WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Senate Commerce Committee today held a hearing on legislation co-sponsored by Senator Maria Cantwell that would improve the tsunami warning system for the Pacific coast. During the hearing today on the ‘Tsunami Preparedness Act," Cantwell referred to the Cascadia fault's potential threat to Washington state's coastal communities.

"As we sadly learned, seconds matter in tsunami warnings," said Cantwell, a member of the Senate Commerce Committee. "Since a Cascadia-generated tsunami would allow for only 10 to 20 minutes of warning, our coastal communities need an emergency response plan. This information is critical for coastal communities to plan for future tsunami events."

Cantwell introduced the legislation last week with other members of the Senate Commerce Committee. The bipartisan legislation will improve the system of tsunami monitoring buoys off the coast of Washington and across the globe. The legislation will also provide for tsunami risk assessments in the Puget Sound and Washington 's coastal communities.

"The loss of life and infrastructure incurred as a result of the recent tsunami in the Indian Ocean provides a jarring reminder of the need to evaluate the risk of tsunamis to our own coastal populations," Cantwell said. "That's why this well thought out bill, developed in cooperation with the Administration, is so important."

Specifically, the Tsunami Preparedness Act will require the immediate repair of malfunctioning tsunami detection and warning buoys (also known as tsunameters). Earlier this month, it was reported that three of the six existing Pacific Coast tsunameters are broken--including the buoy off the coast of Washington. The bill will also expand the current network of buoys to cover the entire Pacific Ocean, as well as at-risk areas in the Atlantic and Caribbean.

Cantwell also added to the legislation provisions that will ensure comprehensive vulnerability assessments and inundation mapping for inland bodies of water, including the Puget Sound and Strait of Juan de Fuca. Although mapping has been completed for the 45,000 Washingtonians who live within a mile of the coastline, they have yet been completed for at-risk areas near inland bodies of water, which are home to another 250,000 state residents.

During a January visit to Seattle's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL), Cantwell described provisions of the bill designed to improve the tsunami safety of Washington state residents. PMEL provides research support to all aspects of the tsunami program in the U.S. and is home to many of the world's leading tsunami researchers. The lab will have a leading role in developing technology for the new global tsunami warning system.

Led by Chairman Ted Stevens (R-AK) and Ranking Member Daniel Inouye (D-HI), the Senate Commerce Committee is expected to move forward quickly on the Tsunami Preparedness Act. The legislation was officially introduced in the Senate last week. Alaska, Hawaii and Washington are all key parts of the Pacific Tsunami Warning System.

A summary of the legislation follows below:

The Tsunami Preparedness Act

On January 24, 2004 Senator Cantwell introduced--along with Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Stevens (R-AK) and Ranking Member Inouye (D-HI)--the Tsunami Preparedness Act. This legislation will direct the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to upgrade the existing Pacific tsunami detection and warning system, as well as expand it to any area in the Atlantic and Caribbean that NOAA determines is at-risk for a tsunami event. The Senate Commerce Committee will hold a hearing on the bill during the first week in February. The bill will make significant improvements in the tsunami monitoring and detection system off the coast of Washington, including:

The immediate repair of malfunctioning tsunami buoys. Just after the tragic Indian Ocean tsunami, it was discovered that three of the six existing Pacific Coast detection and warning buoys (also known as tsunameters) were not functioning or only transmitting data intermittently -- including the buoy off the coast of Washington. The legislation requires NOAA to immediately fix these deep ocean detection buoys, and to notify Congress whenever a malfunction occurs. Comprehensive mapping of at-risk areas, such as the Puget Sound. While it's commonly known that almost 45,000 Washingtonians live less than a mile from the Pacific Coast, communities located near inland bodies of water can also be at substantial risk, depending on factors such as proximity to fault lines. At Sen. Cantwell's request, the bill's tsunami mapping and community outreach program was expanded to cover vulnerable inland bodies of water such as the Puget Sound and Strait of Juan de Fuca. NOAA estimates that more than 250,000 additional Washingtonians live in areas at risk from tsunami inundation -- from Olympia and Seattle, to Everett and Bellingham. But to date, NOAA has not had the resources to complete inundation mapping for almost 50 of these at-risk communities in Washington. These areas will now be included in the bill's new community-based tsunami hazard mitigation program, which will improve inundation mapping, outreach and education, and integrated rescue and recovery guidelines. An expanded network of buoys and new tsunami warning centers. The bill will expand the current network of six tsunami detection and warning buoys to cover the entire Pacific Ocean, as well as at-risk areas in the Atlantic and Caribbean. It will also provide additional resources to our nation's two existing tsunami warning centers in Hawaii and Alaska. Relying on technology developed at Seattle's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL), these centers will monitor seismological, deep ocean and tidal data, as well as assess earthquakes that may have potential to generate tsunamis. These centers will also be responsible for issuing warning bulletins. An investment in tsunami research and technology. Seattle 's PMEL will play a leading role in the bill's research program, which will focus on development of the next generation of tsunami prediction, detection, communication and mitigation technology. Already, PMEL is at work on the "next generation" of warning and detection buoys. A stable federal funding source. The bill authorizes $35 million annually through fiscal year 2012 to carry out these tsunami-related initiatives.

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