17th of July timeline and AP assessment of preparedness

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17th of July timeline and AP assessment of
preparedness

• Rohan Samarajiva

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Java tsunami timeline

• Earthquake occurs 0819 UTC or 1519 hrs (Java
  time)
• PTWC issues warning 0836 UTC
• 17 minutes after earthquake
• First waves hit at 0915 UTC
• 39 minutes after warning issued
• 56 minutes after earthquake

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TSUNAMI BULLETIN NUMBER 001 PACIFIC TSUNAMI
WARNING CENTER/NOAA/NWS ISSUED AT 0836Z 17 JUL
2006 THIS BULLETIN IS FOR ALL AREAS OF THE
INDIAN OCEAN. ... A LOCAL TSUNAMI WATCH IS IN
EFFECT ... A TSUNAMI WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR
AUSTRALIA / INDONESIA FOR OTHER AREAS OF THE
INDIAN OCEAN REGION, THIS MESSAGE IS AN ADVISORY
ONLY. AN EARTHQUAKE HAS OCCURRED WITH THESE
PRELIMINARY PARAMETERS ORIGIN TIME - 0819Z 17
JUL 2006 COORDINATES - 9.3 SOUTH 107.3 EAST
LOCATION - SOUTH OF JAWA INDONESIA
MAGNITUDE - 7.2
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Associated Press on Indonesia

• Will roll out warning system in 2009
• "Setting one up is not as easy as simply lifting
  your hand," Welfare Minister Aburizal Bakrie told
  The Associated Press. "We are preparing one, but
  it is not finished yet."
• "After the quake occurred, people ran to the
  hills, so that is the reason the number of
  victims is not as great as in Aceh," Vice
  President Jusuf Kalla said in Jakarta. "So in
  actual fact, there was a kind of natural early
  warning system."

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Associated Press on Indonesia

• However, out of dozens of people interviewed by
  the AP Tuesday in Pangandaran, only one said he
  felt a slight tremor. None said there was a mass
  movement of people to higher ground before the
  tsunami struck.
• In two other countries hit by the 2004 tsunami,
  progress toward warning systems has been quicker.

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Associated Press on Thailand Malaysia

• Thailand, popular with foreign tourists, has
  built warning towers on beaches across its
  southern coast to blare sirens and broadcast
  evacuation warnings in several languages if
  regional agencies issue warnings. Malaysia has
  positioned two buoys off its shores to give at
  least an hour's warning to coastal communities,
  and is capable of transmitting tsunami alerts to
  the public by TV, radio and mobile phone text
  messages, officials said.

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Associated Press on Sri Lanka

• Sri Lanka has yet to install its own system, but
  relies on warnings sent by the Hawaii-based
  Pacific center -- a similar institution to
  Japan's -- an official said. Under Sri Lanka's
  plan information is passed to villages by phone
  or national media. Most Buddhist shrines, Hindu
  temples and Muslim mosques along its coast have
  sirens, the official said.