In Reply to: Tsunami warning on BBC posted by Johnny on Thursday, 11. September 2008 at 08:37 Bali Time:
Contrary to a previous poster, I really appreciate you posting this warning. I was in Phuket for the tsunami and we all said afterwards that if there was some warning on the news, TV, internet etc., many lives would have been saved. From the time of the original earthquake to when the last area was hit by the tsunami, was almost 5 hours...plenty of time for people to get the heck out of the area, had they of known.
I went ot Phuket 3 months after the tsunami and we had always had CNN on when we were in the room. Interestingly enough, there was another earthquake while we were there and we heard it first on the TV. I called the reception and all the people in the ground floor rooms were already being evacuated.
You can never be too cautious with earthquakes...better to send out a warning than leave people unaware. I believe they can tell pretty quick after an earthquake if the water levels are rising in that area so it's easy to remove a warning.