Tsunami Surveyed

Piyush has got a very good article on the Scientific Background and the events related to the current Tsunami hit in SE Asia. Click
here to read it online.
To have a Topographical view of the Areas affetced by Tsunami click here
The more detailed coverage with Discussions, Videos and Photos can be obtained here .
It is really amazing to hear from the USGS officials that they knew about the high waves hitting the Indian Coasts about a couple of hours before the disaster, but they did not have any contact numbers/address of the concerned Indian officials. This is absolutely weird, just an excuse I would say. I cannot believe that they do not keep the hotline number of the Indian Home ministry. With the blessing of the internet, even a kid of 8-10 years old can do a few google and get those numbers in not more than 10-15 mins.
More to this the USGS officials says “let this be a lesson for the IMD” huh!! How can they raise such a remark, don’t they themselves consider responsible for not informing the Indian authority on time.
Considerable lives could have been saved had the USGS officials responded positively and effectively. I admit that 1 hour is still very short time to get the complete evacuation done, but then the toll would have been reduced to half of what it is presently.