Tsunami notification system still fails in significant ways

Nature : This month marks the 10th anniversary of a magnitude 9.1 earthquake that struck off the coast of Sumatra and triggered a tsunami that killed more than 230 000 people. In response to that disaster, an international effort funded the creation of the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System. The IOTWS uses a network of seismometers, sea-level gauges, and buoys connected to monitoring centers to detect tsunamis and alert at-risk nations. However, the system does not provide direct notification to populations in shoreline areas; distributing the information to those populations is left up to each nation. Now that the initial funding is nearly used up, maintaining the system costs the participating nations between $50 million and $100 million each year. Without increasing costs, expanding the notification system and educating populations to respond appropriately will become more difficult.