Science/Medicine : Tidal Wave Warning System Developed

Government scientists have developed an automated tsunami warning system to give a few minutes alert of onrushing tidal waves to people who live and work in coastal areas where such systems do not exist.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the inexpensive system uses earthquake and water level sensors, computers and an existing weather satellite. The initial system has been installed in Valparaiso, Chile, a city that has lost more than 1,500 people to tsunamis since 1900.

Tsunamis are walls of water pushed ashore by undersea earthquakes or volcanic eruptions. Although high-risk areas, including Hawaii and Alaska, have tsunami warning networks, the federal agency said vast areas of the Pacific have none.