[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 499 Introduced in House (IH)]






109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 499

   To provide for the development of a global tsunami detection and 
 warning system, to improve existing communication of tsunami warnings 
      to all potentially affected nations, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 1, 2005

Mr. Shays (for himself, Mrs. Maloney, Mr. English of Pennsylvania, Mr. 
 Sanders, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Gutierrez, Mr. Kucinich, Mr. McNulty, Ms. 
  Jackson-Lee of Texas, Mrs. McCarthy, and Mr. Owens) introduced the 
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on International 
Relations, and in addition to the Committee on Resources, for a period 
    to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 
                          committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To provide for the development of a global tsunami detection and 
 warning system, to improve existing communication of tsunami warnings 
      to all potentially affected nations, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Global Tsunami Detection and Warning 
System Act of 2005''.

SEC. 2. DEVELOPMENT AND DEPLOYMENT OF TSUNAMI SENSORS.

    (a) Responsibilities of Secretary of Commerce.--The Secretary of 
Commerce shall--
            (1) identify deficiencies in the existing system of 
        worldwide seismic stations that can identify in real or near 
        real time potentially tsunamigenic earthquakes in any location 
        in the Pacific, Atlantic, or Indian Oceans and associated seas;
            (2) work with the Secretary of State to enlist 
        international cooperation in deploying seismic sensors to 
        eliminate such deficiencies;
            (3) work with the Secretary of the Interior, through the 
        Director of the United States Geological Survey to identify and 
        implement any additions or improvements to the United States' 
        maintained network of seismic stations that are necessary to 
        improve real time or near real time signal acquisition and 
        processing capability for detection of potentially tsunamigenic 
        seismic events;
            (4) identify tsunami sensors, such as those developed by 
        the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and 
        deployed under its Deep Ocean Assessment and Report of Tsunamis 
        Project, or other appropriate ocean-based sensors, that can be 
        deployed to detect potential tsunamis generated by any type of 
        disturbance, including earthquake, underwater landslide, above 
        water landslide, eruption of an explosive volcano, and meteor 
        impact;
            (5) identify the number and location of such sensors that 
        must be deployed throughout the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific 
        Oceans, and associated seas, and any other bodies of water of 
        concern, to provide a system offering complete global coverage 
        for detection of a tsunami, taking into consideration and 
        coordinating with any regional systems in place or under 
        development through other nations in the affected regions;
            (6) procure and deploy such sensors;
            (7) establish the measurement system, forecast system, and 
        communication system and infrastructure needed to receive and 
        process the signals generated by such tsunami sensors, by 
        building on existing infrastructure at existing Centers of the 
        National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, such as the 
        Pacific Tsunami Warning Center and West Coast and Alaska 
        Tsunami Center; and
            (8) disseminate tsunami forecasts and warnings as necessary 
        to all potentially affected nations.
    (b) Report to Congress.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Commerce shall submit to 
Congress a report on the progress made in carrying out the requirements 
of subsection (a).

SEC. 3. INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON GLOBAL TSUNAMI DETECTION AND 
              WARNING.

    (a) Sense of Congress on Convening Conference.--It is the sense of 
Congress that the President, in consultation with the leaders of 
nations described in section 4(a)(1), should undertake to convene, 
within 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, an 
international conference on global tsunami detection and warning for 
the purposes of--
            (1) supporting the common objective of such nations of 
        preventing or reducing the toll of human loss from future 
        tsunami-related natural disasters in the Pacific, Indian, and 
        Atlantic Oceans and associated seas; and
            (2) seeking international agreement on the most effective 
        means for deploying and funding a global tsunami detection and 
        warning system.
    (b) Sense of Congress on Alternative Action.--It is further the 
sense of Congress that a conference described in subsection (a) would 
not be necessary if, as determined by the President after consultation 
with the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Commerce, satisfactory 
international agreement as described in paragraph (2) of that 
subsection has been reached within 90 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act.

SEC. 4. NETWORK OF NATIONS POTENTIALLY AFFECTED BY TSUNAMIS.

    (a) Requirement for Strategy.--The Secretary of State, in 
consultation with the Secretary of Commerce, shall prepare and 
implement a comprehensive strategy to achieve the following objectives:
            (1) Identify all coastal nations that have the potential to 
        be adversely affected by tsunamis, particularly the nations 
        that border the Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic Oceans, and 
        associated seas.
            (2) Identify appropriate organizations, agencies, and 
        contacts within the governments of those nations for 
        disseminating tsunami warnings by working with--
                    (A) the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and 
                Cultural Organization; and
                    (B) other appropriate organizations.
            (3) Develop, with cooperating nations and their agencies 
        and organizations, a structure for a Global Tsunami Warning 
        System that has an appropriate number of regional operational 
        headquarters.
            (4) Identify, with cooperating nations and their agencies 
        and organizations, and establish an appropriate chain of 
        command structure to ensure that warnings of potential or 
        approaching tsunamis are directed to the appropriate contacts 
        in potentially affected countries in a timely manner through 
        the Global Tsunami Warning System network.
            (5) Implement, with cooperating nations and their agencies 
        and organizations, a tsunami forecasting system that includes 
        tsunami early detection and monitoring instrumentation 
        integrated with modeling technology essential to producing 
        real-time tsunami forecasts.
            (6) Utilize the forecasts developed under the tsunami 
        forecasting system to form appropriate warnings, and rapidly 
        disseminate such warnings to potentially affected nations.
            (7) Develop an appropriate warning communications system 
        involving telephone, Internet, radio, fax, and other 
        appropriate means to convey warnings as rapidly as possible to 
        all potentially affected nations.
            (8) Work in partnership with the nations identified as 
        described in paragraph (1), as needed, to develop, establish, 
        and maintain appropriate educational and response planning 
        partnerships to ensure that tsunami warnings are properly 
        interpreted by officials in other nations and that coastal 
        communities respond appropriately to tsunami warnings.
            (9) Seek funding assistance from participating nations to 
        fund the sensor systems identified under section 4 and the 
        ongoing operation and maintenance of such systems.
    (b) Report to Congress.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall submit to 
Congress a report on the strategy required under subsection (a). The 
report shall include the following:
            (1) The strategy.
            (2) The progress made on implementing the strategy.

SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    Funds are hereby authorized to be appropriated to carry out this 
Act as follows:
            (1) For fiscal year 2005, $30,000,000.
            (2) For each of fiscal years 2006 through 2014, $7,500,000.
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