Re: Quarks

From: Richard Schultz (schultr_at_mail.biu.ack.il)
Date: 12/28/04 

Date: Tue, 28 Dec 2004 13:13:16 +0000 (UTC)

In sci.physics.particle Uncle Al <UncleAl0@hate.spam.net> wrote:

: Seismic stations around the world went wild trying to warn somebody in
: charge hours before the waves hit shallows. Everybody had time to
: evacuate.

The people in Sumatra would not have had time to evacuate, and the
people in the Maldives would not have had anywhere to evacuate to.
Suppose that a warning arrives that a tsunami is going to hit Miami in
two hours. Just what percentage of the population would you expect to
escape before it hits?

You suggest that the lack of a tsunami warning network in the Indian
ocean was due to some religious beliefs on the part of the natives that
they were safe. I would be interested in some evidence that your suggestion
is true, since the media reports that I have seen or heard indicated that
no such network was ever set up because the governments involved felt
that it wasn't worth the time or effort, there having been no tsunamis
in the Indian Ocean since the eruption of Krakatoa in 1883. That's not
to say that such a network shouldn't be set up; surely the minimal effort
necessary to save tens of thousands of people should be expended, even
if that effort only yields results once a century. But historically,
safety measures are only taken *after* a disaster occurs (e.g. the current
tsunami warning network in the Pacific was set up after one that killed
159 people in Hawaii in 1946).

-----
Richard Schultz schultr@mail.biu.ac.il
Department of Chemistry, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel
Opinions expressed are mine alone, and not those of Bar-Ilan University
-----
"Don't say I am great. Say I have begun to be passably honest. It is
more than enough."
                                -- Thomas Hardy, _The Well-Beloved_

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