Indonesian tsunami warning system 'had been vandalised'

Found this a few minutes ago purely by accident. I've already mentioned in another thread about the NOAA warning system issuing tsunami watches for Indonesia. But the watches were canceled and subsequently followed by this statement:

THIS BULLETIN IS ISSUED AS ADVICE TO GOVERNMENT AGENCIES. ONLY NATIONAL AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT AGENCIES HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO MAKE DECISIONS REGARDING THE OFFICIAL STATE OF ALERT IN THEIR AREA AND ANY ACTIONS TO BE TAKEN IN RESPONSE.

So, today I find this....

Villagers in Indonesia were deprived of an advanced alert that a tsunami was heading towards them because part of an early warning system had been vandalised, an Indonesian official said.

The revelation came as video footage from the Mentawai islands revealed the extent of the damage.

Rescuers have warned that the death toll from the tsunami is likely to climb. Hundreds of missing people are believed to have been swept away.

Ridwan Jamaluddin, from the Indonesian Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology, told the BBC's Indonesian service that two buoys lying off the Mentawai islands were out of service when the tsunami struck.

"We don't say they are broken down but they were vandalised and the equipment is very expensive," he said. "It cost us 5bn rupiah (£353,000) each."

It is unclear how the damage was caused.

Read the whole article here

So there are two distinct issues in my mind at present:

1. NOAA knew, but backed off and didn't do anything. I don't mean to demonize them, as I'm sure it's nothing but international politics at play, but over 370 people are dead or missing from the tsunami. This doesn't include the volcanic eruption.

2. Two buoys, not one but two, were not working properly. They deliberately state the buoys were vandalized.

I don't want to form a theory - I couldn't if I tried, because I simply don't have enough information. But something is not right about this AT ALL. People need to know, and as much as I've had the news on over the past several days, I've seen ONE quick report on the volcanic ash. That's it. Admittedly, I've not been glued to the television, but still, what is going on in this part of the world is phenomenal!

Within a span of a few days time (all of which, except the mega typhoon, occurring within 24 hours):

1. A mega typhoon forms and sweeps up through Asia, killing people in it's path.

2. A 7.7 earthquake hits in the same area that caused the massive tsunami in Sumatra that killed over 200,000 people.

3. A 3-meter high tsunami is triggered, without warning, and sweeps away entire villages in Indonesia.

4. Mt. Merapi erupts, spews hot ash and kills dozens of people.

5. ANOTHER typhoon forms and sweeps up towards Japan (which is happening right now)

By my count, one more event should take place, since I'm of the belief that things always occur in sets of 3's. There are only five there. But that's just an unrelated notion on my part. Apart from that, I can't help but wonder if this is a microcosm of what other parts of the world will experience in days to come. Bam, bam, bam! It's like all the elements are pissed off at the same time, and they're pitching on the same team, but nobody's holding the bat.

To me it seems like they knew the buoys were broken but either didn't have the funds to fix them or more likely couldn't be bothered?

Obviously someone here is too blame. I'm sure a lot of lives could have been saved if these people had got the warning I'm sure they would have expected.

I don't know if its just me but I'm sure there has been an increase in natural disasters recently. And the weathers been acting rather odd here over the past few days. I'm definitely going to be keeping an eye on seismic activity in the coming weeks.

Thanks for posting, S&F

reply to post by TechUnique


You brought up a good point....I was wondering if these were fairly new due to the LAST tsunami. Why would officials state that brand new buoys were vandalized if they were simply just broken? This begs the next obvious question....who would do such a thing, and why?

Originally posted by Gseven
reply to post by TechUnique

 

You brought up a good point....I was wondering if these were fairly new due to the LAST tsunami. Why would officials state that brand new buoys were vandalized if they were simply just broken? This begs the next obvious question....who would do such a thing, and why?

If due to negligence on their part people died then I would think using the old "It wasn't me, he broke it" cover-up would be an easy way to avoid all the bad press and possible lawsuits. I don't see why anyone would vandalise a buoy... but I can definitely see why someone who couldn't be bothered to sort something out would leave it, then resulting in loss of human life. I'm sure loss of human life due to negligence has happened plenty of times in the past. Infact, probably on a regular basis.

Why, what were you thinking?

reply to post by TechUnique


Well, what I'm thinking may just be an ill-informed first impression, but I'm having a difficult time trying to grasp that two new buoys were broken, yet NOAA knew the tsunami was coming. How does that happen, exactly? SOMEBODY had a working buoy out there. It's just not adding up in my mind, and while it would be easy to chalk it up to negligence, not all the pieces fit together for that either. Hmmm.....I think I need to think on this one for a while and wait to see what else pops up.

they insist it was vandilisim, yet they have yet to find out what was done to them?? yeaahhhh
because people are so stupid this day in age that we have no cop on but to believe that!

answer me this, if the cops rang you up and said your car has bien vandilised, you ask whats happened to it, they say we dont know we havent looked at it yet, then i guess your next question is how do you know its vandalised then??


either way its a shame, many people could have bien saved by the warning if it was sent out.

reply to post by Gseven


Maybe they have separate buoys or another type of warning system?

I don't know, Its a bit of a tricky one with not a lot to go by

reply to post by scoobyrob


BEAUTIFUL!!!! You just triggered something I couldn't put my finger on. Unless they already sent folks out to the buoys to check them out, how in heck did they know they were vandalized? Logically, they could have already sent people out, but with boats and docks washed away, doesn't it seem too way too soon to make such a statement?

The German seismologist reported something completely opposite, and stated that Indonesia could only afford to install a portion of the buoys intended to warn people. But these buoys WERE installed. Another statement said that they were installed too close. So which one is it??? We have 3 separate things going on here....vandalism, lack of funds, an ineffective installation location. (say that one 3 times fast!)

i was wondering if anyone thought the tsunami could be the result of an underwater nuclear explosion. ? an underwater demolition of sorts - designed to lessen the population perhaps? the first thing i thought it was was submarine warfare. i wonder how many nukes it would take to make a tsunami that large. maybe it is not possible, but if possible - than likely?