U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) has announced his intention to introduce legislation to create a global tsunami warning system, which he estimated would cost $30 million or less.

"A couple of relatively inexpensive sensor buoys and a satellite for them to talk to could have provided the warning the people of Sri Lanka, Thailand and other nations needed to evacuate before the wall of water was literally pounding down their doors," said Lieberman.

In a fact sheet issued Jan. 6, Lieberman said the United States currently has six pressure sensors embedded  in various areas of the ocean floor which relay acoustic signals to floating buoys, which in turn upload the signals to satellites. Three of these National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration sensors are near Alaska, one is near Washington, another near Oregon, and the sixth is south of the equator. Another sensor in the system was deployed by Chile.

The senator and one-time Democratic vice presidential candidate said another 40-50 buoys, costing between $250,000 and $267,000 each, would provide worldwide coverage.  Currently only 18 countries, including Indonesia and Thailand—which were hard-hit by the Dec. 26, 2004 tsunami—are receiving warnings via the International Tsunami Information Center.

Lieberman said his "Global Tsunami Detection and Warning System Act" would direct the State and Commerce Departments to work with other nations "to fill the gaps in the system to detect tsunamis worldwide," instruct the administration to deploy between 40 and 50 new high tech sensors and to develop land based infrastructure in the United States to process the signals from the global system.  —Donald H. Harrison