Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Color Me Pissed

Ok, I was hoping to get in a few Katrina related posts before something like this happened. From The Guardian Unlimited UK (http://www.guardian.co.uk/indonesia/Story/0,,1823219,00.html
regarding the earthquake and tsunami in Java:


Officials failed to pass on tsunami warning

The government's
science and technology minister, Kusmayanto
Kadiman, confirmed today that Indonesia had received bulletins
from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawaii and Japan's
meteorological agency after the quake, but "we did not announce
them. If it [the tsunami] did not occur, what would have
happened?" he said in Jakarta.

What the fuck? Why even put together a tsunami warning system unless you are going to use it? Sorry Kusmayanto Kadiman but 300+ lives are more important than Covering Your Ass. What makes me doubly furious is I personally know a now retired USGS seismologist who was standing by helpless on Dec. 26, 2004, unable to contact anyone on South Asia because the communication lines weren't set up. You would think Indonesian officials would have bent over backwards to get the warning out - instead this happens.

I need a beer.