[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 6 (Wednesday, January 26, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S566-S567]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    GLOBAL TSUNAMI DETECTION SYSTEM.

  Mr. AKAKA. Mr. President, I would like to comment today on S. 50, the 
Tsunami Preparedness Act of 2005, a timely and much-needed bill in the 
aftermath of the devastating tsunami in the Indian Ocean. The world has 
learned valuable lessons in the past month about human suffering and 
loss, as well as generosity and good fortune in the face of impossible 
odds. We have also learned a great deal about the generation of 
tsunamis, the need to instrument the ocean, and the need to assist in 
the development of a warning and civil defense system for vulnerable 
nations around the world.
  I joined my colleagues Senators Dan Inouye and Ted Sevens, the 
ranking member and chair, respectively, of the Committee on Commerce, 
Science, and Transportation, as an original cosponsor of S. 50, the 
Tsunami Preparedness Act of 2005, which was introduced on Monday, 
January 24, 2005. The bill would authorize, expand, and improve our 
domestic tsunami warning system. Equally importantly, it would 
authorize the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration, NOAA, to provide technical assistance and advice to 
appropriate international entities in developing a global tsunami 
warning system comprised of regional warning networks, modeled on the 
Tsunami Warning System of the Pacific. We must share our expertise and 
experience with other tsunami-prone nations around the world.
  My conviction is based on personal experience. In Hawaii, tsunamis 
have accounted for more lost lives than all other natural disasters. In 
the 20th century, an estimated 221 people were killed by tsunamis. Most 
of these deaths occurred on the island of Hawaii during the tsunamis of 
1946 and 1960, two of the largest tsunamis to strike in the Pacific. I 
am hopeful that our experiences in Hawaii and the expertise of NOAA's 
two National Weather Service Tsunami Warning Centers located in Palmer, 
AK, and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Ewa Beach, HA, can help 
other nations around the world prepare for potential undersea 
earthquakes that result in these tragic disasters.
  One of the worst natural disasters in Hawaii's history took place 
April 1, 1946 when a magnitude 7.1 earthquake in the Aleutian Islands 
triggered a destructive, Pacific-wide tsunami that killed 159 people: 
96 in Hilo, 15 on Kauai, 14 on Maui and nine on Oahu. There was no 
warning in Hawaii, as the Tsunami Warning System had not been 
established at that time. The town of Hilo was ``pounded'' by a series 
of 6 to 7 waves, one after the other. The waterfront and all the 
buildings facing Hilo Bay were completely destroyed. The tsunami 
flooded the downtown area of Hilo causing more than $26 million in 
damages. The photos that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers took 
afterwards showed scenes similar to the ones we've seen in the past 
month in Thailand and Indonesia--everything was leveled and destroyed. 
The character of downtown Hilo was changed forever. Tragically, we lost 
a number of young children, students, killed by the tsunami in 
Laupahoehoe, a small community north and west of Hilo where the waves 
struck the school and destroyed a hospital. As a result, in 1949 the 
Pacific Tsunami Warning Center was established, which later became the 
headquarters of the International Pacific Warning System.
  This bill would authorize several programs in NOAA that we have 
depended on since 1949. It would deploy a greater number of buoys 
throughout the Pacific and it would expand the research on tsunamis and 
their detection to ensure a more reliable and better instrumented 
system for the Pacific, including Alaska, the West Coast of the U.S. 
and Pacific islands nations who are members of the group. It would 
expand the domestic system to the Atlantic and Caribbean where tsunamis 
are infrequent but not impossible.
  I would like to close with an appeal to my colleagues to consider the 
types of aid that the U.S. can provide to Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, 
and Thailand. We must not overlook the science and technology of 
tsunamis and tsunami detection. The detection, warnings, planning, and 
public education are perhaps the most important types of assistance we 
can provide, because they are preventive and represent the little that 
we can do to save lives in dealing

[[Page S567]]

with the forces of nature in the future. They are an investment in the 
future safety and security of humankind.
  This bill, most importantly, would mandate the U.S. to share its 
expertise and experience in the Pacific with those nations that have 
suffered such devastating losses from the Indian Ocean tsunami. With 
the technology we have, no family of nations need suffer in the future 
from such widespread devastation without warning and public awareness 
of what tsunamis are, what they can do, and how to react and plan for 
them. Hawaii and the Pacific has been well-prepared for tsunamis 
through 20 years of State and federal efforts through the National 
Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program, which is a NOAA Federal-State 
partnership with or Hawaii Civil Defense program. This program has 
enhanced Hawaii's tsunami mitigation and preparedness programs. Sharing 
our experience, our successes, and our learning curves is a very 
important part of assistance in the aftermath of the tsunami.
  I urge support for this bill and commend my colleagues on the 
Commerce Committee, and its staff, for their foresight in addressing 
this issue and working with the executive branch to review and comment 
on this bill.

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