Science Committee Members Introduce Bipartisan Tsunami Legislation
(Washington, DC) – Today, Ranking Member of the Environment Subcommittee, Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) introduced H.R. 5309, the Tsunami Warning, Education, and Research Act of 2014. Full Committee Ranking Member Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) and Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) and are original cosponsors of the legislation.
A tsunami is a series of ocean waves generated by sudden shifts in the sea floor, landslides, or volcanic activity. These waves can grow to be several meters high – a fast moving wall of turbulent water that causes devastation when it reaches the shore. The significant number of lives lost, and damage done to property and infrastructure, resulting from the 2004 Sumatra-Andaman Earthquake and tsunami prompted Congress to enact the Tsunami Warning and Education Act in 2006.
“The Tsunami Warning, Education, and Research Act will improve the country’s understanding of the threat posed by tsunami events. The legislation will improve the forecasting and notification systems, support local community outreach and preparedness and response plans, and develop supportive technologies,” Ms. Bonamici said. “Three years ago, the world witnessed the overwhelming power and destruction of a tsunami when Japan experienced a massive earthquake off its coast. The waves caused by the Tohoku earthquake near Japan reached as far as the West Coast of the United States and caused damage to the coast in my home state of Oregon and the coast of California. This bill helps to address the risk faced by communities on both coasts and in the Gulf of Mexico by improving our mitigation and research program and enhancing community outreach and planning.”
The bill would reauthorize and strengthen the tsunami detection, forecast, warning, research, and mitigation program of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It advances research efforts related to improving tsunami detection, forecasting, warnings, notification, mitigation, resiliency, response, outreach, and recovery; establishes or maintains tsunami warning centers to continuously monitor and evaluate seismic data, and provide adequate warnings for U.S. coastal communities; improves the coordination between experts within the tsunami warning centers and local weather forecasting offices to ensure local offices have the technical knowledge and capacity necessary to disseminate these warnings; supports a community-based tsunami hazard mitigation program to improve the preparedness and resiliency of at-risk areas; modifies the Tsunami Research Program’s focus on the mitigation of tsunami impacts to include the improvement of near-field tsunami detection and forecasting capabilities; designates a Tsunami Science and Technology Advisory Panel to provide advice to NOAA and Congress regarding tsunami science, technology, and regional preparedness; and directs the Administrator to work with relevant agencies to provide technical assistance and training to international entities to develop a global tsunami forecast and warning system.
“I'm proud to cosponsor the Tsunami Warning, Education, and Research Act of 2014,” Mr. Rohrabacher said. “We have seen time and again the devastating impacts that tsunami events can have. We must learn more about tsunami events, provide better and more accurate tsunami forecasting, and reduce impacts on at-risk communities. This legislation will do that, and help us make certain that all of America's coastal communities are adequately prepared and properly warned for any tsunami event, all in a fiscally responsible manner.”
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