Thursday, June 16, 2005
Politically Correct Warning
Given the tragedy that was last December's tsunami, it is not surprising that officials issued a warning after a small quake off the California coast Tuesday night. But I wish they'd be a little more honest about their reasoning.
And while there were no destructive waves after Tuesday night's temblor, experts Wednesday praised the decision to announce a tsunami warning for the entire West Coast ? better safe than sorry, they said....The fact of the matter is that the science here is very imprecise. They don't really know what is going to happen, so they issue a warning rather than get caught with their pants down later. It's a political decision, not a scientific one. People are recalcitrant to understand these things, but they really need to, or else "Chicken Little syndrome" is going to settle in.
...The quake actually did generate a tsunami of 1 centimeter ? roughly the width of an adult's finger. It wasn't detected by any equipment on shore, but rather an ocean pressure-measuring buoy located about 350 miles off the coast of California.
