Early Warning System and the Japan Earthquake

[thewiseguy]

Run time: 03:52 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQVPfQu50yY   Posted on YouTube: March 11, 2011 By YouTube Member: suzuchiu Views on YouTube: 384220   Posted on DU: March 12, 2011 By DU Member: thewiseguy Views on DU: 721

 
The technology is just amazing.

[Poll_Blind]

1. Wow, that is incredible technology- and if I ever saw a coundown like that I'd crap bricks.

It reminds me of the very end of the movie Next where they're able to identify exactly where a nuclear bomb has just gone off, like maybe 2-3 seconds before you can see/feel the blast.

PB

[RockaFowler]

2. That gave me chills

Wow. That's the only word I can think of right now

[kestrel91316]

3. What freaks me out is how the shaking got WORSE as it went on, with

the worst at about 90 seconds into the quake. JEEEEEEZUS.

[SemperEadem]

4. yeah.. the Northridge Quake was like that

After about 2 minutes, you start asking "when is it going to stop?" You can almost feel how mean it is as it gets stronger.

that's why the aftershocks are almost worse then the initial quake--because you don't know if it's going to go hard in the paint or if it's going to stop... and they happen over and over and over and over after the initial quake. I don't miss that aspect of living in LA.

[Charleston Chew]

5. Republican Budget Cuts for Tsunami Warning Centers

__________
GOP Budget Cuts Would Lead to Furloughs at Tsunami Warning Centers, Undermining Their "Ability to React"
by: Kevin Donohoe
Saturday 12 March 2011


Congressional Republicans' 2011 budget would slash funding for government agencies directly responsible for issuing tsunami warnings and severely reduce the government’s capacity to track and respond to these disasters, the president of the union that represents employees of the National Weather Service told ThinkProgress today in the wake of the tragic tsunami in the Pacific. The House Republican budget, which was rejected by the Senate this week, would have cut funding to NOAA - the agency directly responsible for tsunami monitoring and warning - restricting the government’s ability to respond.

Dan Sobien, the president of National Weather Service Employees Organization, said in a statement to ThinkProgress that while his agency, a subsidiary of NOAA, has made contingency plans, the GOP cuts would "put considerable stress" on the country’s tsunami monitoring and response systems:

NOAA has put together part of a contingency plan to handle such a massive cut and while it spares tsunami buoys, all other coastal buoys are non funded and there will be furloughs at both Tsunami Warning Centers (TWC). These furloughs will take away the TWC’s ability to upgrade tsunami models and will put considerable stress on watchstanders ability to react. This plan unfortunately only account for about half the cuts that need to be made, about 60 of the 126 million that needs to be cut. While today's disaster is of particular concern to everyone, we are just now entering tornado season and soon will be hurricane season and our organization firmly believes any effort to defund and dismantle our nations early warning system for all disasters is very unwise.

http://thinkprogress.org/2011/03/11/gop-budget-tsunami/
___________