MR> GM> I heard that they got some slightly-larger-than-normal waves on
MR> GM> the north west coast. But it was quite a way from the epicentre,
MR> GM> the open seas allowed the waves to disipate.

MR> GM> Down here, about 3000km further on in a direct line, and matbe
MR> GM> twice that around the coast, we saw/felt nothing.

MR>It is odd because about as far away as Australia was Africa, it was
MR>hit pretty hard by the tsunami 10 hours after the quake, and causing
MR>hundreds of deaths. I heard it explained that the fault movement
MR>caused energy to spread in an east and west direction rather than
MR>north and south.


MR> GM> The total cost may yet get as high as the Christmas spending in
MR> GM> the Western world... excuse my cynicism....

MR>I find that the help is going to be much too little much too late. Let
MR>alone the logistics of getting the help there, what with broken roads
MR>and communications. I think the money people are donating is just
MR>going to make some no scruples bloodsucking vermin even richer. Even
MR>the "official" aid organisations have monsterous bureaucracies that
MR>suck up the lion's share of the public's contributions. I've heard of
MR>cases of victims only receiving at most 30% of the monies that had
MR>been raised. That is pathetic. Some aid groups have claimed 85% will
MR>reach the needy but I think it is just PR spin.

MR>What I find even odder is that mass media didn't communicate the
MR>unfolding disaster to the local populations when eye witness reports
MR>started being phoned into their offices. There seems to be no

The media sure did a good job here. Maybe you should move here.

MR>explanation why the major geological monitoring centers failed to
MR>report the possibility of tsunami events after such a major quake.

That has been widely known for years. Further the SE Asian countries
have not seen fit to establish a tsunami alert system as has the US,
Japan, etc.

MR>It's as if everyone with such responsibility was off on holidays all
MR>at the same time or something. The scientific community has really
MR>failed us on this one.

Not the scientific community - but very much so t he governments of the
SE Asian countries!

Jay


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