If the article below were accurate, it would be another example of why
sirens and other technology alone cannot be successful for warning systems.
Would anyone have more reliable accounts regarding this incident?
Field-based evidence would also be useful for adding to the sparse
literature on false alarms.
Ilan
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6730545.stm
Last Updated: Thursday, 7 June 2007, 14:20 GMT 15:20 UK
Tsunami siren stirs anger in Aceh
Residents near the capital of Indonesia's Aceh province have disabled a
tsunami warning system.
The residents cut the power to the siren on a tsunami warning tower by
throwing rocks at it.
They were angered by a false alarm that sent thousands of people in the
capital and a nearby area rushing from their homes to higher ground on
Monday.
Many people in Aceh are still traumatised by the 2004 tsunami in which
thousands were killed.
A false alarm on Monday morning in the Kaju district near the capital, Banda
Aceh, caused panic, with thousands fleeing to higher ground.
When another siren sounded in nearby Lhoknga, frustrated residents threw
rocks at its electrical panel, said Syahnan Sobri of the local
Meteorological and Geophysics Agency.
"It was too high up, so they stoned it," he said.
Mr Sobri said that while the connection had been cut the actual warning
equipment had not been damaged.
He added that technicians were being sent to the scene to survey the damage
but that the warning system had been temporarily switched off in Banda Aceh
and the surrounding area.
Indonesia was the country worst hit by the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004,
which killed more than 168,000 people in Aceh alone.
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