The Wall Street Journal explains today why no warnings made their way to Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, and other areas struck by the Tsunami.
As it turned out, a number of earthquake centers around the world - seismologists in Indonesia, Japan, and Australia alerted officials in their countries within a half hour that a serious earthquake had occurred, and the Australian officials did in fact determine that a tsunami was likely. But the information didn't find its way to foreign governments, because there was concern about "overstepping diplomatic protocol."
Fuck diplomatic protocol, is what I say. What's needed is a series of networks around all oceans that operate independently of diplomatic channels. One each for the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans; the South China Sea; etc. Ideally, it should be be publicly accessible network that both feeds raw data and interpretations, allowing local officials, hotels, and individuals to make decisions on their own.
Raw readings of seismic and other events should include alert triggers and visualization that shows confirmation. Threats to particular areas can be visualized, both in terms of severity and probability. People should be able to link in with SMS blasts, e-mail, or even phone calls.
This would only cost a few million dollars and could save countless lives the next time something like this happens. One thing's for sure: keep diplomats out of it.
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