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107TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 3720
To require the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to establish
a tsunami hazard mitigation program for all United States coastal States
and insular areas.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY 12, 2002
Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Resources
A BILL
To require the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis-
tration to establish a tsunami hazard mitigation program
for all United States coastal States and insular areas.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) Tsunamis are very large ocean waves caused
by underwater earthquakes or volcanic eruptions,
which can travel thousands of miles in open water.
(2) Tsunamis are threats to low-elevation coast-
al States of the United States and insular areas.
(3) Local tsunamis give residents only a few
minutes to seek safety.
(4) Tsunamis originating in one place give resi-
dents of distant localities more time to evacuate po-
tentially-threatened areas, but better data is needed
to accurately predict their potential to inflict damage
in any given area.
(5) The announcement of a tsunami warning
which results in the evacuation of low-lying areas
can be very costly.
(6) False tsunami alerts can result in signifi-
cant costs to several communities, and reduce the se-
riousness with which future alerts will be taken.
(7) The failure to issue tsunami alerts can be
even more costly and can result in avoidable death
and personal injury, as well as destruction of prop-
erty.
(8) Once a tsunami is generated, the technology
exists to analyze seismic changes in the Earth and
changes in ocean water height to determine the di-
rection any given tsunami is traveling and the popu-
lated areas in which it may cause destruction.
(9) The key steps to reducing damage caused
by tsunamis are to assess the hazard, educate the
public to the hazard, monitor the Earth’s seismic ac-
tivity on a real-time basis, and alert local govern-
ments and the public in time for them to take ap-
propriate action.
SEC. 2. PROGRAM.
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration shall establish a tsunami haz-
ard mitigation program for all coastal States and insular
areas, to perform hazard assessment, monitoring and
warning, and public education functions. Such program
shall—
(1) provide warnings of tsunamis, and maintain
the equipment necessary to make such warnings;
(2) conduct periodic tests of the tsunami warn-
ing system to ensure its operational effectiveness;
(3) make tsunami warnings available to the
broadest extent practicable;
(4) establish a long-term plan to determine
areas of possible inundation for all reasonably
threatened coastal States and insular areas of the
United States, beginning with the most populous;
(5) coordinate the preparation of local evacu-
ation plans for susceptible communities; and
(6) coordinate with and maintain membership
in the International Tsunami Information Center.
(b) PRIMARY BENEFICIARIES.—The program estab-
lished under subsection (a) shall be designed for the ben-
efit of all coastal States and insular areas of the United
States, including Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin
Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and the Commonwealth
of the Northern Marianas Islands.
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