Could Sri Lanka Have Been Warned?

The Washington Post has up a letter from a Sri Lanka native who is living here in America who asks an important question. Could Sri Lanka have been warned? And if so, how many could have been saved?

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, run by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, issued a bulletin 15 minutes after the initial earthquake occurred off the west coast of Indonesia's Sumatra island. That was at 7:14 a.m. Sri Lanka time on Dec. 26. It would be almost two hours before the tsunami reached the coast of Sri Lanka...While no sophisticated early-warning system exists for the Indian Ocean, unlike the Pacific Ocean, there was time to warn Sri Lanka and other countries. A 1993 survey found that 90 percent of Sri Lankans have access to radio news. Many lives might have been saved if warnings had been relayed over the radio.

The writer goes on to clarify that he is not looking to assess blame, but to ask us to think of the future. A sophisticated warning system exists for the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Only the Indian Ocean is left unprotected, and without a preplanned warning system. Before now, it was let go because this seemed next to impossible. Now, we know it is not.