White House calls for tsunami plans

WASHINGTON – Hoping to protect U.S. shores from being hammered by a tsunami, the White House directed federal agencies Friday to increase earthquake and volcano monitoring systems, deep ocean buoys and other high-tech means of alerting oceanside communities.

The tsunami plan was requested by President Bush and Congress after an earthquake on Dec. 26, 2004, caused a massive tsunami in the Indian Ocean. It killed or left missing at least 216,000 people in 11 Indian Ocean countries, and “demonstrated international vulnerability,” said John Marburger, Bush’s top science adviser.

“Tsunamis are low probability but high impact events,” he said.

The tsunami rose a massive 30 feet. Sumatra was the hardest hit, losing some 128,000 people.

Marburger, who directs the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said U.S.-led improvements in tsunami detection and warning since a year ago made people safer at home and work, and the new plan will further reduce risks to life and property. Congress appropriated $24 million in May for a better U.S. tsunami system.

Specifically, the plan written by the president’s National Science and Technology Council directs federal agencies to:

•Develop risk assessments of the potential tsunami hazards for all U.S. coastal regions.

•Increase the number of tsunami buoys, tide gauges and seismic sensors feeding real-time data into computer models to improve tsunami forecasting and warning systems along Pacific, Atlantic, Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico coastlines.

•Give technical help to improve warning systems for tsunamis and other hazards in the Indian Ocean.

•Encourage communities to develop tsunami response plans, and to build and plan in ways that can reduce the impact of a future tsunami.