Similar quake disaster once struck state

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER Article:

"Scientists cannot predict when a mega-quake will happen. But once it does strike, they can warn people that a tsunami will follow -- up to 14 hours later.

"Yesterday, scientists in Western Washington received an alert from the Pacific Tsunami Warning system, but some of the affected nations did not. The lack of warning was the subject of e-mails posted on the Tsunami Bulletin Board of the International Tsunami Information Centre, in which scientists discussed the need for broadening the system.

"Peter Pissierssens of UNESCO wrote that it's time to speed up establishment of the Southwest Pacific and Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System as previously recommended, and to expand it 'to include all Indian Ocean countries, as the impact of today's disaster is clearly much wider than the Southwest Pacific and eastern Indian Ocean.' "