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• United States Diplomatic Mission to Italy

Summary

Some in Congress are concerned about the possible vulnerability of U.S. coastal areas to tsunamis, and about the adequacy of early warning for coastal areas of the western Atlantic Ocean. This stems from the December 26, 2004, tsunami that devastated many coastal areas around the northern Indian Ocean, where few tsunami early warning systems currently operate. The tsunami was caused by a strong underwater earthquake off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The earthquake and tsunami together are estimated to have claimed as many as 300,000 lives. Affected nations, assisted by others, are pursuing multilateral efforts through the UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) to develop a regional tsunami detection and warning network that would guard coastal populations around the Indian Ocean. Those efforts would coincide with the United States' goal of upgrading and expanding its tsunami detection and early warning network. Some developed countries bounding the Indian Ocean region already have operating tsunami warnings systems. However, in other areas of these countries and in neighboring countries, an emergency management infrastructure to receive tsunami warnings is lacking. This leaves local officials incapable of rapidly alerting the public to evacuate or to take other safety precautions. Disaster management experts assert that an emergency management infrastructure includes not just issuing tsunami warnings, but also educating indigenous people and visitors about the potential dangers in the area; clearly communicating evacuation options; adapting to potential risks by constructing public shelters; conducting periodic evacuation drills; and producing tsunami inundation maps for guiding future land-use planning. The Bush Administration's plan for upgrading the U.S. tsunami early warning network proposed $37.5 million through 2007 to expand from six existing deepwater tsunami detection buoys to a total of 32 for the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean Sea by 2008. The National Weather Service, which operates the program, estimated initial procurement costs to be around $24 million, excluding out-year funding for operations and maintenance. P.L. 109-13, the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act of FY2005, has provided for procuring, deploying, and maintaining a comprehensive U.S. tsunami early warning network. In the 109th Congress, other legislation would support long-term operations and maintenance and add public education and adaptation. Administration officials and some in Congress consider an upgraded U.S. system the first step toward building a global capability. Although the United States' costs alone could run into millions of dollars for instrumentation and maintenance, some suggest the benefits would far outweigh the costs. Others have questioned whether the risks of tsunamis outside the Pacific Basin justify the investment. To share costs, international science agencies have suggested that global or regional warning networks could be built upon ocean data collection systems, marine data buoys, tide gauge networks, regional coastal and ocean observation networks, and global telecommunications systems. A global warning network would be most useful in countries that also have expansive national emergency management capability. This report is updated as warranted.

Related Legislation:
• S.300

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