http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,18690-1509979,00.html

***
March 04, 2005

Somalia's Secret Dumps of Toxic Waste Washed Ashore by Tsunami

From Jonathan Clayton in Johannesburg

THE huge waves which battered northern Somalia after the tsunami in December are believed to have stirred up tonnes of nuclear and toxic waste illegally dumped in the war-racked country during the early 1990s.

Apart from killing about 300 people and destroying thousands of homes, the waves broke up rusting barrels and other containers and hazardous waste dumped along the long, remote shoreline, a spokesman for the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) said.

"Initial reports indicate that the tsunami waves broke open containers full of toxic waste and scattered the contents. We are talking about everything from medical waste to chemical waste products," Nick Nuttal, the Unep spokesman, told The Times.

"We know this material is on the land and is now being blown around and possibly carried to villages. What we do not know is the full extent of the problem."...***

Next on NOVA: "Wave That Shook the World"

http://www.pbs.org/nova/tsunami/

Broadcast: March 29, 2005, 8 p.m.
(NOVA airs Tuesdays on PBS at 8 p.m. Check your local listings as dates and times may vary.)

On December 26, 2004, at 7:59 a.m. local time, an undersea section of the Earth's crust slipped along a 700-mile-long fault off the coast of Sumatra, setting in motion a train of destructive waves called tsunamis that left well over 250,000 people dead or missing. In "Wave That Shook the World," NOVA traces exactly what happened, and why. The program tells the minute-by-minute story of the 2004 tsunami, featuring video footage, eyewitness interviews, and scientific analysis of the onrushing waves that spread for 3,000 miles around the Indian Ocean basin.

Here's what you'll find on the companion Web site:

Inquiry and Your Questions

Wave of the Future
What will it take to be ready for the next major tsunami?

Ask the Expert
Have a question about tsunamis? For a week starting on March 30,
tsunami expert Lori Dengler will answer your e-mailed queries.

Interactives

Anatomy of a Tsunami
Follow the tsunami from its birth at the seafloor to its
devastating collision with coasts around the Indian Ocean.

Once and Future Tsunamis
With this interactive world map, learn about nine tsunamis, and
see where the next one could strike.

Also, join a live chat on Wednesday, March 30 at 3 p.m. ET with Thomas Heaton, professor of engineering and seismology at the California Institute of Technology.

http://www.pbs.org/nova/tsunami/

__________________________________________________________

The forum name may have to be changed to The Twilight Zone.

cheers, sissie susie and family

PS hi, Uncle Vgkg, please give my regards to Aunt VgQg.

posted: 31 March 2005
12:01 am ET

The warning system covering the Pacific Ocean might save many lives if a tsunami strikes Southern California. But nothing can stop the destruction.

A new study puts the price tag for a worst-case scenario at $42 billion, and that does not include billions of dollars in additional damage caused directly by an earthquake that is pegged as the likely source of a potentially devastating tsunami.

Waves could inundate parts of the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Many beach cities and smaller communities in Los Angeles and Orange County would suffer.

And there might not be enough time for a warning to be very useful.

The one-minute warning

The scientists say an underwater landslide just offshore, triggered by an earthquake, could generate a tsunami whose tallest waves would arrive "only one minute after the slide."

Other studies have the Pacific Northwest could be hit swiftly by devastating tsunamis, too. And researchers recently warned of a similar danger to Gulf Coast states. Prior to the tsunami last December, other geologists warned of the risk of mega-tsunamis around the entire Pacific basin from underwater landslides.

The new research was done by geologists, tsunami experts, engineers and urban planners at the University of Southern California. It is detailed in April edition of Civil Engineering magazine.

The group cites recent studies that suggest a large earthquake under the ocean off Los Angeles is likely at some point in the future. And it does not take a 9.0 "great quake," such as the one last December in Indonesia, to do the trick. A magnitude 7.0 earthquake near Papua New Guinea in 1998 generated deadly waves thought to be caused by a submarine landslide, which the earthquake triggered.

"The shaking from an earthquake of magnitude 7 or greater on an offshore thrust or reverse fault would undoubtedly be damaging to coastal communities [in Southern California], and its effect could be greatly magnified if it were to generate a tsunami," the scientists write.

Repeating history

The conclusions draw on evidence from several locally generated small tsunamis that have been recorded over the past 200 years. A Santa Barbara earthquake in 1812 spawned a moderate tsunami that affected more than 37 miles (60 kilometers) of coastline. Evidence of prehistoric events suggest submarine slumps that could have generated tsunamis up to 66 feet (20 meters) tall.

"There will be others," the researchers say, though of course they don't know when or how tall any tsunami might be.

Various scenarios in the study generate loss estimates of between $7 billion and $42 billion directly related to the tsunami. Costs include direct damage as well as the economic costs of lost shipping opportunities and traffic delays owing to damaged freeways.

"We chose not to model fatalities because we were being deliberately conservative, and because we wanted to avoid contentious assumptions about the economic value of life," said study member James Moore II. "The Papua New Guinea tsunami of 1998 was generated by a mechanism similar to the one modeled here, and that event cost over 2,000 lives. The toll here could be much higher."