*EPF311 02/13/2002
Text: Bill to Set Up National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program
(Program would increase warning stations) (710)

Delegate Eni Faleomavaega (Democrat of American Samoa) has introduced a bill in the House of Representatives that would require the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to set up a tsunami hazard mitigation program for all U.S. coastal states and island areas.

Faleomavaega submitted H.R. 3720 to the House of Representatives February 12. The bill was referred to the House Resources Committee.

Faleomavaega said his bill would expand on the existing program that has two tsunami warning stations -- one in Hawaii and one in Alaska to monitor and warn of tsunamis in the Pacific region.

The bill would have NOAA expand the program to include "the coastal states on the Pacific, Atlantic and Gulf coasts, and all of the inhabited territories of the United States," he told fellow lawmakers.

"I believe this is necessary assistance which should be provided to our coastal communities," Faleomavaega added.

"Through effective planning and timely warnings, this program will pay for itself with a significant reduction in federal disaster assistance costs," he said.

As a delegate, Faleomavaega is unable to vote on the House floor but may vote on legislation in committee. He is the ranking minority member of the House International Relations Subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific and sits on the House Resources Committee.

Following is the text of Faleomavaega's speech introducing H.R. 3720 from the Congressional Record:

(begin text)

AUTHORIZE A NATIONAL TSUNAMI HAZARD MITIGATION PROGRAM
HON. ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA

HON. ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA OF AMERICAN SAMOA
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Tuesday, February 12, 2002

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce legislation to authorize a national tsunami hazard mitigation program for all United States coastal States and insular areas.

Tsunamis are waves generated by vertical movement of a large mass of ocean water. The word "tsunami" is Japanese and means wave in a harbor. Generally, an earthquake will have to be stronger than a magnitude 7.0 to generate a tsunami, and not all large earthquakes generate tsunamis. Tsunamis can be caused by vertical movement of the ocean floor, landslides into or under the water, volcanoes, and large meteorites.

Tsunamis can have a destructive impact near their point of origin, or far from their origin. In the open ocean, a tsunami will pass through a given point as a small to moderate wave, but as the water becomes more shallow the destructive force increases. It is in harbors and other low-lying coastal areas that tsunamis do the most devastation.

The Pacific region average about three destructive tsunamis per century. In recent history, there have been three Alaska earthquakes which generated destructive tsunamis. In 1946, a tsunami was over 100 feet high on Unimak Island; in 1958, a tsunami was over 1700 feet high in Lituya Bay; and in 1964, a tsunami was over 200 feet high in Shoup Bay. In Hawaii, significant tsunamis have occurred in 1868 and 1975.

In an effort to mitigate the hazards caused by tsunamis in the Pacific, in 1994 the Senate Committee on Appropriations directed the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to establish a Pacific tsunami hazard mitigation program. Since then the program has developed to the extent that there are two tsunami warning centers, one in Alaska, and one in Hawaii. Based on information gathered at these two centers from data collected from around the region, tsunami warnings are broadcast throughout the Pacific.

The primary duties of the two tsunami warning centers are to provide tsunami warnings, help coastal communities prepare for future tsunamis through mapping of areas of potential inundation and community education, and to improve the timeliness and accuracy of the warnings through research and development.

The legislation I am introducing today will expand this program to include the coastal states on the Pacific, Atlantic and Gulf coasts, and all of the inhabited territories of the United States. I believe this is necessary assistance which should be provided to our coastal communities. Through effective planning and timely warnings, this program will pay for itself with a significant reduction in federal disaster assistance costs.

I urge my colleagues to support this bill and ask that it be given propt consideration by the committee of jurisdiction.

(end text)

(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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