Tsunami data needed

[Peak_Oil]

I remember stories floating around in the days after the tsunami saying that the Thai (?) government knew about the wave coming but didn't say anything because they didn't want to scare away the tourists or hurt the tourism industry.

Anybody have good links to that story? I can't find anything right now.

Thanks in advance!

[amazona]

1. there weren't any good links

There was a loudmouth saying in July (!) that a tsunami was coming but you can't shut down an entire country for several months based on one dude's speculation. I can sit here and tell you right now I guarantee that at some time this summer or autumn a hurricane WILL hit the northern Gulf of Mexico...doesn't justify shutting down all our cities and beaches for the entire hurricane season.

As far as the tsunami, the U.S. and others had hours, not days, to warn the Thais of what was coming.

A lot of rumors were spread in the aftermath and not all proved to be valid.

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[Coastie for Truth]

2. Sounds Hokey to Me

They would not have known anything - nothing - nado - zero - zip before the earthquake - which was a few hours.

And, if they weren't getting "sea state" data from the "data buoys" via the weather satellites - they would not have known anyway.

On the Pacific Rim (the "Rim of Fire") the seismic instruments are monitored 24 by 7, and when there is a Pacific Rim earthquake the monitoring of the data buoys and weather satellites is also upped to 24 by 7 (US, Japan, Australia). But this was a different earthquake zone.

The tsunami alerts are broadcast around the Pacific Rim on the Marine Wx Band and the 160 Mhz band (12 stations between 160-166 Mhz; a lot of car radios, aircraft radios, marine radios are pre-programmed to scan that band).

Sounds like another rumor.

I am a CG veteran, an Extra class ham, a GROL commercial radio licensee, and a GMRS (old CB) licensee -- and a US NOAA "Storm Watch" volunteer. So, I do play with this stuff --- and I live in the most seismic active area in the world - at the foot of San Francisco Bay between the San Andreas and Calaveras Faults in a liquefaction zone (called "Silicon Valley")

California folk legend - animals can predict earthquakes (and therefore tsunamis) - my Siamese cat and my Maine Coon Mix never predicted an earthquake. Ever. My alley cat (who, I think was part felis margarita - Sinai Desert Cat; she looked it and acted it) - predicted over 360 of the last 5 quakes.

[kamqute]

3. INFO HERE!! YAY!

http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO501A.html

[Peak_Oil]

4. That doesn't look like it. Forget it. I was confused, I think.

I must have rewritten two other articles in my mind.

[amazona]

5. oh it wasn't all in your mind

There was a lot of crap being put out -- not just the claims against the Thai gov't but claims that the U.S. had set off an atomic bomb in the ocean to create the underwater earthquake. I saw these rumors being posted on a large number of web sites. I would like to know the intentions of the rumor-mongers because I truly believe the creators of these rumors did NOT have a positive purpose.

Don't blame yourself for being confused. Someone out there was trying to create confusion.

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[arcos]

6. Here it is...

Oddly enough, the original page from CNN is.... gone! :wow:


But Google has it in cache...
http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:pzCJTNRAOiQJ:www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/01/04/tsunami.meteorologist.reut/+thailand+tsunami+tourist+warning&hl=en


BANGKOK, Thailand (Reuters) -- Thailand has fired its chief meteorologist and opened an investigation into why his department failed to issue a tsunami warning which might have saved thousands of lives, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra announced.

"When a quake measured at 8.9-9.0 on the Richter scale struck in Sumatra, it was widely known tsunami can happen. But why weren't there any alerts? I really want to know the truth," Thaksin told reporters Tuesday.

A day after deadly waves devastated the country's Andaman Sea coast, Meteorological Department chief Suparerk Tansriratanawong had told reporters Thailand had not been hit by a tsunami in more than 300 years and had no reason to expect one.

But the English-language Nation newspaper quoted an unnamed member of the department last week as saying a tsunami alert was not issued for fear of hurting the important tourist industry at the peak season if it turned out to be false.

<snip>

[Peak_Oil]

7. You sure?

I could swear I read something about Thai gov't officials receiving the information, saying that they didn't want to disrupt the tourist trade if it wasn't really happening, and then the wave came.

The problem is, one of the above links has some of that story... but not all of it. Another link has more of that story... but not all of it. I wonder if I didn't just combine the two and file under the same heading mentally.

If you do find it, I hope you post a link.

[arcos]

9. haven't seen anything about government officials...

There are several sources talking about metereologists, though...

[arcos]

8. another link...

Tsunami warning halted ‘for tourist industry’

12/28/04 -- This from the Swedish paper Expressen.

Just minutes after the earthquake in the Indian Ocean on Sunday morning, Thailand’s foremost meteorological experts were sitting together in a crisis meeting. But they decided not to warn about the tsunami “out of courtesy to the tourist industry,” writes the Thailand daily newspaper The Nation.

The experts got the news around 8:00 am on Sunday morning local time. An hour later, the first massive wave struck. But the experts started to discuss the economic impacts when they discussed if a tsunami warning should be issued.

The primary argument against such a warning was that there had not been any floods in 300 years. Also, the experts believed the Indonesian island Sumatra would be a “cushion” for the southern coast of Thailand. The experts also had bad information; they thought the tremor was 8.1. A similar earthquake occurred in the same area in 2002 with no flooding at all.

<snip>

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article7569.htm

[Coastie for Truth]

10. To be informed of tornadoes, hurricanes, tsunamis, set your scanners to

On the public service band:

162.400 mhz

162.425 mhz

162.450 mhz

162.475 mhz

162.500 mhz

162.525 mhz

162.550 mhz

On the Marine Bands

156.800 mhz

157.100 mhz

And on the Ham bands:

146.520 mhz

You will get the word in the Atlantic, Pacific, Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, Great Lakes, US, Canada.

Also, in my community the Fire/EMT freq is

155.025 mhz

BTW- from my Coast Guard experience - you don't wait for an Admiral or a Secretary of Homeland Security for permission. Any Coast Guard Rescue Control & Communications Center "qualified" Coastie can issue a warning, as can the OOD of most Coast Guard Stations.