Tsunami buoys remain targets of sea vandals | ‘Efficacy of Indian Early Tsunami Warning System proved’ | INCOIS, tracking tsunamis in Indian Ocean
(IANS) India is Sunday sending its first relief plane to Japan, which has been devastated by a massive earthquake and tsunami killing thousands of people, Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao tweeted.
‘India sending wool, good quality blankets for the people of Sendai and others affected by Japan quake. 1st plane load being readied,’ Rao tweeted.
‘Discussed this with Jap (Japanese) Amb (Ambassador) in Delhi and we felt this was most useful and needed item given cold weather conditions in affected areas,’ she added.
She has also been responding to queries by anxious people whose relatives and friends are in Japan.
The devastating 9-magnitude earthquake followed by a tsunami that hit northeastern Japan Friday afternoon has already claimed thousands of lives and toll is expected to cross 10,000, according to officials.
The earthquake that devastated northeast Japan displaced the country’s main island by 2.4 metres and even tilted the axis of the Earth by nearly 10 centimetres. The shock sounds awesome but it was imperceptible. History suggests the same will be true of the economic impact.
The instinctive reaction when viewing the extensive damage and frantic efforts to secure damaged nuclear reactors is to assume economic havoc will follow.
But researchers who have studied similar disasters in rich countries reach a reassuring conclusion: human resilience and resourcefulness, allied to an ability to draw down accumulated wealth, enable economies to rebound quickly from what seem at first to be unbearable inflictions – be it the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York or Friday’s 8.9-magnitude earthquake, the worst in Japan’s history.
The chilling visuals of tsunami devastating Japan on Friday brought back memories of December 26, 2004 to Chennaites– and questions like how good our tsunami alert system is.
Thanks to a global network of tsunami monitoring systems, Indian shores may not be caught unawares, but if maintenance of our tsunami buoys are anything go by, the Indian tsunami alert system is in a bad shape. As fishermen continue to vandalise tsunami buoys in the open seas, all that remains in the Bay of Bengal are two such buoys and one other in the Arabian Sea. These buoys sense tidal variations and send out signals to a satellite that alerts the ground stations.
The chilling visuals of tsunami devastating Japan on Friday brought back memories of December 26, 2004 to Chennaites– and questions like how good our tsunami alert system is.
Thanks to a global network of tsunami monitoring systems, Indian shores may not be caught unawares, but if maintenance of our tsunami buoys are anything go by, the Indian tsunami alert system is in a bad shape. As fishermen continue to vandalise tsunami buoys in the open seas, all that remains in the Bay of Bengal are two such buoys and one other in the Arabian Sea. These buoys sense tidal variations and send out signals to a satellite that alerts the ground stations.
