There is a theory that tsunami warning in the Indian Ocean is unlikely to help, because it has to deliver warnings and be verified and acted on faster than the 650 kph wave can travel. In places like Kenya, the authorities there mamaged (under threats from riot police ! ) to get many thousands of people off the beaches in time. There they had, what ? 3.5 -4 hours of warning. There was no chance for the poor bloody Indonesians and Malays. And Madras would have had less than an hour. Would it have helped ? Who would have believed what has happened could have happened a week ago.

Steve