Tsunami victims sue US forecasters for not warning them

[DougMD]

Here we go again, responsible for everything in the world! Ridiculous.....again!

Tsunami victims to sue French hotel chain Accor, Thai govt, US authorities
VIENNA (AFX) - A group of Austrian and German victims of the Asian tsunami disaster are to file a lawsuit demanding that Thailand, French hotel chain Accor (Paris: FR0000120404 - news) and US forecasters prove they reacted adequately to the disaster, their lawyers said.
The suit, naming Accor and the US-run tsunami early warning system in the Pacific as well as Thai authorities, will be filed in a New York district court this week, the lawyers said in Vienna.
'We found that serious lapses were committed,' said Herwig Hasslacher, one of the three lawyers for the group.
They said the suit was not, at present, designed to demand compensation but to uncover evidence that would prove negligence.
The case was presented as the first of its kind arising out of the Dec 26 disaster, when a powerful undersea earthquake off the Indonesian island of Sumatra sent huge waves pounding into coastlines around the Indian Ocean.
Nearly 290,000 people died, including several thousand Western tourists who were holidaying in Indian Ocean resorts, notably in Thailand and Sri Lanka.
The suit will be filed on behalf of 15 Austrian and four German victims of the disaster.
The targets are the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in Washington and its Hawaii-based tsunami warning centre; the Accor group of hotels where some of the victims stayed; and the Thai government.
The NOAA is accused of having registered the earthquake but failed to alert Indian Ocean countries of the impending tsunamis as the Hawaii centre covered only the Pacific.
The lawyers said that if the NOAA and Thai authorities, which had their own information, had passed on their alerts in time, it would have enabled people on shorelines to flee inland.
'We have evidence they did not warn us, even though they knew a quarter of an hour later about the strength and location of the quake, and although there is supposed to be a tsunami warning' from 6.5 on the Richter scale, Hasslacher said. The quake measured 9.0.
Accor is named in the lawsuit because the plaintiffs say the chain did not properly inform relatives of the victims after the disaster and had built its Sofitel hotel on the island of Phuket on a quake fracture line.
US lawyer Ed Fagan told the news conference he would ask the US court this week, probably Thursday or Friday, to ensure the preservation of key documents needed for the case, such as satellite imagery and contacts between the NOAA, Thailand and Indonesia.

[BowHuntingFool]

Here we go again is right!!!!!!![:-]

[datamax]

I read where that while there was suspect of a tsunami, that even with an updated sysem there was no way to know if it was a 1 foot wave or a 25 foot wave.

Absolute waste of time doing the whole suing thing. International in nature I doubt it'll ever fly

[Aught Six]

This is BS! I find it exceedingly offensive as it takes the focus away from ongoing recovery efforts and highlights some people's desire to point the finger. A whole region was devestated, and these people want to make money on it?! My blood is boiling now.

WHAT IS WITH THESE FRICKIN' EURO-TRASH COURTS?!?!?! And we think we have frivolous lawsuits in this country!

Herwig Hasslacher, one of the three lawyers for the group

Kind of ironic. 'Hasslacher' could be translated as 'laughter of hatred'. Yep, the only ones laughing right now are plaintiffs and their lawyers.

[mdrbowler99]

Besides the billion we already sent to them,how much more is this going to cost us?How would these poor uneducated people even know about lawyers?I say,let them try to collect.If they want our money,come and get it.

[Aught Six]

How would these poor uneducated people even know about lawyers?

Because we are being sued by the families of German and Austrian tourists, not natives. [:@]

[hillbillyhunter1]

IF I had to guess, I would say that US tsunami forecasters have no real responsibilities to warn anybody other than US citizens and if those people want to sue some french hotel
--go for it--. I'm sure actually that US scientists have been trying to get these governments to pay for the bouys and communication systems that would have saved many but, if they didn't want to or made it a low priority then its their own fault

[tardfarmer]

I read where that while there was suspect of a tsunami, that even with an updated sysem there was no way to know if it was a 1 foot wave or a 25 foot wave.

Not true, I saw a television special after it happened. There was a school teacher there was "addicted" to reading Scientific American. He recognized the early warning signs from the size and type of ripple the waves had that were coming to shore. He ran around and told everyone what was going on -- they ignored him.

So he grabbed all the school children and went to high ground. The only ones from the low lying areas that made it were those that were in that guys classroom and those attending a Catholic Service whose church was up on a big hill.

[DougMD]

I also heard what hillbillyhunter1 is saying, the US tried to get other nations to adopt the buoy system for years and they didn't listen. Maybe they'll sue for an extra couple billion dollars because we didn't MAKE them listen.

[kevin1]

Can somebody tell me exactly why US weather forecasters should be held legally liable for a natural disaster that originated in Asia ? [:@]