Tsunami Awareness Month

Floor Speech

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Mr. AKAKA. Mr President, today I rise in support of my resolution designating April 2011 as Tsunami Awareness Month.

The recent events in Japan serve as a reminder of the importance of tsunami preparedness and mitigation. As we recently saw, tsunamis can strike at any time, continue for hours, wash away homes, buildings, and roads, and claim thousands of lives. Deadly tsunamis have struck Hawaii, Alaska, California, Oregon, Washington, American Samoa, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands within the last 150 years. All coastline communities in the United States are at risk of being impacted by tsunamis.

Sixty-five years ago, my home State of Hawaii experienced the most devastating and destructive tsunami in its history, which claimed the lives of 159 individuals. Hawaii's geographic location in the middle of the Pacific Ocean makes us extremely vulnerable to tsunamis because 80 percent of all tsunamis occur in the Pacific.

To encourage citizens to educate themselves on tsunami preparedness, President Obama has designated March 20-26, 2011, as Tsunami Awareness Week. For the month of April, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National Weather Service in Hawaii will conduct activities to raise public awareness of the dangers of tsunamis and commemorate the lives lost to the April 1, 1946 tsunami. Additionally, Hawaii State and local officials have partnered with NOAA to develop a Tsunami Safety Booklet to educate school-aged children about the dangers of tsunamis, and they plan to distribute the booklets and other preparedness materials at sponsored events.

I encourage all citizens to observe Tsunami Awareness Month and prepare for tsunamis by finding out if their homes, schools, and workplaces are in areas likely to flood should a tsunami occur; identifying evacuation routes; and preparing portable disaster supply kits. Additional information about tsunami preparedness can be found at TsunamiReady (www.tsunamiready.noaa.gov).

As Congress continues debates about cuts to the Federal budget, I remind my colleagues of the importance of federal funding for tsunami programs.

Funding for NOAA tsunami program supports warning, mitigation, and research activities that are critical to our Nation's safety and security. The NOAA operates two tsunami warning centers, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center at Ewa Beach, Hawaii, and the West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center at Palmer, Alaska. Through Deep-Ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis stations, these Centers monitor an extensive network of deep sea buoys providing real-time information needed to detect and issue warnings for tsunamis generated in the Pacific Ocean.

Furthermore, NOAA, in coordination with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the United States Geological Survey, partners with all 29 coastal States, Territories and Commonwealths in the United States to reduce the impact of tsunamis through the National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program.

These programs save lives. The House-passed continuing resolution would decrease funding for NOAA by approximately $450 million. Funding increases in recent years have allowed NOAA to strengthen our Nation's tsunami warning capabilities by expanding the operating hours and geographic areas of responsibility for both tsunami warning centers. Making drastic cuts to the NOAA's budget would severely impair our Nation's ability to warn citizens of potential disasters. Maintaining this funding is critical.

As Japan recovers from the deadly earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011, I continue to pledge my support for the people of Japan and keep all those affected by this tragedy in my thoughts and prayers.

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