Indonesian Town Begins Preparation for the Next Tsunami

PADANG,Indonesia-The young disaster workers flinched as the simulated tsunami waves crashed into their city,wavy red and green lines on a computer screen that represented vast destruction.“Ch-ch-ch-dom! Oooh! Oh, look at it hit!”exclaimed a young man as the screen pulsed and darkened.The waves followed one another relentlessly,much as they had in Banda Aceh in December 2004,where they took 130,000 lives. Padang is next,scientists say,and in the fairly near future,as the geological rupture that triggered the 2004 destruction travels south,bringing with it the danger of earthquakes and tsunamis.This is how Padang will be destroyed,said Kerry Sieh,55,a professor of geology at the California Institute of Technology,who has studied the fault off the shore of western Sumatra for 16 years.He said historical records,seismic monitoring by global-positioning sensors and a careful study of the growth patterns of corals converged in a remarkably precise prediction of a major earthquake and tsunami here within the next 30 years.“There are very few things in solid earth science that you can forecast as well as what the data we have suggests here,”said Mr. Sieh.“If the data here are not enough, then there is no forecastability in solid earth science.”Many other places around the world are similarly at risk, he said,but much less is known about them...
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http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/21/world/asia/21indonesia.html?ex=1185681600&en=49666fbf20038be5&ei=5123&partner=BREITBART
As in the days of Noah...