The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recently installed five buoy stations off of the East and Gulf coasts and the Caribbean as part of the expansion of the U.S. tsunami warning system.
Referred to as Deep-Ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunami (DART), the latest buoy stations were placed near New Orleans, La., Charleston, S.C., Miami, Fla., and San Juan, Puerto Rico. The system was designed and built by the NOAA to provide real-time tsunami detection as waves travel across the open ocean.
The tsunami warning system will not prevent property destruction, but could help prevent the large-scale loss of life such as that which occurred in South Asia in 2004 when a tsunami killed more than 250,000 citizens and tourists. Insurance claim payments were limited to five billion, largely due to sparse insurance coverage in the affected areas.
“These buoys are a first line of defense,” said Conrad Lautenbacher, undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “The DART stations are an advanced technology that will help to protect densely populated, highly attractive tourist destinations in these regions as well as protect their significant economic resources.”
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