WASHINGTON, March 28 (UPI) -- The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, in Honolulu, Hawaii, is being far more aggressive in addressing the tsunami threat this time around. It issued its first warning that a tsunami could result from a major earthquake near Sumatra just 20 minutes after the earthquake occurred.
Last year, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center took a little over an hour to issue a warning of a possible tsunami for the magnitude 9.0 earthquake that occurred off Sumatra on Dec. 26.
Reaction to the 8.7-magnitude earthquake on Monday was far different.
The role of the U.S. government-funded tsunami warning center in Hawaii has changed in the wake of the December 2004 waves that killed almost 200,000 people.
The scope of that change -- much of it by default -- became clear Monday after a major earthquake off northern Sumatra when its phones began ringing, a source said.
The increased speed of the warnings from the PTWC and its parent organization the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration -- and the emphasis it placed on the possibility of a tsunami -- reflects the organization's heightened sensitivity after months of criticism from various quarters suggesting the center could have and should have done more in December to warn people.
In December, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency knew a tsunami was possible near the epicenter of the Dec. 26 earthquake about an hour before the wave hit Sri Lanka, but it had neither a process to alert the nations potentially affected nor a contact list for the international media which could have issued warnings, according to NOAA.
Moreover, the bulletins did not go to India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives because they are not part of the Pacific system the PTWC serves, according to NOAA. Two agencies in Thailand and Indonesia -- the Seismological Bureau of the Thai Meteorological Department and the Bureau of Meteorology and Geophysics in Indonesia -- are participants and did receive the bulletins.
NOAA began alerting appropriate government agencies about the tsunami danger only after it learned from media reports that a tsunami had been generated four hours after the quake occurred, a NOAA spokeswoman told United Press International in January.
"The watch standers first learned of the tsunami through the media almost four hours after the earthquake. Following the realization that a massive tsunami had been generated, they did the best job they could to contact authorities," said Dolores Clark, a spokeswoman for NOAA. "But they were fixed on reaching agencies that have responsibilities for warning such as weather offices or disaster management offices."
"Not only was the center focused on warning agencies, it does not have an official list of media contacts," Clark said. "Unfortunately, there was no system set up to accomplish this because the (Pacific Tsunami Warning Center) serves Pacific Ocean countries," she said.
On Monday, within two hours of Monday's earthquake, PTWC Director Charles McCreery was live on the air with CNN with tsunami warnings.
"We've been in touch with the region to let them know" about the earthquake and the potential for a giant wave, he told CNN.
The change in tone and urgency is also evident in the tsunami bulletins issued by PTWC. In December, it issued its first bulletin about 15 minutes after the earthquake had been detected. That bulletin said there was no danger of a tsunami to the PTWC's area of interest -- the West coast of the United States and to Hawaii. It made no mention of possible tsunamis elsewhere.
"There is no tsunami warning or watch in effect," it began. "A destructive Pacific-wide tsunami is not expected and there is no tsunami threat to Hawaii. This will be the only bulletin issued for this event unless additional data are received," it stated.
Fifty minutes later, the PTSW issued a second bulletin, upgrading the magnitude of the earthquake and noting the possibility of a tsunami near the epicenter. That warning was sandwiched between two statements that downplayed the danger.
"No destructive tsunami threat exists for the Pacific basin based on historical earthquake and tsunami data. There is the possibility of a tsunami near the epicenter. This will be the only bulletin issued for this event unless additional information becomes available," it said.
It made no mention of the need for evacuation or the possibility of widespread devastation.
The resulting tsunami killed more than 165,000 in low-lying coastal regions.
This time, NOAA and the PTWC issued a far swifter and more ominous bulletin, calling on affected governments to "take immediate action."
"Warning ... this earthquake has the potential to generate a widely destructive tsunami in the ocean or seas near the earthquake," it said. "Authorities in those regions should be aware of this possibility and take immediate action. This action should include evacuation of coasts within a thousand kilometers of the epicenter and close monitoring to determine the need for evacuation further away."
A source at the PTWC told UPI Monday the change is a natural outgrowth of December's devastation, and the clear need for something more to be done.
December also caused PTWC's role in the world to morph from that of a localized warning center to a worldwide clearinghouse of information and coordination, whether intentionally or not.
"A lot more people are calling us with information, governments and agencies, telling us what's going on" the source said.
In contrast, in January NOAA officials described a laborious effort to contact government agencies in the affected regions.
"Unfortunately, there was no system set up to accomplish this because the (Pacific Tsunami Warning Center) serves Pacific Ocean countries," Clark said in January.
