a New Delhi-based professor of public administration. Just a sidecourse in the recipe for disaster. |
| Posted by:Zenster |
| #11 You think people aren't sick and tired of your self-proclaimed, yet imaginary, perfection - on every topic? Think again. You think yourself clever, but you're a gutless turd with serious internal issues, as I and others have noticed. Some have even begun to call you out, in spite of agreeing with the anti-Caliphatist spew. It's that "anti-everyone who doesn't acknowledge you're important" thingy that's causing notice. You're not. Must hurt an ego of such grand dimensions and appetite. Nah, you're just a pressure cooker of conflict and bullshit and moonbattery. A faux expert. Your need for therapy is pathetic and cowardly. Face your fucked up mental issues and demons on your own time, junior. Had you the balls to ever admit you've gone over the top here and there, I'd cut you some slack. But that's not in your makeup, apparently. You are not the worldly or wise connoiseur and expert you pretend to be - ivory-tower hypocritical asshole wannabee cuts far closer to the bone. |
| Posted by: .com 2005-01-02 12:00:39 AM |
| #10 I have plenty of compassion for the suffering masses. It's just that at some point, the corrupt governments that are killing off these suffering masses must be brought into line or we will end up facilitating the slaughter of those suffering people. Much like Iraq. With the advent of 9-11, I've reached my limit for these nations and how they breed up terrorism. The governments that assist or benignly neglect terrorist activity need to be brought down. Their own people will benefit as a result and so will America's security. Your aspersions are way off target, .com. In light of your own well-known "fry 'em up" attitude, your accusations of me being "compassionless" are nothing short of hilarious. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2005-01-01 11:45:06 PM |
| #9 Overlapped. But I see nothing that substantiates or justifies the hateful and compassionless attitude. |
| Posted by: .com 2005-01-01 11:24:32 PM |
| #8 No response? Well then, I'll expound to clarify any confusion... I had suspicions, but you've floored me with the true depth, the wicked acidity, and the boiling temperature of the bile in which you stew. Had you only been in charge or been a consultant everyone kow-towed to for the corrupt governments of these peasants... I had no idea you were prescient and would have known - somehow - of the impending disaster and - somehow - would have staved it off by - somehow - getting the broken parts of the warning system in place and - somehow - used the crude but crucial information provided to - somehow - alert those stupid superstitious phoneless remote villagers all across the region. How dare they be less visionary, less savvy, less sanctimonious! It does occur, to me at least, that these aren't murderous barbaric sycophants of a brutal backward 7th century ideology - where you customarily vent your excess internal pressure - and receive little negative feedback, of course. No - these are, reflecting upon your limitless scorn and derision, merely children of a lesser God. For it's become more than clear you have a religion. It is the Perfect Light of Secular Wisdom. Hubris is its God. Contempt and Scorn are its Archangels. Zenster is its Prophet. Apparently there are no seats left, so all of the remaining aspects of the great good dumb fucking luck of being born where and when you were, charity and compassion among them, must wait outside. Besides, God's busy: the blasphemers of paganistic superstitious backward lesser Gods are getting their due from the One True God, at the moment. It's take a number time at God's Customer Service Counter. Oracle, thy name is Zenster. Same goes for arrogance, churlish, miserly, parsimonious, and ego maniacal. Zenless is more accurate. Lol! I just had a vision of you being born in a poor Thai (or Sri Lankan) fishing village... now you're the "head waiter" at a resort restaurant taking orders and derision and scorn and contempt from some dumb fat German tourist, wealthy beyond your wildest dreams, who thinks his bubbly is below par... now that is zen. Bon apetit! |
| Posted by: .com 2005-01-01 11:22:52 PM |
| #7 So, if I may ask, how did you come to choose Zenster? Was it as vicious parody? Or because it sounds spiffy to you? Or is it something else - such as incredible irony? I'm amazed that it took this long for someone to ask. My handle is Zenster because Zen is the name of the wolf-hybrid that I own. I also enjoy studying Zen because it is one of the few philosophies that doesn't demand blind faith or much of anything else except sharpness of wit and depth of character. Unlike most major religions, Zen actually prizes the "charismatic imperfection" of mankind, instead of reviling it. As to being out amongst the great unwashed, my travel destinations have included Mexico, Taiwan and Armenia. Going to Mexico, I drove round-trip the entire length of the Baja Peninsula myself and never stayed in a single hotel. Nor did I stay in a hotel in Armenia, during mid-Winter. While in Taiwan, I routinely walked the streets instead of always taking a cab, unlike my colleagues. I made a point of talking to the natives at every opportunity. I also traveled into Tai Pei almost every weekend so that I could learn more about the Taiwanese culture. I've hitch-hiked through Canada in the dead of winter and gone on lots of other uncomfortable treks as well, like a 100 mile canoe trip. Nice try, .com, but you're not talking to an armchair traveler. I just happen to be sick and tired of hearing so many third world countries that we dump all these billions into keep telling us that they just don't have the money for minor expenses like a functioning civil alert system or disaster preparedness. The "for want of a nail" excuse wears thin after sending over several truckloads of nail kegs. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2005-01-01 11:21:30 PM |
| #6 Often, the nym chosen by a poster serves as excellent troll-sign. For instance, people calling themselves Peace, Patriot, Love Our Soldiers, Truth, etc are among the most egregious shrieking moonbats and disingenuous trolls. Here in RB we get them. Some of my favorites are Slumming, Gentle, and my current favorite Dodo, Winged Avenger. So, if I may ask, how did you come to choose Zenster? Was it as vicious parody? Or because it sounds spiffy to you? Or is it something else - such as incredible irony? Methinks your understanding of Zen maxes out at the cute little wai of the waiter when he delivers room service - or have you ever actually been "over there" amongst the pagans? You know, outside the hotel and everything, rubbing shoulders with the little brown people. Just asking. Of course, your answer to that may or may not be honest, but your in-line commentary in this article leaves no doubt. |
| Posted by: .com 2005-01-01 10:20:17 PM |
| #5 With perfect hindsight far from the event, and any responsibility, 'tis easy to whip 'em like the curs they are, eh? Not sure who you're referring to, .com. But out of the entire lot, only Kathawudhi Marlairojanasiri comes across like someone who was supposed to be doing their job. Marlairojanasiri should be promoted to disaster warning chief ahead of all other applicants. While hindsight may always be 20/20, hearing "for want of a nail, a kingdom was lost" gets a little tiresom after hearing it for the Nth time. "In such disasters, we require rapid and specific responses. The Indian bureaucracy by its training and conditioning can’t do it," said Balbir Arora, a New Delhi-based professor of public administration. The top-heavy and bureaucracy fettered Indian government is essentially incapable of providing adequate emergency warning. Yet, India is rejecting all outside help in dealing with this crisis. I don't hear the least shred of change in the wind for that disastrous equation. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2005-01-01 4:47:06 PM |
| #4 Being a Desert rat,I haven't been around the ocean.But I know if I was sitting on the beach,looked and the water was quickly disappering it's tie to get the hell out of Dodge. |
| Posted by: Raptor 2005-01-01 8:24:55 AM |
| #3 in India, bureaucrats faxed a warning... So when someone breaks into my house I should fax the former fire chief's home? Right? |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2005-01-01 8:03:55 AM |
| #2 With perfect hindsight far from the event, and any responsibility, 'tis easy to whip 'em like the curs they are, eh? Massive Classic Hypocrisy. |
| Posted by: .com 2005-01-01 6:52:03 AM |
| #1 A tragic consequence of human errors and stupidity. Humans are like that. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom 2005-01-01 6:40:32 AM |