专家细说海啸警报系统的重要性

Expert Details Value of Tsunami¹ Warning System

专家细说海啸警报系统的重要性

 

MS. Pearson: My guest is Dr. Timothy Beach. He is Director of the Center for the Environment at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

 

Dr. Beach, some of the systems, or some of the reports indicate that it would cost about $20 million to put a warning system, a tsunami warning system, in the Indian Ocean. Twenty million hardly seems like a lot of money when we're hearing about all the money that it's going to cost to rebuild the seven countries involved that were affected² by the tsunami. What exactly is needed to be put in place?

 

Dr. Timothy Beach: What we need is a system of buoys⁴, both those that are on the ocean floor, pressure gauges⁶, as well as those tethered at the ocean surface. And then we need a system of satellites as well. We already have in place a system of satellites, the GOES system that the U.S. uses mainly for predicting weather from day to day, but it also allows for information on pressure in the ocean to be told to various warning organizations around the United States and around the coast of the United States, as well as the Pacific.

 

So the gauges themselves are on the order of hundreds of thousands of dollars. The GOES satellite system is a much more expensive one. But certainly we could build off the European system as well as off some of the other systems like our own GOES satellites. And so the total amount wouldn't be the total start up that it cost the United States and Europe for developing these kinds of weather prediction satellite systems.

 

MS. Pearson: And would you say that these also need to be put in other areas throughout the world? For instance, the Caribbean Basin doesn't have any kind of warning system.

 

Dr. Timothy Beach: Absolutely, especially the Atlantic as well, we know, for example, that on the Canary Islands there is a volcano that at a certain point in time? It may be a long time, it may not be so long will slip off into the ocean and induce a tsunami, which will affect Europe, and particularly England in this case. In fact, I was just reading an editorial in The Guardian⁷ of London, which was talking about this very point, which many geoscientists have talked about for many years.

 

MS. Pearson: Some experts have said that if the people in the countries that were affected by the tsunami had had even an hour to prepare for it, there would have been much less devastation⁸ in terms of loss of life.

 

Dr. Timothy Beach: Well, absolutely. An hour is enough time to get most people away from the main areas that are affected by a tsunami. The tsunami in this case, of several meters high, pushed inland a good distance because a number of these areas have low relief near the sea. But it's usually enough time to pull people out of the way, especially in areas that have higher relief that can move quickly up in elevation⁹.

 

So I think that... I'm sorry, what's the rest of...

 

MS. Pearson: We were talking about the amount of warning time needed.

 

Dr. Timothy Beach: The amount of warning time. An hour is not plenty, but it's more than you might have on smaller types of tsunamis¹⁰. We know, for example, there are local tsunamis that do occur from landslides¹² or from rock falls that may cause massive tsunamis in size and give only a few minutes, 10 to 15 minutes let's say, warning beforehand in which case a warning system is very difficult. But these are very infrequent.

 

There is a classic example of a 500 meter high tsunami in Alaska that devastated¹³ everything around it. Fortunately, the population was lower there. But for the most part, an hour is a good amount of time to move people away from beach areas.

 

Now, another aspect of this of course is to attempt to warn people around beach areas. And a classic example here is where we need more geographic¹⁴ and geoscience education. Another classic example of this was a little girl in England, who told her family, vacationing on the beach at Phuket in Thailand, that she had seen the ocean go out. And her geography teacher in England had told her that this is a prediction of a tsunami wave coming in. She told her parents. Her parents warned everybody on the beach. People pulled out, and nobody on that particular beach died.

 

So it underscores just the basic importance of geographic or geoscience education, which unfortunately we've cut over the last decades.

 

MS. Pearson: But people in especially the coastal¹⁵ areas need to have this very important information?

 

Dr. Timothy Beach: They need to have the information. We need the education. But we also need the kind of warning systems along the coast.

 

Another example of this is many people have argued that, well, in place there aren't the warning systems in many undeveloped countries that could warn a lot of people. But we know, for example, in Bangladesh, there is a system of warning by bikes and whistles, to warn people of cyclones¹⁷ and the rise in water that occurs with that, which has caused in the past the deaths of thousands and thousands of people.

 

So it could be very low-tech in the case of bicycles and whistles or it could be very high-tech¹⁸ in the case of geographic information systems, with satellite imagery and with overlays of data that tell us where areas are likely to be inundated¹⁹ by a particular size tsunami. And then also tell us where the major evacuation routes are.

 

And so we can go very high-tech, which I think we should do, because the total amount of money spent on that still doesn't add up to the total amount of costs that came from this earthquake, both in human life but also in infrastructure²⁰ and rebuilding.

 

MS. Pearson: But it can also be low-tech, like in Kenya, where there was one death, because...

 

Dr. Timothy Beach: Where there was one death, right.

 

MS. Pearson: Because the police or the military mobilized and got people off the beaches.

 

Dr. Timothy Beach: Any system that's appropriate for the country. It could be low-tech or high-tech in these cases. The U.S. system is a very high-tech one. But it also relies just on local people getting the word out around beach areas.

 

This is a classic example in this case where we have in the world a digital divide, as it's often called, between the developed countries that have a lot of computer technology and information, and undeveloped countries that have little of this. This so-called digital divide then divides us in many ways, access to information.

 

Now, this can work for us, where we don't have the digital divide, where people have access to information, from a warning system like this, but we could develop, again, the low-tech systems. Although it doesn't mean we shouldn't try to develop the high-tech systems for those undeveloped countries.

 

MS. Pearson: Thank you very much, Dr. Timothy Beach.

 

Dr. Timothy Beach: Thanks.

 

 

注释：

buoy³ [bCi] n. (湖, 河等中的)浮标，浮筒，救生圈

gauge⁵ [^edV] n. 标准尺，规格，量规，量表

tether [5teTE] v. 拴在

induce [in5dju:s] vt. 劝诱，促使，导致，引起，感应

geoscientist [7dVi(:)E5saiEntist] n. 地球学家

in terms of adv. 根据，按照

elevation [7eli5veiFEn] n. 上升，海拔，提高

landslide¹¹ [5lAndslaId] n. [地]山崩，崩塌的泥石

infrequent [in5fri:kwEnt] adj. 稀少的，很少发生的，罕见的

whistle [(h)wisl] n. 口哨，汽笛，哨声，汽笛声

cyclone¹⁶ [5saiklEun] n. 旋风，飓风，暴风，龙卷风

evacuation [i7vAkju5eiFEn] n. 撤退，走开

add up to v. 合计达

1 tsunami   

n.海啸

参考例句：

• Powerful quake sparks tsunami warning in Japan.大地震触发了日本的海啸预警。
• Coastlines all around the Indian Ocean inundated by a huge tsunami.大海啸把印度洋沿岸地区都淹没了。

2 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

3 buoy   

n.浮标；救生圈；v.支持，鼓励

参考例句：

• The party did little to buoy up her spirits.这次聚会并没有让她振作多少。
• The buoy floated back and forth in the shallow water.这个浮标在浅水里漂来漂去。

4 buoys   

n.浮标( buoy的名词复数 )；航标；救生圈；救生衣v.使浮起( buoy的第三人称单数 )；支持；为…设浮标；振奋…的精神

参考例句：

• The channel is marked by buoys. 航道有浮标表示。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Often they mark the path with buoys. 他们常常用浮标作为航道的标志。 来自辞典例句

5 gauge   

v.精确计量；估计；n.标准度量；计量器

参考例句：

• Can you gauge what her reaction is likely to be?你能揣测她的反应可能是什么吗？
• It's difficult to gauge one's character.要判断一个人的品格是很困难的。

6 gauges   

n.规格( gauge的名词复数 )；厚度；宽度；标准尺寸v.（用仪器）测量( gauge的第三人称单数 )；估计；计量；划分

参考例句：

• A thermometer gauges the temperature. 温度计可测量温度。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The fuel gauges dropped swiftly. 燃料表指针迅速下降。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 guardian   

n.监护人；守卫者，保护者

参考例句：

• The form must be signed by the child's parents or guardian. 这张表格须由孩子的家长或监护人签字。
• The press is a guardian of the public weal. 报刊是公共福利的卫护者。

8 devastation   

n.毁坏；荒废；极度震惊或悲伤

参考例句：

• The bomb caused widespread devastation. 炸弹造成大面积破坏。
• There was devastation on every side. 到处都是破坏的创伤。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 elevation   

n.高度；海拔；高地；上升；提高

参考例句：

• The house is at an elevation of 2,000 metres.那幢房子位于海拔两千米的高处。
• His elevation to the position of General Manager was announced yesterday.昨天宣布他晋升总经理职位。

10 tsunamis   

n.海啸( tsunami的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Our oceans are alive with earthquakes, volcanoes, and more recently, tsunamis. 海中充满着地震、火山，包括最近发生的海啸。 来自常春藤生活英语杂志-2006年2月号
• Please tell me something more about tsunamis! 请您给我讲讲海啸吧！ 来自辞典例句

11 landslide   

n.(竞选中)压倒多数的选票；一面倒的胜利

参考例句：

• Our candidate is predicated to win by a landslide.我们的候选人被预言将以绝对优势取胜。
• An electoral landslide put the Labour Party into power in 1945.1945年工党以压倒多数的胜利当选执政。

12 landslides   

山崩( landslide的名词复数 )； （山坡、悬崖等的）崩塌； 滑坡； （竞选中）一方选票占压倒性多数

参考例句：

• Landslides have cut off many villages in remote areas. 滑坡使边远地区的许多村庄与外界隔绝。
• The storm caused landslides and flooding in Savona. 风暴致使萨沃纳发生塌方和洪灾。

13 devastated   

v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的

参考例句：

• The bomb devastated much of the old part of the city. 这颗炸弹炸毁了旧城的一大片地方。
• His family is absolutely devastated. 他的一家感到极为震惊。

14 geographic   

adj.地理学的，地理的

参考例句：

• The city's success owes much to its geographic position. 这座城市的成功很大程度上归功于它的地理位置。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Environmental problems pay no heed to these geographic lines. 环境问题并不理会这些地理界限。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

15 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。

16 cyclone   

n.旋风，龙卷风

参考例句：

• An exceptionally violent cyclone hit the town last night.昨晚异常猛烈的旋风吹袭了那个小镇。
• The cyclone brought misery to thousands of people.旋风给成千上万的人带来苦难。

17 cyclones   

n.气旋( cyclone的名词复数 )；旋风；飓风；暴风

参考例句：

• The pricipal objective in designing cyclones is to create a vortex. 设计旋风除尘器的主要目的在于造成涡旋运动。 来自辞典例句
• Middle-latitude cyclones originate at the popar front. 中纬度地区的气旋发源于极锋。 来自辞典例句

18 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

19 inundated   

v.淹没( inundate的过去式和过去分词 )；（洪水般地）涌来；充满；给予或交予（太多事物）使难以应付

参考例句：

• We have been inundated with offers of help. 主动援助多得使我们应接不暇。
• We have been inundated with every bit of information imaginable. 凡是想得到的各种各样的信息潮水般地向我们涌来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

20 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。