17 th of July timeline and AP assessment of preparedness Rohan Samarajiva

Java tsunami timeline Earthquake occurs 0819 UTC or 1519 hrs (Java time) PTWC issues warning 0836 UTC –17 minutes after earthquake First waves hit at 0915 UTC –39 minutes after warning issued –56 minutes after earthquake

TSUNAMI BULLETIN NUMBER 001 PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER/NOAA/NWS ISSUED AT 0836Z 17 JUL 2006 THIS BULLETIN IS FOR ALL AREAS OF THE INDIAN OCEAN.... A LOCAL TSUNAMI WATCH IS IN EFFECT... A TSUNAMI WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR AUSTRALIA / INDONESIA FOR OTHER AREAS OF THE INDIAN OCEAN REGION, THIS MESSAGE IS AN ADVISORY ONLY. AN EARTHQUAKE HAS OCCURRED WITH THESE PRELIMINARY PARAMETERS ORIGIN TIME Z 17 JUL 2006 COORDINATES SOUTH EAST LOCATION - SOUTH OF JAWA INDONESIA MAGNITUDE - 7.2

Associated Press on Indonesia Will roll out warning system in 2009 "Setting one up is not as easy as simply lifting your hand," Welfare Minister Aburizal Bakrie told The Associated Press. "We are preparing one, but it is not finished yet." "After the quake occurred, people ran to the hills, so that is the reason the number of victims is not as great as in Aceh," [Vice President Jusuf Kalla] said in Jakarta. "So in actual fact, there was a kind of natural early warning system."

Associated Press on Indonesia However, out of dozens of people interviewed by the AP Tuesday in Pangandaran, only one said he felt a slight tremor. None said there was a mass movement of people to higher ground before the tsunami struck. In two other countries hit by the 2004 tsunami, progress toward warning systems has been quicker.

Associated Press on Thailand & Malaysia Thailand, popular with foreign tourists, has built warning towers on beaches across its southern coast to blare sirens and broadcast evacuation warnings in several languages if regional agencies issue warnings. Malaysia has positioned two buoys off its shores to give at least an hour's warning to coastal communities, and is capable of transmitting tsunami alerts to the public by TV, radio and mobile phone text messages, officials said.

Associated Press on Sri Lanka Sri Lanka has yet to install its own system, but relies on warnings sent by the Hawaii-based Pacific center -- a similar institution to Japan's -- an official said. Under Sri Lanka's plan information is passed to villages by phone or national media. Most Buddhist shrines, Hindu temples and Muslim mosques along its coast have sirens, the official said.