31st December 2004, 1:41 PM
Endless arguements that run in circles are the mortar that TC is founded on, though...
As for the no attempts at warning people, that's innaccurate. First, some siesmologists (sp?) saw that there was a strong earthquake -- at first they thought 8.5 -- on the sea floor. That was a noteworthy incident but did not automatically mean tsunami. Most strong seafloor earthquakes, actually, do not cause tsunamis. That is why just the earthquake event was not enough to say 'there will be a tsunami'. So they could tell people 'there was a strong earthquake' but jumping from there to 'Tsunami!" would be a pure guess. Without a tsunami warning system like there is in the Pacific, there wasn't much that anyone could do...
As for the no attempts at warning people, that's innaccurate. First, some siesmologists (sp?) saw that there was a strong earthquake -- at first they thought 8.5 -- on the sea floor. That was a noteworthy incident but did not automatically mean tsunami. Most strong seafloor earthquakes, actually, do not cause tsunamis. That is why just the earthquake event was not enough to say 'there will be a tsunami'. So they could tell people 'there was a strong earthquake' but jumping from there to 'Tsunami!" would be a pure guess. Without a tsunami warning system like there is in the Pacific, there wasn't much that anyone could do...