<p>Please donate and/or spread the word!!</p>
<p>thanks pebbles, i'm going to try to do something in my community for the relief efforts too. :)</p>
<p>You know what's worst?</p>
<p>I read that one tsunamometer costs $250000. Several such sensors could tell everyone at least several hours in advance that the wave is coming. [Alaska has 3 sensors... :/] All villages and hotels with phones, telegraph or internet would be empty. </p>
<p>There are about 1000 of Germans who are thought to be dead. I am sure that each german, who had money to travel to thailand was able to pay $250.</p>
<p>That should be the second campaign, but it would last longer than several weeks.
The use of sensors costs - $50000 a year for each. But it is pretty reachable, is not it?</p>
<p>Well the problem is that something of this magnitude occurs maybe once every hundred or so years. People would feel like it's useless to keep paying for the maintenance of such sensors while nothing happens for decades. Sometime in year 2080 it may save some lives though =/</p>
<p>But look for numbers...
For example: 200 millions of people, big part of european union. Each one is paying one dollar a year, and the whole planet is totally secure of tsunamis, additionaly ships could be informed about storms with this system, etc etc.
We should make this sensors multi-purpose, and it will be useful.
But all in all, several tens of $10^6 is not that much in a world scale...</p>
<p>It is about several cents per rich citizen of quite rich country...
There are such a stupid taxes, like 'tax for water below the ship which is on wharf' [in Poland]. In plans, this tax was so high, that it exceeded value of sail ship within two years... I guess that people would be more eager to pay for sensors...</p>
<p>Why are the things so darned expensive? Any engineer could probably build something out of tin cans and rubber bands that could achieve the same goal. I know they need to be fairly precise, but $250000? Good lord. Why not just scatter a bunch of crappy ten-dollar ones and watch for them to all go off at once?</p>
<p>It's bureaucracy, I tell you! Bureaucracy.</p>
<p>Well no, it is not so easy. Read about it.</p>