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**NOAA REACTS QUICKLY TO INDONESIAN TSUNAMI**

![](media/image1.jpeg){width="3.125in"
height="3.8333333333333335in"}Dec. 26, 2004 ---
[NOAA](http://www.noaa.gov/) scientists acted quickly when a warning was
issued about the powerful undersea earthquake in the Indian Ocean that
triggered a devastating
[tsunami](http://www.publicaffairs.noaa.gov/grounders/tsunamis.html).
Within minutes following an alarm signaling the strong earthquake, the
[NOAA Pacific Tsunami Warning Center](http://www.prh.noaa.gov/ptwc/) in
Hawaii issued an information bulletin to nations in the Pacific at 8:14
p.m. EST Saturday, indicating that a magnitude 8.0 earthquake (later
upgraded to magnitude 9.0) had occurred off the west coast of Northern
Sumatra, Indonesia. Because the earthquake, reported to be one of the
strongest in the world in the past 40 years, occurred in the Indian
Ocean, not the Pacific, there was no threat of a tsunami to Hawaii, the
West Coast of North America or to other coasts in the Pacific
Basin---the U.S. area of responsibility. **(Click NOAA image for larger
view of Indonesia tsunami epicenter map. [Click
here](http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2004/images/tsunami-map122604-0058z.jpg)
for high resolution version, which is a large file. Please credit
"NOAA.")**

Within a few hours of learning of the tsunamis that killed thousands in
Indonesia Saturday night, [Vasily
Titov](http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/~titov/Titov/), associate director of
the [Tsunami Inundation Mapping
Efforts](http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/tsunami/time/), or TIME, at the NOAA
Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle, Wash., and his
counterpart in Japan had created preliminary model estimates of the
event.

A tsunami is a series of ocean waves generated by any rapid large-scale
disturbance of the sea water. Most tsunamis are generated by
earthquakes, but they may also be caused by volcanic eruptions,
landslides, undersea slumps or meteor impacts.

In 1963 the term \"tsunami\" was adopted internationally to describe
this natural phenomenon. A Japanese word, it is the combination of the
characters tsu (harbor) and nami (wave). They are often mistakenly
called "tidal waves." However, the tides have nothing to do with the
formation of tsunamis.

The waves radiate outward in all directions from the disturbance and can
propagate across entire ocean basins. For example, in 1960, an
earthquake in Chile caused a tsunami that swept across the Pacific to
Japan. Tsunami waves are distinguished from ordinary ocean waves by
their great length between peaks, often exceeding 100 miles in the deep
ocean, and by the long amount of time between these peaks, ranging from\
five minutes to an hour.

While they cannot be seen from the air, or felt aboard an ocean-going
ship, tsunamis can cause as great a loss of life and property as their
other natural disaster cousins---tornadoes and hurricanes.

The speed at which tsunamis travel depends on the ocean depth. A tsunami
can exceed 500 mph in the deep ocean but slows to 20 or 30 mph in the
shallow water near land. In less than 24 hours, a tsunami can cross the
entire Pacific Ocean.

A tsunami warning system for the West Coast of the U.S. recently was
awarded the Gold Medal, the Department of Commerce's highest award.

"As with any natural hazard, education and warnings are essential," said
Eddie N. Bernard, director of the [NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental
Laboratory](http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/) and first chairman of the Tsunami
Hazard Mitigation program, a multi-state, multi-agency effort. "If
people know what a tsunami is, what causes it, and what to do in case it
happens, fewer lives may be lost."

Persons caught in the path of a tsunami are at extreme risk from being
crushed or struck by debris, or drowning. Children and the elderly are
particularly at risk, as they often have less mobility, strength and
endurance. Residents are advised to seek higher ground or travel inland
to get out of the tsunami's path.

Part of NOAA's mission is to understand changes in the Earth's
environment and to provide public safety services.

The [NOAA National Weather Service](http://www.nws.noaa.gov/) operates
two tsunamis warning centers---one each in Hawaii and Alaska. The [West
Coast/Alaska Tsunami Warning Center](http://wcatwc.gov/) was established
in 1967 as a result of the 1964 9.2 earthquake in Alaska that left 132
dead---122 of those deaths have been attributed to the tsunami that was
generated.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center was established in 1948, following
the 1946 tsunami in Hawaii that left more than 150 people dead. The PTWC
serves as the operational headquarters for the [International Tsunami
Warning System](http://www.prh.noaa.gov/itic/) in the Pacific, working
closely with the [U.N. Intergovernmental Oceanographic
Commission](http://ioc.unesco.org/iocweb/index.php) International
Coordination Group to provide timely tsunami warnings to Pacific
nations. In December 2001, the center was renamed the Richard H.
Hagemeyer Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in honor of the late director
of the NOAA National Weather Service Pacific Region who ran the U.S.
Tsunami Program for 19 years.

To increase awareness about tsunamis, the NOAA National Weather Service
began the voluntary [TsunamiReady
Community](http://www.prh.noaa.gov/ptwc/tsunamiready/tsunamiready.htm)
program that helps areas prepare for such events. To date, there are 10
communities in Alaska, Washington, Oregon and California that have met
the TsunamiReady criteria.

The [Coastal Ocean Program](http://www.cop.noaa.gov/) at the [NOAA Ocean
Service](http://www.oceanservice.noaa.gov/) supported development of two
tools for dealing with Tsunami Hazards: model-based inundation maps and
the deep ocean warning system. Inundation maps, developed by the NOAA
Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, identify areas that are
susceptible to flooding before a tsunami occurs and are used to develop
evacuation and land-use plans. The NOAA Ocean Service also operates an
extensive network of tide gauges used by the warning centers to
determine if a tsunami has been generated.

NOAA is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety
through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related
events and providing environmental stewardship of the nation's coastal
and marine resources. NOAA is part of the [U.S. Department of
Commerce](http://www.commerce.gov/).

**Relevant Web Sites\
**[NOAA Pacific Tsunami Warning Center Bulletins and
Map](http://www.prh.noaa.gov/ptwc/bulletins.htm)

[NOAA Tsunami Page](http://www.noaa.gov/tsunamis.html)

[Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis
(DART)](http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/Dart/dart.shtml)\
\
[NOAA Water Level Observation
Network](http://www.co-ops.nos.noaa.gov/usmap.html)

[NOAA and
Tsunamis](http://www.publicaffairs.noaa.gov/grounders/tsunamis.html)

[NOAA Tsunami Research Program](http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/tsunami/)

[NOAA TsunamiReady Communities are
Prepared](http://www.prh.noaa.gov/ptwc/tsunamiready/tsunamiready.htm)

[NOAA Tsunami Warning System Receives High
Marks](http://www.magazine.noaa.gov/stories/mag153.htm)

[NOAA Leading the Way in Tsunami Research and
Education](http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2004/s2200.htm)

**Media Contact:**\
[Delores Clark](mailto:Delores.Clark@noaa.gov) in Honolulu, Hawaii,
(808) 532-6411; [Jana Goldman](mailto:Jana.Goldman@noaa.gov), [NOAA
Research](http://www.research.noaa.gov/), in Silver Spring, Md, (301)
713-2483; or [Ann Thomason](mailto:Ann.Thomason@noaa.gov) in Seattle,
Wash., (206) 526-6800