THE desperate attempts of three US earthquake monitors to warn Indian Ocean nations of the approaching tsunami emerged last night.

The geophysicists at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Honolulu, part of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, were on duty on Christmas Day when the massive subterranean earthquake struck off Sumatra. They knew for hours of the impending catastrophe.

A mere 18 minutes after the earthquake, the officials issued a Pacific-wide e-mailed tsunami warning, but realised that most potential victims were not among the centre’s Pacificnation clients, because the biggest impact would be in the Indian Ocean.

The officials in Honolulu knew disaster was approaching, but also knew that the Indian Ocean, where tsunamis are extremely rare, has no oceanwide tsunami detection system, and no warning system.

The officials told the Honolulu Advertiser that they realised there was no way to alert potential victims because they did not know who to contact. Charles McCreery, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Honolulu centre, said: “We tried to do what we could. We don’t have contacts in our address book for anybody in that part of the world.”

His colleague, Barry Hirshorn, said: “We talked to the State Department Operations Centre and to the military. We called embassies. We talked to the navy in Sri Lanka, any local government official we could get hold of.”

The officials worked through the night sounding the warning as the tsunami continued to sweep across the ocean. But their efforts were in vain.

Thailand’s meteorological department knew of the earthquake an hour before the tsunami struck and issued warnings, but may have been overcautious for fear of damaging tourism. The Thai Government has begun an inquiry.

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