cardinalblue Posted December 30, 2004 Report Share Posted December 30, 2004 Again, another topic we evaluate and dissect from the haves of the world's perspective. Unfortanately, disaster preparedness is always on the bottom of gov and country's budgets when it is time for fund allocation... Fortunately, there are a few devoted inviduals to fight for disaster preparedness but we are talking the industrial world and not developing/least developed countries.... Cardinalblue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfinkz Posted December 30, 2004 Report Share Posted December 30, 2004 As mentioned, exceptional year for hurricanes, back on the radar. Nothing unusual--hardly a once-in-many-lifetimes spectacle--they are scheduled by the season, posted on the calendar, with several days advance warning as they approach. If you are referring to this year, New Orleans was a false alarm. Have another go at it next September, however, and keep fresh batteries for that radio (does one immediately flee the trailer park when it sounds, even for high winds?). Before you cuss me again, tell me how much of Florida was evacuated in 30 minutes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJsushi Posted December 30, 2004 Report Share Posted December 30, 2004 shygye said: Where the hell were you when half of Florida was evacuated this year. Or when New Orleans was evacuated due to hurricanes. To put things in perpsective Florida and New Orleans literally had a few days warning to evacuate their residents. That is more than enough time for people to buy supplies, board their houses and make contingency plans to evacuate. Also evacuation by car literally takes hours not minutes to leave the state to a safer one because of the gridlock caused by the millions of other motorists who have the same idea to leave too.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfinkz Posted December 30, 2004 Report Share Posted December 30, 2004 "Fortunately, there are a few devoted individuals to fight for disaster preparedness but we are talking the industrial world and not the developing/least developed countries..." ___________________________________________________ Yes, a calamity on this scale could only be confronted by a world-wide effort, the logistics of which obviously results in a critical delay of a day or two. As it responds, I can't see fault with any government for not doing more before or in the immediate aftermath. I'm not familiar with Thailand's state of disaster preparedness. Until now it seems to have been remarkably untested, however, unlike lesser-developed Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka, for example, all with unique political troubles and where it thus must be necessitated as an even lower priority, but regrettably with quite a bit of experience in these matters and whose current situation exponentially dwarfs the tragedy in the SW provinces. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neo Posted December 30, 2004 Report Share Posted December 30, 2004 ...how do you do that [evacuate] without causing a panic and a rush? Surely you would admit it is more dangerous to leave everyone playing on the beach than be warned to get to higher ground. The advantage of evacuating a beach is the exit is just about as wide as the beach. Everyone does not funnel into a tiny stairwell like a building. Concerns over people grabbing their belongings back at the hotel? Sure, but again I would contend this is a more survivable place than the point of impact of a 300MPH wave exploding. Alerting beach goers in populous areas is just one of the opportunities lost that day based on what was possible with the technology already in place. For those that say it was simply impossible to do anything whatsoever with an hour notice surely you would contend the emergency services and Navy would have been put on alert one hour EARLIER. This would have gotten search and rescue crews to the scene as much as one hour faster and given them one more hour of daylight on that crucial day to save lives. It would have also allowed a small craft advisory to be broadcast over the emergency radio frequency to get tourist boats, fishermen, and scuba boats to land, deep water or the lee side of islands just as they do when severe weather is imminent. From what I understand, a huge number of fully loaded tourist boats sank, capsized, or have been otherwise lost at sea. Don't get me wrong, it's just not possible to guard against every type of disaster in every place. Nor do I think there is someone to blame every time something bad happens. I just am very saddened and shocked to see so much avoidable tragedy due to one person's inaction. I am secondarily appalled this person has not voluntarily resigned. Due to the lives left hanging in the balance, the guy who broke the chain shouldn't be chalked up as an innocent bureaucratic screw up or "it's not my job" and ends up with a mai pen rai and a bonus though I am afraid this is just what is happening. The only criticism so far I think is a case of barking up the wrong tree. The Meteorological department made the decision anyone would make based on what they knew at the time. They did not know the true magnitude of the quake nor anything of the tsunami. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 30, 2004 Report Share Posted December 30, 2004 Glad to see that some governments are going to implement a system; unfortunately it is too bad that hind sight still reigns over fore sight. When I was an engineer/programmer - we designed to take into consideration all variables - this is what governments should do. Unfortunately, most governments use the same arguments why not to do something (as some are saying here) instead of spending the time actually doing something. On Sept 11, 2001, several people forgot to do their job properly - we pay dearly for their mistakes. On Dec. 26, 2004, several things that could or should have been done were not done which looks like it has caused the lives of maybe 100,000 people or more. I was in a house once, sleeping. The house caught on fire. People risked their lives to warn me, but in this disaster - some knew about the impending disaster - but did nothing. As for advance warning - yes it was given. The earthquake between Australia and Antarctica (8.1) was ample evidence of something possibly going to happen and that was given about 1 week ahead of time. Odd - nobody took that quake serious even though it was a major quake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jxxxl Posted December 30, 2004 Report Share Posted December 30, 2004 "As for advance warning - yes it was given. The earthquake between Australia and Antarctica (8.1) was ample evidence of something possibly going to happen and that was given about 1 week ahead of time. Odd - nobody took that quake serious even though it was a major quake. " Please, you haven't got a freakin clue what you are talking about. Your rational on most things is, well lets say, 'special'. In your own little world you can think what you want, but please don't ask us to accept that people should be blamed becuase they don't share your special gift i.e., the ability to predict earthquakes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.. Posted December 30, 2004 Report Share Posted December 30, 2004 MightyMouse said:When I was an engineer/programmer - we designed to take into consideration all variables...Yes, but as an engineer, I also know that nothing is ever perfect. We use matrices to analyse failure modes. Those failure modes that involve the highest RoI are fixed (e.g., the thing blows up when you switch it on), while those failures that are in the 99th percentile of chance are ignored cuz it would cost too much to fix them (e.g., when pressing these two buttons simulaneously, and the mains voltage is exactly 213.1V, and it is dark outside, the thing stops working). Of course, I can make something perfectly operating and perfectly safe in all conditions, but you would not be able to afford to buy it. Governments do the same thing. Given a choice to spend money on, say, a B30 health care system that benefits the whole country (nevermind if it works 100% or not as that's beside the point here) and a tsunami warning system in a region where the last one was in circa 1883 and less than 5% of the residents live, guess what choice gets made? Ya, the healthcare system. And it shoud be that choice, too. Better RoI. You guys that say something can be done really have no clue of human nature and crowd mentality do you? Put emotion aside here and logically think about it. Trying to get even 500 people to do anything *that they have decided to do* as a group in 1 1/2 hours is impossible, let alone getting them to do something out of the ordinary. I mean, have you ever tried to move a group of friends from one bar/party to another. Now how hard is that? Now think about 10,000's of people. Get it? Sheesh. Regards, SD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfinkz Posted December 30, 2004 Report Share Posted December 30, 2004 Well hang on to your hat...NEWSFLASH...it seems India has just issued the region's first tsunami alert just moments ago in response to aftershocks centered in Nicobar. A predictable, shellshocked reaction; let's wait for the result of this exercise, but after this seismic energy soon stabilizes and lives are eventually rebuilt, it shant be a concern in this area for a significant geologic period. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 30, 2004 Report Share Posted December 30, 2004 Indian state issues tsunami alert Thursday, December 30, 2004 Posted: 1:24 AM EST (0624 GMT) NEW DELHI, India (Reuters) -- The state government in India's Tamil Nadu state, one of the areas hardest hit by Sunday's Indian Ocean tsunami, issued a tsunami alert on Thursday and warned people to leave coastal areas. Police said aftershocks in the Andaman and Nicobar islands, near the centre of the huge earthquake that caused Sunday's tsunami, were "likely" to cause high waves. Witnesses said police sirens were blaring on beaches in Tamil Nadu and residents were running away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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