Biggest Failure in Tsunami Warning System Is Education

摘要

More than failed tsunami warning systems, earthquake experts condemn a lack of public understanding of the risk as a fatal contributor to the more than 1,400 deaths in a 7.5-magnitude earthquake and tsunami that hit Palu Bay in Sulawesi, Indonesia, on Sept. 29. "When the source of the tsunami is right on your doorstep, warning is a challenge ... the earthquake has to be the warning," says Gerard Fryer, former senior geophysicist at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The source of the quake was the Palu-Koro strike-slip fault near the island of Sulawesi.