Tumon, Guam - With daily reports of trauma and damage to what may be the worst single natural disaster in more than a quarter-century, Indian Ocean leaders are meeting to strategize how to prevent a tragedy of this magnitude from happening again.

The Pacific Basin countries have a tsunami early warning system since the Alaska Earthquake in 1964. Guam is part of the US National Weather Service that provides a series of Tsunami Warning Systems in the Pacific region.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning System in the Pacific (PTWC) provides warnings for Pacific basin teletsunamis (tsunamis that can cause damage far away from their source) to almost every country around the Pacific Rim and to most of the Pacific Island states.

PTWC provides warnings for teletsunamis to Hawaii, Guam, American Samoa, Wake Island, Johnson Island, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and all other U.S. interests in the Pacific outside of the West Coast/Alaska Tsunami Warning Center's area of responsibility (Alaska, British Colombia, Washington, Oregon, and California).

The PWTC, through the Hawaii Regional Tsunami Warning Center, provides a more rapid warning for local tsunamis generated in Hawaiian waters. According to the PTWC website, two significant local tsunamis were generated in Hawaii in historical times, one in 1868 and one in 1975. Major earthquakes that displaced the sea bottom along the southeast flank of the island caused both.

Guam also is fortunate to be surrounded by coral reefs and a 12-mile deep Marianas Trench to protect it from tsunamis.

According to a local newspaper cover story in the December 28, 2004, Pacific Daily News, Guam-based U.S. Geological Survey station geophysicist Paul Hattori cites �The Marianas Trench would help deflect the wave energy if an earthquake happens east of the trench. It'll tend to disperse it. What happens is when it hits the trench; all of the submarine canyons and mountains tend to redirect the tsunami wave

In 1993 Guam was rocked with an earthquake that measured 8.1 in magnitude and millions of dollars of property damage was sustained but no lives were lost. No tsunami damage was reported.

###

For more information: Ernie A. Galito, Deputy General Manager Or Letitia Law-Byerly, Public Information officer Guam Visitors Bureau Tel. 671-648-1484 or 648-1512 Fax.671-646-8861 E-mail: guaminfo@visitguam.org