Find tsunami impact in Google Earth, too

In addition to the event location and magnitude information described in my previous post, subsequent PTWC bulletins for a particular event also list actual or predicted time and location of impact, and wave heights at specific locations.

This is the potentially life-saving information everyone should want to know after a tsunami warning has been issued: Is it going to hit me, and when?

Locations listed in PTWC bulletins for the southern Sumatra undersea earthquakes yesterday and this morning, for example, include both places ("Padang, Indonesia" in the table below) and ocean monitoring buoys in the region ("DART 23401" in the table below).

GAUGE LOCATION	LAT	LON	TIME	AMPL	PER
PADANG IDA	0.9S	100.4E	1348Z	0.98M / 3.2FT	34MIN
DART 23401	8.9S	88.5E	1421Z	0.02M / 0.1FT	15MIN

You can enter or cut-and-paste the latitude and longitude for a place or buoy into Google Earth's "Fly To" box. The coordinates "8.9 N 88.5 E" are the location of Deep-Ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis (DART) buoy 23401, maintained by the Thailand Meteorological Department in the Indian Ocean. This is a global list of buoys.

Indonesia is still struggling to acquire, deploy and maintain buoys off its seismically-active coast, as this map of current DART buoys regrettably shows. The Asean Earthquake Information Center in Jakarta is a regional information-sharing network that partially compensates for Indonesia's handicap.

• Talkback (1)
• Print
• E-mail
• Share
• Alerts

• Ultimate 2012 recovery site: the moon
• Sample influenza business continuity plan
• No blood test for influenza
• Getting tested for H1N1 flu in Singapore
• Is Tamiflu 'better' than Relenza?

• Internationally-recognized BCM certifications for BCP professionals
• Sub-prime BCM certification in Asia
• Transportation Silliness at Airports
• Getting credit for having a BCP
• Tuning out supply chain risk

2009

2008

2007

2006

• Will technology divide us further?
• Buying a projector? Try an LED TV instead
• Lift-and-shift: Resurgence or flame-out
• Time to map out
• Ultimate 2012 recovery site: the moon

Nathaniel Forbes

Nathaniel Forbes is the director of Forbes Calamity Prevention, a Singapore-based consulting firm providing business continuity, crisis management and emergency response advice and training to multinational companies, with a focus on companies with offices in Asia. The firm is 10 years old. FCP's current and past clients include Singapore Exchange Ltd, OCBC Bank, AXA Insurance, The Gillette Company, Siemens and ABN Amro Bank. A former President of the Singapore Computer Society’s Business Continuity Group, Nathaniel passed the DRII’s Certified Business Continuity Planner (CBCP) examination in 1997. He has lived, traveled or worked in Asia since 1973.