Monster Quake & Tsunami off Sumatra

[JohnB]

WARNING can save lives!

The poor buggers at the Australian Geophysican Institute registered the initial quake but had it centred on land. By the time they had redone their calculations as to size and position it was too late, Sumatra had already been hit.

 

Apparently their equipment only registers to 8.2, so they thought the quake was smaller than it was.

 

I call them "poor buggers" because there's a lot of second guessing going on. Some of them seem to be blaming themselves for the lack of warning. "If only we'd pushed for better equipment. If only we'd been faster with our calculations, we could have issued a warning." That sort of thing. Laymen asking "Why didn't you know, what do we pay you for?" don't help the situation. They feel bad enough as it is.

 

The Pacific centre in Hawaii got the size and place in time, but had no contact numbers for people in the Indian Ocean so they couldn't get out a warning in time.

 

The good news is that an Indian Ocean centre will be set up using the latest technology. There's talk of geostationary satellites, ocean floor sensors, wave sensors, the whole box and dice. Whether it will happen that way or suffer from cost cutting is another matter.

[ffsjoe]

The Australian government has pleged $1 billion of aid. Plus all the money the public are giving. I doubt as to whether Mark Latham would have done the same. Im glad that we are giving more than the original $35 million because we have had surplus from the budget over years, they are our neighbours and they need it.

 

Just a question, all the money given to help out who is it given to? The governments of the affected areas?

[JohnB]

Agreed, I think most Aussies would say bugger the tax cuts, they need it more.

 

The money is to be divided, $500 mill in direct aid, overseen by some sort of joint body. This is to go directly to rebuilding, food, water plants, that sort of thing. The other $500 mill is in no-interest loans to the Indonesian government repayable over 40 years.

 

Don't forget the Germans and the Poms, they've pledged some $900 mill and $700 mill respectively.

[1veedo]

I wonder how much the Atheist Center of India got. I received some e-mails from a couple atheistic organizations trying to raise money for relief in India but haven't heard how much they got yet.

 

Humanists aid Tsunami victims