INDONESIA DIDN'T RELAY TSUNAMI WARNINGS
July 18, 2006
PANGANDARAN, Indonesia - A government minister said Tuesday that Indonesia received warnings from two regional agencies that the powerful undersea
earthquake had the potential to trigger a tsunami, but it did not try to pass them on to threatened communities.
Science and Technology Minister
Kusmayanto Kadiman said Indonesia received the bulletins from the Pacific Tsunami
Warning Center and Japan's Meteorological Agency after the quake, but "we did not announce them."
The warnings were sent about
45 minutes before the tsunami struck.
Even if the government had
an attempt to contact the local authorities by phone, radio or e-mail, it's unclear how those warnings would have been passed
along to residents or tourists on the beach with no system of sirens or alarms in place.
Coastal residents reported
that they did not feel the earthquake.
