Risk and Avoidance - Tsunami - page 202

a low-cost receiver and antenna, operating 24 h a day,
located along a threatened coastline. This designated sta-
tion can be pre-programmed to activate lights and acoustic
alarms, and to dial telephones and other emergency
response apparatus when it receives a signal. The GEOS
satellite also alerts tide gauges near the earthquake to begin
sending data, via satellite, both to local authorities and to
the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center to confirm the pres-
ence of a tsunami. For a cost of $15,000, a life-saving
tsunami warning can be issued to a remote location within
2 min of a tsunamigenic earthquake. The warning system
is independent of any infrastructure that could be destroyed
during the earthquake. In August 1989, the THRUST
system was integrated into the Chilean Tsunami Warning
System with a response time of 17-88 s. This system
provides coverage of all but the southernmost tip of the
South American continent (Fig. 10.6 ). Response times of
5-10 s are now technically possible.
However, such warnings are only as good as the system is
prepared to offer and willingness of people to respond. In
Chile, the warning system, in theory, was to save lives; but
the February 27, 2010 Tsunami spoilt it. Despite the enor-
mity of this earthquake, the Chilean Navy, who was
responsible for tsunami warnings, did not trigger the national
warning system because they believed that the earthquake
was centered over land (Schiermeier 2010 ). Many local
officials took action on their own volition, saving hundreds of
lives. In May 2012, eight officials, including the director of
the Chilean National Emergency Office and the director of
the navy's Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service at the
time of the earthquake, were charged with negligence for
ignoring tsunami warnings and failing to notify coastal res-
idents of the danger (Pallardy and Rafferty 2013 ). The arrests
were compounded by the fact that the Hydrographic and
Oceanographic

Fig. 10.11 Car put on roof of three-story building in Minami-
Sanriku, Miyagi Prefecture by T¯hoku Tsunami March 11, 2011.
Photo by Takaharu Yagi for Asia & Japan Watch newspaper

threatening tsunami and takes responsibility for their
response to that warning. A chainless system has access to
ongoing information and relies upon no one. The cleaner in
the office has as much access to a warning as the president
of the nation. Each takes action as they see fit. They may
flee, notify as many other people as they want or ignore the
treat. Such a system was supposed to exist in Chile;
however it still suffered from the fundamental flaw of a
chain-of-command system, namely that links could become
broken. In the latter case, the Chilean Hydrographic Office
had responsibility for triggering a more localized response,
but failed to do so for the May 2012 event. Chain-of-
command systems are autocratic, power-centered, and
subject to inevitable failure; chainless ones are open,
democratic, and give people ownership in the decision
making process.

Service attempted to alter logbooks to

obscure the fact that warnings were not delivered.
The above discussion indicates that warning systems can
be categorized into two types: ones with a chain-of-com-
mand and chainless ones. An example of the former is the
existing system in place for the Pacific Ocean. Warnings
are initiated by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in
Hawaii. These are passed to individual nations for a
response. If the warning is deemed threatening, then
national organizations may pass the warning down to
regional and local authorities, who then respond as they see
fit. The flaw with this system is that at each stage, someone
must make a decision to act. If that person does not act or
makes a personal assessment that a warning is not war-
ranted, then the chain-of-command becomes broken and the
possibility exists for a tsunami to damage property and take
lives. An example of a chainless system is one where
everyone—authorities to individuals—is notified about a

10.4 How Long Have You Got?

Distant or teleseismic tsunami in the Pacific Ocean leave a
signature that provides sufficient lead-time for dissemina-
tion of a warning and evacuation. For example, the