Thanks, Ilan!
False alarms are a perennial problem. So what one would like to know is if and how authorities (and or NGO intermediaries) have tried to prepare people for inevitable false alarms. Also, one wonders if there was not anger coming from other frustrations that fueled the attack on these visible symbols of government? Perhaps negative experiences of the recovery process?
Perhaps others can help with such background questions.
All the best,
BEN
Ben Wisner [log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
>From: Ilan Kelman <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Jun 7, 2007 11:47 AM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Warning for warning systems
>
>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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