2006年VOA标准英语-Sophisticated Network to Detect Tsunamis Expand

By Steve Herman
Honolulu, Hawaii
26 June 2006

The massive earthquake and tsunami¹ that hit the Indian Ocean 18 months ago has pushed governments, international organizations and scientists to expand a sophisticated network to detect tsunamis². VOA's Steve Herman in Honolulu, Hawaii, takes a look at the progress made so far.   

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"Do you know what to do during a tsunami warning? When you hear the sirens, listen to the radio for civil defense³ announcements and instructions."
 

Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, Ewa Beach, Hawaii   
  
In Hawaii and along the United States West Coast, governments have long educated the public about tsunamis through public service announcements like this. 

But as the world found out when a tsunami struck all around the Indian Ocean in December 2004, local officials can only warn the public if they know that trouble from the sea is on the way.

Geophysicist Gerard Fryer at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, on Hawaii's island of Oahu, says even those with access to the data that day had no idea what was about to happen when a massive earthquake struck off the coast of Indonesia's Sumatra island.

Gerard Fryer explaining tidal data  
  
"The poor guys here, they knew where the earthquake had started, but they didn't know where it went…So Thailand gets hit on one side and India and Sri Lanka gets hit on the other side, and no seismologist in the world had any idea of what had happened until several hours later," Fryer said.

By the time the waves had reached across the ocean to Eastern Africa, more than 200,000 people were dead or missing.

Even if the scientists had had full knowledge of what was happening, there was no quick way to warn the nations in the waves' path. Most Indian Ocean countries are not part of the international tsunami warning system that tracks hazards in the Pacific.

That is changing. Most nations in the region are now linking up to a warning system.

Six months from now, by the second anniversary of the tsunami, dozens of new seismic⁴ stations in the Indian Ocean, Asia, the Middle East and Africa are expected to be operational, joining the existing network in the Pacific. The warning system includes nearly 300 tidal gauges⁶ measuring sea levels around the world, with more stations being added all the time.

The upgrades will help scientists more accurately⁷ predict where a tsunami might hit. The chief scientist at the Pacific Disaster Center on the island of Maui, Stanley Goosby, points to upgraded devices off the coast of Alaska that are already making tsunami forecasts more accurate.  

 
Stanley Goosby
  
"We have several deep-water buoys⁸ located up in the Aleutian islands and that actually helps to bring down the false alarm rate, because you can't just use seismic information by itself to determine whether or not a tsunami has been generated," he said. "But one of the problems we have is in a lot of these areas, we don't have the observational systems."

The biggest data hole is the Indian Ocean. To help rectify⁹ that, some $30 million  has been pledged by governments and international organizations to place deep-water buoys in that body of water, to augment¹⁰ those already in place in the Pacific.

Even where there are adequate observation systems, governments may not always be willing to share critical information widely and quickly.

Out of security concerns, India has been reluctant to disseminate¹¹ some real-time data, including sea level information.

Geophysicist Gerard Fryer, at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, laments¹² that India did not share its information from a tide gauge⁵ at Port Blair in the Andaman Islands after the Sumatra quake struck.

"That instrument was sending data in real time to mainland India. If that information had been shared, that whole sequence of things would have played out very, very differently, because we would have known," he said.  "Obviously India suffered tremendously, so I am sure that they are going to change their ways."

Even when scientists have all the information in time to get the word out, other challenges remain. During tsunami warning drills and actual alerts in the Pacific this year, there were some breakdowns¹³ in the communications system.

To assess the shortfalls in the system, 16 Indian Ocean countries took part in a survey.

Brian Yanagi manages the Honolulu-based International Tsunami Information Center, one of the organizations carrying out the assessment¹⁴. 

 
Brian Yanagi
  
"They really found out things about their country that they didn't know - their weaknesses to connect the dots, to make sure everything has to be working together on the same page," he said. "There's a lot of work that needs to be done, and the United Nations organizations are helping¹⁵ right now, as we speak."

One of the countries given the highest score in the survey is Thailand.

Thailand has combined the traditional alert system - an outdoor siren - with a new high-technology twist: sending SMS notifications to cell phones.

Some experts worry that as the shock of the 2004 disaster begins to subside¹⁶, funds for expanding the warning system will start to dry up. Supporters of the system point out that although massive earthquakes and tsunamis may be infrequent events, the number of people who can be affected¹⁷ by them is growing. The United Nations estimates that by the year 2025, three quarters of the world's population will be living in close proximity to coastal areas

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 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

3 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

4 seismic   

a.地震的，地震强度的

参考例句：

• Earthquakes produce two types of seismic waves.地震产生两种地震波。
• The latest seismic activity was also felt in northern Kenya.肯尼亚北部也感觉到了最近的地震活动。

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 accurately   

adv.准确地，精确地

参考例句：

• It is hard to hit the ball accurately.准确地击中球很难。
• Now scientists can forecast the weather accurately.现在科学家们能准确地预报天气。

8 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

9 rectify   

v.订正，矫正，改正

参考例句：

• The matter will rectify itself in a few days.那件事过几天就会变好。
• You can rectify this fault if you insert a slash.插人一条斜线便可以纠正此错误。

10 augment   

vt.(使)增大，增加，增长，扩张

参考例句：

• They hit upon another idea to augment their income.他们又想出一个增加收入的办法。
• The government's first concern was to augment the army and auxiliary forces.政府首先关心的是增强军队和辅助的力量。

11 disseminate   

v.散布；传播

参考例句：

• We should disseminate science and promote the scientific spirit.普及科学知识，弘扬科学精神。
• We sincerely welcome all countries to disseminate their languages in China.我们真诚地欢迎世界各国来华推广本国语言。

12 laments   

n.悲恸，哀歌，挽歌( lament的名词复数 )v.（为…）哀悼，痛哭，悲伤( lament的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• In the poem he laments the destruction of the countryside. 在那首诗里他对乡村遭到的破坏流露出悲哀。
• In this book he laments the slight interest shown in his writings. 在该书中他慨叹人们对他的著作兴趣微弱。 来自辞典例句

13 breakdowns   

n.分解( breakdown的名词复数 )；衰竭；（车辆或机器的）损坏；统计分析

参考例句：

• Her old car was unreliable, so the trip was plagued by breakdowns. 她的旧车老不听使唤，一路上总是出故障。 来自辞典例句
• How do we prevent these continual breakdowns? 我们如何防止这些一再出现的故障？ 来自辞典例句

14 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

15 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

16 subside   

vi.平静，平息；下沉，塌陷，沉降

参考例句：

• The emotional reaction which results from a serious accident takes time to subside.严重事故所引起的情绪化的反应需要时间来平息。
• The controversies surrounding population growth are unlikely to subside soon.围绕着人口增长问题的争论看来不会很快平息。

17 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。