l--9 U.S. pushes for global tsunami warning system NEWS The Michigan Daily - Thursday, January 6. - SA ...._. .p .. . ....... .,....... .,.. .... .l .. ... WASHINGTON (AP) - The United States is moving on several fronts toward a global tsunami warning system following the Asian catastrophe. A design is emerging from the State Department's Global Disaster Information Network (GDIN) for pro- tecting huge populations in coastal areas, and will be presented to the United Nations-sponsored World Confer- ence on Disaster Reduction this month in Kobe, Japan. Sen. Joe Lieberman, (D-Conn.), is proposing legis- lation to have the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration establish a system of up to 50 buoy- based sensors throughout the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic oceans and the Caribbean Sea. The system would need the cooperation of other coastal nations. "We're already looking into the practical elements of what such a system would be, what it would cost and who would run it," said Larry Roeder, a top State Department policy adviser for disaster management, who heads the GDIN. "There has been talk over the years that maybe we should have a global system, but it's expensive." Commerce Secretary-nominee Carlos Gutierrez said at his Senate confirmation hearing yesterday that "develop- ing greater analytical and predictive capabilities ... with regard to potentially hazardous weather and maritime conditions" will be one of his top priorities. Roeder said that because of a massive movement of population to coastal areas there are "lots of other parts of the world where you have large population centers along the coast, and that's one of the reasons we've been seeing lots of disasters." The GDIN has conducted experiments based on real crises in Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia, even simulating a response to an earthquake in Russia, In the case of the 9.0 magnitude earthquake Dec. 26 in the Indian Ocean, however, there were no instruments to let scientists know the massive tsunami was on the way. It was two hours after the quake that NOAA officials learned through Internet wire service reports that a tsu- nami had hit Sri Lanka, which does not participate in the Pacific warning system. Had those instruments been in place, NOAA Admin- istrator Conrad C. Lautenbacher says, thousands of lives might have been spared. Scientists in Australia also are designing an Indian Ocean warning system that they say could be built within a year for about $20 million, but that cost doesn't include the communications links needed to warn people in coast- al communities to flee before the giant waves arrive. Such a system would have about 30 seismographs to detect earthquakes and about 10 tidal gauges and six special buoys for deep ocean assessment and reporting of tsunamis. AP PHOTO U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, second from left, speaks with an Indonesian tsunami patient under the care of the Australian Defence Force Aero Medical Evacuation team in Banda Aceh, Indonesia on yesterday. Sharon warns opponents of settlement pullout JERUSALEM (AP) - Israeli Prime Minis- ter Ariel Sharon said yesterday his government would throw all its might against those resist- ing the dismantling of Jewish settlements, his sternest warning yet to opponents of his plan to pull out of Gaza and part of the West Bank this summer. Sharon's warning came two days after settlers clashed with soldiers at an unauthorized West Bank outpost, a possible prelude to confronta- tions when Israeli forces move in to take apart veteran settlements for the first time in Israel's 34-year occupation. "They shouldn't dare to even raise a hand against a policeman or a soldier," Sharon said in a meeting with soldiers who clashed with settlers Monday. "We will act against (them) with all our might." Also yesterday, Sharon won an important political victory when the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism Party decided to join his reshuf- fled government, giving him a parliamentary majority for the first time since last summer. With UTJ, the moderate Labor Party and his own Likud Party, Sharon's new team will have 66 of the 120 seats in parliament. His hard-line coalition fell apart over opposition to the pullout plan. Sharon told the Likud Party yesterday that he hopes for quick approval of his new govern- ment. "I believe that already next week I can present the parliament a new coalition that will lead the state of Israel," Sharon said. On Monday, settlers threw rocks and scuffled with troops while slashing the tires of their vehi- cles in a confrontation at Yitzhar, a known center for extremist settlers in the northern part of the West Bank - an incident seen as a precursor to resistance to the planned summer pullout. Two settler leaders are being investigated on suspicion of inciting soldiers to disobey orders, the Justice Ministry said yesterday. One is Noam Livnat, whose brother, Limon, is education min- ister from the Likud Party. A soldier who called on his unit to disobey orders during the melee was sentenced Wednes- day to 28 days in a military lockup. It was the first instance of a soldier refusing to obey an evacuation order, the military said. The level of violence by settlers against their own soldiers shocked the nation. One soldier fired his rifle in the air. Settler leaders warn that hundreds and perhaps thousands of soldiers will refuse to take part, officially opposing the trend but advocating resistance, even breaking the law, to stop the removal of settlements. Amnon Strassnov, a former army prosecutor and retired district court judge, said those defy- ing orders to evacuate "should be tried and put behind bars. The justice system, both civilian and military, should take these matters extreme- ly seriously." Though settlers make up about 3 percent of Israel's population, and religious and nationalist extremists are a small minority among the set- tlers, the possibility of violence is taken seriously. The Haaretz daily newspaper printed a lengthy examination of the threat over the weekend, con- cluding that extremists might try to attack the Al Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem, Islam's third-holiest site, or assassinate Sharon in des- perate attempts to stop the withdrawal. A senior government official said on condi- tion of anonymity that Sharon will pursue all legal means to enforce the pullout - including arrests, imprisonment of dissenters and possible confiscation of settlers' weapons. Some members of Sharon's Cabinet have said opponents suspected of planning violence should be detained without charge - an emergency measure usually used for suspected Palestinian militants. Settler leader Pinchas Wallerstein accused Sharon of launching a smear campaign against the settler movement. "The prime minister is a provocateur. He is doing things to make the settlers hated by the nation of Israel," Wallerstein said. Also yesterday, Mahmoud Abbas, the leading candidate for Palestinian president, received an enthusiastic welcome from backers of his main- stream Fatah Party in the southern West Bank city of Hebron, four days before Palestinians choose a successor to Yasser Arafat. Photo Rep rinvt Store Capture the moment. Capture the magic. Capture the memories.