Tsunami Warning System Developed in 2005; UNESCO's Work on Tsunami Early Warning Systems
ANDERSON: Well, it was the nightmare that never was. But the response to Wednesday's tsunami scare, our top story this evening, shows that warning systems have come a long way in eight years. Just what has changed? Back on the first anniversary of the 2004 disaster, CNN's Kristie Lu Stout returned to the scene to look at what was then a new early-warning system. Have a look at this.</s>KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Indian Ocean tsunami claimed more than 200,000 lives. There was no early- warning system. Onboard the Sonne, a team of scientists is installing a way to warn of a tsunami.</s>UDO BARCKHAUSEN, GEOPHYSICIST: With everything in place, from the technical side, we can raise the alarm within less than five minutes, which would, even for coastal areas close by, be enough.</s>STOUT: And it looks like this. Sensors are placed on the ocean floor to detect sea activity. They're linked to giant buoys that measure surface movement and transmit all the data via satellite to stations on land.</s>STOUT (on camera): But that high-end system of seabed sensors and buoys right off the coast of this beach, here, will amount to nothing unless the warning it picks up is relayed to every person on this beach.</s>STOUT (voice-over): Enter the Red Cross. The international aid group is organizing how to get that warning out to the community.</s>VIRGIL GRANDFIELD, INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE RED CROSS: The early-warning system, which is definitely technology-based, still depends on people on the other end of it. And so, the cartoon teaches people how to rebuild their communities in a safer way, but also how the early-warning system would work at their end.</s>STOUT: The cartoon shows how the Red Cross relays the warning. It also shows how the community should respond. A simple but potentially lifesaving message that has been screened to some 100,000 people. Today, Banda Aceh is rattled by quakes sometimes two to three times a week. With every rumble, the people head to the hills. But once the warning system is in place, the locals will know the difference between a false alarm and the real thing. Bustami Anzib is certain a tsunami will come back, but he's ready to heed any warning. He tells me, "Hand, phone, or siren, you can reach me."</s>STOUT: The call to prayer sounds at dusk in Banda Aceh. Before the next tsunami hits, Bustami should hear the call to run. Kristie Lu Stout, CNN, Banda Aceh, Indonesia.</s>ANDERSON: Well, that system is up and running, and today, tens of thousands of Indonesians heeded that call to get to higher ground. They had a terrible scare but did not have to endure another tragedy. Now, no casualties have been reported. Looks like the early-warning system which Kristie just talked about played a significant part. Let's, though, ask UNESCO's oceans expert, Wendy Watson-Wright, who leads the international effort to set up those early-warning systems. She joins us now from our Paris bureau. We do know that the tsunami was nothing like as significant or as big as the one back in 2004, but whether there had been a bigger tsunami or not, the systems worked, didn't they? Were you surprised?</s>WENDY WATSON-WRIGHT, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR GENERAL, UNESCO: No, I can't say I was surprised. Certainly very happy. But we have done simulation exercises before, the most recent one was on October the 12th of 2011. And during that time, of course, we were happy with the simulation exercise. We always have lessons learned. And we improve. So, it wasn't a surprise, but it was certainly a great pleasure to know that we did not have the destruction and the loss of life that we had in 2004.</s>ANDERSON: Talk us through these early-warning systems. How do they work?</s>WATSON-WRIGHT: Well, the early-warning systems are really comprised of approximately three components. First, of course, there is the hazard assessment, detection, and forecasting. Secondly, they also include a threat evaluation and dissemination of the information. And finally, the community preparedness and response, which of course involves education. And the important point here is it's an end-to-end system, and the last part, the education of the public, is so absolutely critical and important.</s>ANDERSON: Sure.</s>WATSON-WRIGHT: And in fact, this works. There was self-evaluation -- evacuation going on in Aceh just after the earthquake.</s>ANDERSON: You can't stop these tsunamis happen if they're going to happen, but these systems are incredibly important. What have you learned from today? You've been talking about the rehearsals that you've had over a long period of time, now, in eight years. What was learned today specifically, Wendy?</s>WATSON-WRIGHT: I'm sorry, could you repeat that question?</s>ANDERSON: We've been watching and hearing about these early-warning systems being set up since 2004. I'm wondering just when you reflect on today, the past 24 hours, what have we learned?</s>WATSON-WRIGHT: Well, we've learned that it's certainly been worth the effort to set up the tsunami warning systems. Of course, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO has been coordinating the specific tsunami system since 1965, but it was after the 2004 Sumatra earthquake and tsunami that we were asked to also set them up in the Indian Ocean, in the northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean, and in the Caribbean.</s>ANDERSON: All right.</s>WATSON-WRIGHT: And in the Indian Ocean, we have made significant progress.</s>ANDERSON: Good stuff. Wendy Watson-Wright out of Paris for you this evening. We thank you very much, indeed, for joining us this evening. I'm Becky Anderson. Thanks for being with us here on CONNECT THE WORLD. World headlines up next. END