| | |
 |
|
| 03-01-2005 | Previous edition: 02-28-2005 |
        
     |
Printer-friendly version Professor explains tsunami misconceptionsBy Muhammad Al-JundubStaff Writer Professor Lawrence Braile of the department of earth and atmospheric sciences spoke Monday on the tsunami catastrophe in Southeast Asia. Braile gave scientific explanations of how tsunamis form and explained common public misconceptions regarding tsunamis in general. "A couple of reports initially talked about the fact that tsunamis aren’t normal in the Indian Ocean," said Braile. "That was really a mistake." Braile demonstrated that earthquake activity and tsunamis are actually very common in Indonesia and nearby areas, which have a 20 to 50 percent greater chance of experiencing the weather phenomena than the rest of the world. Braile also discussed how the lack of a tsunami warning system contributed greatly to the high death tolls in Sumatra and surrounding regions. The death toll has reached 280,000, the vast majority being in Sumatra. "Although the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami was a tragic event, benefits are that the countries are now committed to installing effective tsunami warning systems," said Braile. "It takes a catastrophe before the world is willing to put money behind a mitigation system." Another factor that contributed to the large number of deaths was a lack of public awareness. "People didn’t know very much about tsunamis in the area," said Braile. "Many people watched the waves approach but did not take action until too late or went out and explored the beach." Second and third waves often follow the first one, so it’s dangerous for people to go onto the beach even if the first wave has receded. Lastly, bad construction in developing countries of the area played a role in the vast destruction. "For example, none of the big hotels were destroyed," Braile explained. "So, if you were on the third floor of one of these hotels, as many people were who were taking videos of this disaster happening in front of them, you were actually perfectly safe. This obviously wasn’t the case in some of the other structures." Printer-friendly version |
|
Front Page | Campus | City | Features | Opinions | Sports | Classifieds Advertising | Archive | Links | About us | Letter Submission Form To report any errors with or to give ideas on how we can improve the online edition of The Exponent contact Online Production |
