False Tsunamie Alerts Issued Today

"The false alarm highlighted the lack of an organized tsunami warning system in other parts of the world. Experts have said such a system would have helped save lives after Sunday's 9.0 magnitude quake off the coast of Sumatra. The tremor sent 500 mph waves racing across the Indian Ocean, hitting unsuspecting residents thousands of miles away in Sri Lanka, India and East Africa.

The fears of a new tsunami were apparently sparked by a string of earthquakes in the previous 24 hours, but an earthquake expert at the University of Hong Kong, Jason Ali, said they were around 1,000 times less powerful than Sunday's and probably not big enough to produce tsunamis. ``It's probably going to have negligible impact,'' he said.

Sibal, India's science minister, said the misinformation had come from a U.S. research group in Portland, Ore., called Terra Research.

"(They) ... claimed they have some sensors and equipment through which they suggest there was a possibility of an earthquake,'' Sibal said at a televised press conference. ``So, on the basis of this communication, for anyone to reach a conclusion that a tsunami will hit the eastern coast of India is unscientific, hogwash and should be discarded.''

Terra Research and Consulting Services is run by Larry Park, 46, who describes himself as an earthquake forecaster and stood by his prediction. He said Thursday a quake-spawned tsunami still could happen."

Note from Ellie, I looked at this website and it looks like a ill-conceived effort to make money from his books on the secret of earthquake anomalies. On the flip side, after Hawaii's poor, poor attempt to notify THE WORLD of the strong possibility of Tidal Waves after 9.0 earthquakes on the ocean floor, I understand frantic web searches for earthquake activity and possible tidal waves triggered by aftershocks by officials of those countries affected. After all, they can't count on warnings from established earthquake monitering organizations.