Tsunami - Why were they not warned?

My first question, when I read about the Tsunami that killed over 11,000 people in Asia, was why were they not warned. Then my question became, why were they not better informed? Stories are pouring in not only from the people who survived an unexpected disaster on a beautiful day, but people who felt parts of the earthquake that triggered the tidal wave but then went about their lives with little or no concern.

There are conflicting reports out there. One report states that there are no warning sensors in the region to sense a coming tidal wave, others state, the center in Hawaii knew the tsunami had formed but since this region of the world does not participate in the tidal wave warning system, they didn't know who to tell!

I am not pointing fingers and I am sure that more information will come out of this to explain why no one was screaming "TIDAL WAVE!".

Some quotes from survivors.

Indian vegetable hawker N. Arasu: "We are too scared to sleep. What if the sea rises again and takes us away in our sleep?"

Boree Carlsson, Swedish hotel worker on Thailand's Phuket island: "As I was standing there, a car actually floated into the lobby and overturned because the current was so strong."

Lieutenant Colonel Belyuni, North Aceh, Indonesia: "It's possible the death toll will mount because many corpses are still caught up in trees."

Charles McCreery, director of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's center in Honolulu, which detected the earthquake and coming tsunami: "We tried to do what we could. We don't have contacts in our address book for anybody in that part of the world."


Sri Lanka President Chandrika Kumaratunga: "We are not well equipped to deal with a disaster of this magnitude because we have never known a disaster like this."

Indian fisherman Chellappa, 55: "I heard an eerie sound that I have never heard before. It was a high pitched sound followed by a deafening roar. I told everyone to run for their life."

Bustami, a resident of Lhokseumawe in Indonesia: "The weather was fine with no clouds, there was no warning and suddenly the sea water just hit the city. In some parts the water was up to chest level."

A hotel worker in Thailand's Phang Nga resort: "Before the wave hit, I saw sea water fell back around 100 metres (330 ft) from the beach and some minutes later there was a three-storey high wave moving toward the beach and everything collapsed."

British foreign secretary Jack Straw: "For all the huge advances in the control of our lives through science and technology an earthquake on this scale is truly humbling as well as profoundly tragic for everyone involved."