Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Tuesday 2 OcTOber 2018

Warning system might have saved lives in Indonesian tsunami

By STEPHEN WRIGHT to the next node in the net-
Associated Press work and so on.
MAKASSAR, Indonesia (AP) The Padang network's final
— An early warning system undersea point needs just
that might have prevented a few more kilometers of fi-
some deaths in the tsunami ber optic cable to connect
that hit an Indonesian is- it to a station on an offshore
land on Friday has been island where the cascades
stalled in the testing phase of data would be transmit-
for years. ted by satellite to the geo-
The high-tech system of physics agency, which is-
seafloor sensors, data-lad- sues tsunami warnings, and
en sound waves and fiber- to disaster officials.
optic cable was meant to The Associated Press first
replace a system set up af- reported on the system in
ter an earthquake and tsu- January 2017, when the
nami killed nearly 250,000 project was awaiting Indo-
people in the region in nesian funding to lay the
2004. But inter-agency cables. Since then, agen-
wrangling and delays in cies involved have suffered
getting just 1 billion rupiah budget cuts and the proj-
($69,000) to complete the ect bounced back and
project mean the system People survey the damage following a massive earthquake and tsunami in Palu, Central Sulawesi, forth between them.
hasn't moved beyond a Indonesia, Sunday, Sept. 30, 2018. A December 2017 quake
prototype developed with Associated Press off the coast of Java close
$3 million from the U.S. Na- to Jakarta reignited interest
tional Science Foundation. 230,000 people in a dozen of 134 tidal gauge sta- multiple quakes within a and the geophysics agen-
It is too late for central Su- countries, more than half tions augmented by land- short period of time. They cy made getting funding a
lawesi, where walls of wa- of them in the Indonesian based seismographs, sirens don't take into account priority. In July, the Ministry
ter up to 6 meters (20 feet) province of Aceh, a con- in about 55 locations and submarine landslides." of Finance in July approved
high and a magnitude 7.5 certed international effort a system to disseminate Whatever system is in use, funding to purchase and
earthquake killed at least was launched to improve warnings by text message. he said, the priority after lay the cable.
832 people in the cities of tsunami warning capabili- When the 7.5 quake hit just an earthquake in a coast- But at an inter-agency
Palu and Donggala, tragi- ties, particularly in the In- after 6 p.m. Friday, the me- al area should be to get meeting in September, the
cally highlighting the weak- dian Ocean and for Indo- teorology and geophysics to higher ground and stay three major agencies in-
nesses of the existing warn- nesia, one of world's most agency issued a tsunami there for a couple of hours. volved failed to agree on
ing system and low public earthquake and tsunami- alert, warning of potential Power outages after the their responsibilities and the
awareness about how to prone countries. for waves of 0.5 to 3 meters earthquake struck meant project was "simply put on
respond to warnings. Part of that drive, using (2 to 10 feet). It ended the that sirens meant to warn hold," Comfort said.
"To me this is a tragedy for funding from Germany warning at 6:36 p.m. That residents to evacuate did Indonesian officials who've
science, even more so a and elsewhere, included drew harsh online criticism, not work, said Harkunti P. been supportive of the new
tragedy for the Indonesian deploying a network of 22 but the agency's head said Rahayu, an expert at the early warning system did
people as the residents buoys connected to sea- the warning was lifted after Institute of Technology in not immediately respond
of Sulawesi are discover- floor sensors to transmit ad- the tsunami hit. It's unclear Bandung. to requests for comment.
ing right now," said Louise vance warnings. exactly what time tsunami "Most people were shocked Since the 2004 tsunami, the
Comfort, a University of A sizeable earthquake waves rushed into the nar- by the earthquake and did mantra among disaster offi-
Pittsburgh expert in disaster off Sumatra island in 2016 row bay that Palu is built not pay any thought that cials in Indonesia has been
management who has led that caused panic in the around. a tsunami will come," she that the earthquake is the
the U.S. side of the project, coastal city of Padang re- "The tide gauges are oper- said. tsunami warning and signal
which also involves engi- vealed that none of the ating, but they are limited Experts say the prototype for immediate evacuation.
neers from the Woods Hole buoys costing hundreds of in providing any advance system deployed offshore Not everyone is convinced
Oceanographic Institute thousands of dollars each warning. None of the 22 from Padang — a city ex- a tsunami detection system
and Indonesian scientists were working. They'd been buoys are functioning," tremely vulnerable to tsu- is essential.
and disaster experts. disabled by vandalism or Comfort said. "In the Su- namis because it faces a "What Indonesian col-
"It's a heartbreak to watch theft or just stopped work- lawesi incident, BMKG (the major undersea fault over- leagues have commented
when there is a well-de- ing due to a lack of funds meteorology and geophys- due for a massive quake — upon is that people were
signed sensor network that for maintenance. ics agency) canceled the can provide authoritative confused about what to
could provide critical infor- The backbone of Indone- tsunami warning too soon, information about a tsuna- do with the alert informa-
mation," she said. sia's tsunami warning sys- because it did not have mi threat within 1 to 3 min- tion," said Gavin Sullivan,
After a 2004 tsunami killed tem today is a network data from Palu. This is the utes. That compares with 5 a Coventry University psy-
data the tsunami detection to 45 minutes from the now chologist who works with
system could provide." defunct buoys and the lim- the Indonesian Resilience
Adam Switzer, a tsunami ited information provided Initiative on a disaster prep-
expert at the Earth Obser- by tidal gauges. aration project for the In-
vatory of Singapore, said The system's undersea seis- donesian city of Bandung.
it's a "little unfair" to say the mometers and pressure The fact that people were
agency got it wrong. sensors send data-laden still milling around Palu's
"What it shows is that the sound waves to warm sur- shoreline when waves
tsunami models we have face waters. From there were visibly approaching
now are too simplistic," he they refract back into the shows the lessons of ear-
said. "They don't take into depths, traveling 20 to 30 lier disasters haven't been
account multiple events, kilometers (12 to 20 miles) absorbed.q