WASHINGTON -- The U.S. weather chief called Wednesday for a global surveillance system to detect and forecast disasters like tsunamis, hoping the tragedy in Asia will build the political resolve to buy and deploy equipment.

"It just hasn't happened, it hasn't gotten enough priority inside of each nation to support it," Conrad C. Lautenbacher, a retired Navy vice admiral who heads the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told The Associated Press. "It's a matter of priorities and resources. There's nothing to stop us from doing it in a technical sense."
 
Talk about a worldwide observation system has gone on for decades. An international warning system for tsunamis began in 1965, the year after tsunamis associated with a magnitude 9.2 quake struck Alaska.
Lautenbacher said it could save tens of thousands of lives in the future - and might even have predicted the tsunamis that hit Asia and Africa this weekend.

"They would have known where the areas of danger are," he said, adding that some studies have shown as much as four-fifths of a population could be saved. "You could have evacuated or moved people out of these areas. They could have walked out of the areas, quite frankly."

President Bush said Wednesday it was important to build an early warning system for tsunamis worldwide. Closer to home, he directed Interior Secretary Gale Norton and Commerce Secretary Don Evans to check if the West Coast is adequately protected.

"I think part of the long-term strategy in how to deal with a natural disaster is to make sure we, the world, has a proper tsunami warning system," Bush said. "Clearly, there wasn't a proper warning system in place for that part of the world. And it seems like to me it makes sense for the world to come together to develop a warning system that will help all nations."

(excerpt)

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2004/12/29/203153.shtml