Mr. President, I would like to comment today on S. 50, the Tsunami Preparedness Act of 2005, a timely and much-needed bill in the aftermath of the devastating tsunami in the Indian Ocean. The world has learned valuable lessons in the past month about human suffering and loss, as well as generosity and good fortune in the face of impossible odds. We have also learned a great deal about the generation of tsunamis, the need to instrument the ocean, and the need to assist in the development of a warning and civil defense system for vulnerable nations around the world.

I joined my colleagues Senators Dan Inouye and Ted Sevens, the Ranking Member and Chair, respectively, of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, as an original cosponsor of S. 50, the Tsunami Preparedness Act of 2005, which was introduced on Monday, January 24, 2005. The bill would authorize, expand, and improve our domestic tsunami warning system. Equally importantly, it would authorize the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, to provide technical assistance and advice to appropriate international entities in developing a global tsunami warning system comprised of regional warning networks, modeled on the Tsunami Warning System of the Pacific. We must share our expertise and experience with other tsunami-prone nations around the world.

My conviction is based on personal experience. In Hawaii, tsunamis have accounted for more lost lives than all other natural disasters. In the 20th century, an estimated 221 people were killed by tsunamis. Most of these deaths occurred on the island of Hawaii during the tsunamis of 1946 and 1960, two of the largest tsunamis to strike in the Pacific. I am hopeful that our experiences in Hawaii and the expertise of NOAA's two National Weather Service Tsunami Warning Centers located in Palmer, Alaska, and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Ewa Beach, Hawaii can help other nations around the world prepare for potential undersea earthquakes that result in these tragic disasters.

One of the worst natural disasters in Hawaii's history took place April 1, 1946 when a magnitude 7.1 earthquake in the Aleutian Islands triggered a destructive, Pacific-wide tsunami that killed 159 people: 96 in Hilo, 15 on Kauai, 14 on Maui and nine on Oahu. There was no warning in Hawaii, as the Tsunami Warning System had not been established at that time. The town of Hilo was "pounded" by a series of 6 to 7 waves, one after the other. The waterfront and all the buildings facing Hilo Bay were completely destroyed. The tsunami flooded the downtown area of Hilo causing more than $26 million in damages. The photos that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers took afterwards show scenes similar to the ones we've seen in the past month in Thailand and Indonesia -- everything was leveled and destroyed. The character of downtown Hilo was changed forever. Tragically, we lost a number of young children, students, killed by the tsunami in Laupahoehoe, a small community north and west of Hilo where the waves struck the school and destroyed a hospital. As a result, in 1949 the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center was established, which later became the headquarters of the International Pacific Warning System.

Mr. President, this bill would authorize several programs in NOAA that we have depended on since 1949. It would deploy a greater number of buoys throughout the Pacific and it would expand the research on tsunamis and their detection to ensure a more reliable and better instrumented system for the Pacific, including Alaska, the West Coast of the U.S. and Pacific islands nations who are members of the group. It would expand the domestic system to the Atlantic and Caribbean where tsunamis are infrequent but not impossible.

Mr. President, I would like to close with an appeal to my colleagues to consider the types of aid that the U.S. can provide to Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, and Thailand. We must not overlook the science and technology of tsunamis and tsunami detection. The detection, warnings, planning, and public education are perhaps the most important types of assistance we can provide, because they are preventive and represent the little that we can do to save lives in dealing with the forces of nature in the future. They are an investment in the future safety and security of humankind.

This bill, most importantly, would mandate the U.S. to share its expertise and experience in the Pacific with those nations that have suffered such devastating losses from the Indian Ocean tsunami. With the technology we have, no family of nations need suffer in the future from such widespread devastation without warning and public awareness of what tsunamis are, what they can do, and how to react and plan for them. Hawaii and the Pacific has been well-prepared for tsunamis through 20 years of State and federal efforts through the National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program, which is a NOAA Federal-State partnership with or Hawaii Civil Defense program. This program has enhanced Hawaii's tsunami mitigation and preparedness programs. Sharing our experience, our successes, and our learning curves is a very important part of assistance in the aftermath of the tsunami.

Mr. President, I urge support for this bill and commend my colleagues on the Commerce Committee, and its staff, for their foresight in addressing this issue and working with the executive branch to review and comment on this bill.