7 January 2005
The Great Sumatra Earthquake and Tsunami
Forrest M. Mims III
Space scientists have placed a weather satellite in orbit around Mars, landed robotic rovers on its surface and are now planning a seismic network for the red planet.
Meanwhile, the catastrophic magnitude 9 earthquake and resulting tsunamis off the western coast of Sumatra on 26 December 2004 dramatically and tragically illustrate how much we do not understand about our own planet.
Thousands of lives might have been saved had there been a tsunami warning system in place. Many sites within and around the rim of the Pacific Ocean have tsunami warning systems. Indian Ocean nations apparently have none.
Various towns and communities along the coast of the Hawaiian islands have experience with tsunamis. The solar-powered tsunami warning siren in Fig. 1 is one of many around the Big Island of Hawaii.
Because the huge magnitude 9 quake off Sumatra was detected by seismometers around the world, was the possibility of a tsunami anticipated?
The answer is yes. Seismologists from several countries were quoted in various news stories as having said they were aware of a tsunami possibility. However, they said warnings were ignored, or they either lacked the contact information to provide warning information or were concerned about violating official protocols.
Thailand's Meteorological Department had another excuse for not sounding the alarm. According to a 28 December 2004 story on scotsman.com, Thai scientists explained they did not issue a warning because of complaints they received from Thailand’s tourism officials five years ago when they issued a tsunami wanting following an earthquake in Papua New Guinea.
Clearly there are gigantic gaps between the technology of predicting a possible tsunami, the installation of tsunami networks and reliable methods of warning the people who might be in the face of danger.
Perhaps the giant Sumatra earthquake will motivate more amateur and student scientists to become interested in seismometry and tsunamis. Both amateur and professional seismometry experts have posted many fine articles on the web about the topic, as a web search will quickly reveal. A wide variety of do-it-yourself seismometers have also been posted.
Seismometry can be a rewarding and challenging hobby. My son Eric Ryan Mims built a very sensitive seismometer from scratch during his senior year in high school. The instrument was bolted to the concrete slab of our house in South Texas. It detected many earthquakes and the p, s and l waves from two underground nuclear tests in Nevada. The latter findings earned Eric dozens of science fair awards and a trip to the International Science and Engineering Fair.
While amateur scientists are perfectly capable of designing and operating high-quality seismometers, the issuance of tsunami warnings is another matter entirely. Water covers nearly three-fourths of our planet. It is past time for the governments of island nations and countries with coastlines beyond the Pacific Basin to formulate workable solutions for detecting and announcing tsunamis so that those in their path will have ample warning. If governments delay, they should not be surprised if networks of citizen scientists establish tsunami web sites.
Even the best possible tsunami warning network will not necessarily help people who are on or near a shoreline when a major earthquake occurs nearby. There simply will not be ample time. This is why the understanding and prediction of earthquakes and other tsunami generators deserve continued research.
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