IT WAS hit by several earthquakes and even a minor tsunami, but the biggest problem revealed in a test of the Pacific tsunami warning system last week was a few missing text messages.
In the first test of the system since the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004, a magnitude 9.2 quake was simulated off the coast of Chile. After the 鈥渜uake鈥� struck, messages were sent out to 30 countries from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Ewa Beach, Hawaii, and the West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center near Anchorage. During the exercise, real earthquakes hit Indonesia, Tonga and New Zealand, including one quake north-east of Auckland that generated a minor tsunami.
Despite this the system worked well, with Thailand the only country to report significant problems, when text message alerts went astray or were delayed.
Advertisement
