Tsunami warning system for Northwest | 12.21.2005 | 15:06:15 | Views: 6143 | ID: December 21 '05: The potential for a killer tsunami, much like the one which struck the the Indian Ocean last Boxing Day, to hit the US presents a risk those living along the Northwest Coast. That's according to scientists and government officials who told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer it was only a matter of time before a tsunami would hit the US - an eventuality that has propelled a new warning system which will monitor the Pacific Ocean. "More than a dozen mathematical modelers and software wizards," the Post wrote, "have been newly recruited to analyze the complex, chaotic information that determines tsunami behavior. They are creating simulations that can be used to rapidly predict if a deep-sea quake will produce a tsunami, how big it will be and how it may affect US coastal communities." Similar projects have begun in Asian countries after more than 200,000 people died as a result of no real-time warning systems. Many people were unaware of the coming wave and were swept away when it struck the coasts in the Indonesia, Thailand and other counties in the area. The Seattle paper reported, "The scientists at the Seattle NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency) lab have so far been able to accurately create real-time tsunami simulations that can be run in minutes for nine communities: San Francisco and Crescent City, Calif; Hilo Hawaii; Kodiak, Alaska; Newport and Seaside, Ore.; and Neah Bay, Willapa Bay and Port Angeles (Washington). They are working on 66 other coastal communities." Congress has given tsunami warning projects about $40 million annual to help with the costs, but some say that is not enough. Scientists working on the project said they need more money to finish. "The ocean is a big place," Frank Gonzalez, the director of the National Center for Tsunami Research told the Post.
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