On December 26th 2004 one of the largest tsunamis ever recorded struck the shores of India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and other countries in the region. With an estimated magnitude from 9.1 to 9.3 and killing almost 150,000 people it remains the third largest tsunami to date, caused by an earthquake off the shores of Sumatra, Indonesia. Many people believe the reason for this was the lack of warning systems in the Indian Ocean. Many tsunamis occur in the Indian Ocean because it is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, a large are of countries off the coast of the Pacific Ocean where a large amount of tsunamis and volcanic eruptions occur. In many places around the world they are beginning to develop tsunami warning systems in areas with a large amount of seismic activity off the shore. After the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean the United Nations held a conference in Japan to take a step towards warning systems and developed the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System and soon, other countries followed.
In many countries around the world they are beginning to develop tsunami warning systems like in the Indian Ocean. The Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System was created after the 2004 earthquake and tsunami in the Indian Ocean. The United Nations held a conference in Kobe, Japan in 2005 and resulted in the warning system being active in 2006. The IOTWS consists of 25 seismograph stations relaying information to 26 tsunami information sensors. It also consists of 3 deep ocean sensors to detect shifts in the water. The system works using the readings of the seismographs and the deep-ocean sensors to determine where a tsunami might strike and evacuate the areas that might be affected. This is a commonly used system, being used around the world to help detect tsunamis because the combination of the seismograph and the deep-ocean sensors gives two readings telling where and when a tsunami might strike.
Though it is a very effective system there are many problems that can obstruct any warnings and/or evacuations. One of the main problems posed is the way of transmitting the warning to the people who might be affected. There are obviously many ways to transmit a warning such as radio, TV, phones, loudspeakers, but there is no guarantee everybody will hear it and be able to evacuate in time. There have been attempts like sending texts to your phone or setting up loudspeakers everywhere. The most commonly used method is using loudspeakers to warn people, but the problem is, how do you make loudspeakers loud enough that people can hear them in their houses through all the brick walls and other sounds in their houses. One thing that makes it hard to evacuate people before tsunamis is that once you get warned you have very little time to evacuate so the message has to be quick. If you get sent an SMS than it could be an hour before you read it but by that time you’d be underwater.
Tsunami warning systems have many flaws but they still manage to save many people’s lives. Putting all the flaws of tsunami warning systems aside, they still manage to do their job. With tsunami warning systems active in most coastal cities around the world there are many seismograph stations which, when all connected, can give very accurate results on where tsunamis will strike, the strength, etc. Even though not everybody can be evacuated many lives can be saved with warning systems. The problem is not so much the sender of the warnings but the receiver. If somebody can’t find out a tsunami is coming their way in time that isn’t the fault of the warning system. Many lives are saved by warning systems so there is no real reason to think that they’re a bad thing despite some flaws.
Tsunamis kill thousands upon thousands of people every year, and tsunami warning systems save thousands of people every year. In most coastal regions around the world there is some sort of system that warns people if a tsunami is coming. These systems are mostly very effective and save people but they can’t always save people. Tsunamis are lethal, and people are putting in an effort to save people who would be affected by tsunamis. There is really no way, or will not be a way for a long time, that people can be 100% safe from tsunamis because they come suddenly and are almost invisible until they hit the continental shelf. Detecting seismic activity with seismographs is the best way that people can get to safety before a tsunami hits and it is being used all around the world.
