Sean Hannity’s daily email sums up the speech nicely in its subject line:
Obama Care: No Specifics…No Plan…
The speech was almost completely devoid of any details, which is amusing considering the 1018 page Obamacare bill is being pulled to bits by the media. The bill is available from the House of Congress website by clicking here, and I’ve mirrored it here just in case it disappears in the future. (Thanks to Heather Kydd for the link). Well worth a read if you want to see what an utterly ghastly, choice-and-standard-of-care destroying piece of legislation this would be if passed.
The Associated Press’ Calvin Woodward, Jim Kuhnhenn and Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar have put together an excellent “fact check” piece on Obama’s speech. I’m just going to quote the whole thing because it is brilliant.
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama’s assertion Wednesday that government will stay out of health care decisions in an overhauled system is hard to square with the proposals coming out of Congress and with his own rhetoric.
Even now, nearly half the costs of health care in the U.S. are paid for by government at all levels. Federal authority would only grow under any proposal in play.
A look at some of Obama’s claims in his prime-time news conference:
__
OBAMA: “We already have rough agreement” on some aspects of what a health care overhaul should involve, and one is: “It will keep government out of health care decisions, giving you the option to keep your insurance if you’re happy with it.”
THE FACTS: In House legislation, a commission appointed by the government would determine what is and isn’t covered by insurance plans offered in a new purchasing pool, including a plan sponsored by the government. The bill also holds out the possibility that, over time, those standards could be imposed on all private insurance plans, not just the ones in the pool.
Indeed, Obama went on to lay out other principles of reform that plainly show the government making key decisions in health care. He said insurance companies would be barred from dropping coverage when someone gets too sick, limits would be set on out-of-pocket expenses, and preventive care such as checkups and mammograms would be covered.
It’s true that people would not be forced to give up a private plan and go with a public one. The question is whether all of those private plans would still be in place if the government entered the marketplace in a bigger way.
He addressed some of the nuances under questioning. “Can I guarantee that there are going to be no changes in the health care delivery system?” he said. “No. The whole point of this is to try to encourage changes that work for the American people and make them healthier.”
He acknowledged then that the “government already is making some of these decisions.”
___
OBAMA: “I have also pledged that health insurance reform will not add to our deficit over the next decade, and I mean it.”
THE FACTS: The president has said repeatedly that he wants “deficit-neutral” health care legislation, meaning that every dollar increase in cost is met with a dollar of new revenue or a dollar of savings. But some things are more neutral than others. White House Budget Director Peter Orszag told reporters this week that the promise does not apply to proposed spending of about $245 billion over the next decade to increase fees for doctors serving Medicare patients. Democrats and the Obama administration argue that the extra payment, designed to prevent a scheduled cut of about 21 percent in doctor fees, already was part of the administration’s policy, with or without a health care overhaul.
Beyond that, budget experts have warned about various accounting gimmicks that can mask true burdens on the deficit. The bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget lists a variety of them, including back-loading the heaviest costs at the end of the 10-year period and beyond.
___
OBAMA: “You haven’t seen me out there blaming the Republicans.”
THE FACTS: Obama did so in his opening statement, saying, “I’ve heard that one Republican strategist told his party that even though they may want to compromise, it’s better politics to ‘go for the kill.’ Another Republican senator said that defeating health reform is about ‘breaking’ me.”
___
OBAMA: “I don’t know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts, what role race played in that. But I think it’s fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry; number two, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home, and, number three, what I think we know separate and apart from this incident is that there’s a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately.”
THE FACTS: The facts are in dispute between black scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. and the white police sergeant who arrested him at his Cambridge, Mass., home when officers went there to investigate a reported break-in. But this much is clear: Gates wasn’t arrested for being in his own home, as Obama implies, but for allegedly being belligerent when the sergeant demanded his identification. The president did mention that the professor was charged with disorderly conduct. Charges were dropped.
___
OBAMA: “If we had done nothing, if you had the same old budget as opposed to the changes we made in our budget, you’d have a $9.3 trillion deficit over the next 10 years. Because of the changes we’ve made, it’s going to be $7.1 trillion.”
THE FACTS: Obama’s numbers are based on figures compiled by his own budget office. But they rely on assumptions about economic growth that some economists find too optimistic. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, in its own analysis of the president’s budget numbers, concluded that the cumulative deficit over the next decade would be $9.1 trillion.
I suppose it’s a tad unfair of me to call the speech laughable. From this distance it is laughable, but for the people directly affected by it, it’s downright scary…but not as scary as the bill.
Meanwhile back in Australia, New South Wales Government hospitals once again prove their ineptitude.
A Liverpool Hospital manager is refusing to say if his staff did the right thing by turning away a pregnant woman who later gave birth on her bedroom floor.
Natasha Ramirez was bleeding when she arrived at the hospital last Thursday, only to be told to go home because there was no room.
“She told me to go back home because I wouldn’t be in labour for another 24 to 48 hours,” Ms Ramirez told News Ltd.
She gave birth on her bedroom floor five hours later.
Sydney South West Clinical Director of Women’s Health Dr Andrew Child says the staff followed protocol.
“Many, many, many mothers every day present to obstetrics units and are assessed. They’re not in labour so they’re advised to wait at home.”
Ms Ramirez was already four days overdue when she went into labour at her Liverpool unit at 3am.
She and her partner Ricardo Hermosilla decided to call a taxi to take her to the hospital. When they arrived, Ms Ramirez claims she was taken to the birthing unit but was assessed by a nurse, not a doctor.
In her previous birth Ms Ramirez needed anti-D injections because of her o-negative blood type and was worried there may have been similar complications.
Despite this, she was told to go home.
When was the last time you heard of this happening in a private hospital? You can’t remember it happening…precisely. It’s about time that we privatised the entire medical system in this country. The increase in use of private healthcare would prompt an increase in the number of truly competitive health insurance funds catering to the needs of their clients, and hospitals would no longer be constrained by the limited (albeit large, but still limited) amount of funds available to them from the government, which would have the double benefit of freeing up a heap of taxpayer funds, and maybe even producing tax cuts.
Samuel
July 24th, 2009 at 12:59pm
Tony urges the Liberal party to vote for the Emission Trading Scheme so that they’re not faced with what he believes would be an unwinnable double-dissolution election. Tony, comments like that are what we call “out of touch”, and create unwinnable elections.
TONY Abbott has urged Liberal MPs to back the embattled leadership of Malcolm Turnbull and asked them to pass Kevin Rudd’s flawed emissions trading scheme in the Senate to avoid a double-dissolution election that they cannot win.
The one-time leadership opponent to Mr Turnbull has turned into his staunchest public defender and has appealed to Liberal MPs to “allow” the Opposition Leader to exercise his assessment on emissions trading and to save the Coalition “from a fight it can’t win”.
[..]
Mr Abbott’s strong advocacy of Mr Turnbull’s right to change the party’s position threatens to fuel divisions over climate change. Last night, the Liberal leader in the Senate, Nick Minchin, another conservative on the issue, told ABC TV’s Q&A program the Coalition would block the emissions trading scheme in the Senate next month.
“We don’t think parliament should be presented with legislation on this subject until after we know the outcome of Copenhagen,” Mr Minchin said.
“We will vote against this legislation in August, as will every other non-government senator.”
Although Mr Abbott believes an emissions trading scheme won’t cut global carbon emissions and that it will cost jobs, the conservative Liberal frontbencher and Howard government minister has called for Liberals to pass the ETS in the Senate and avoid a double-dissolution election.
That’s a corker of a paragraph…Tony wants to pass legislation that he thinks will hurt the country, just so that he can save his seat in parliament for a few extra months.
Padders notes on his blog:
It’s about time the Coalition, and the Liberals in particular, grew some backbone, not to mention some common sense. They should not vote for the ETS. Thousands of conservative supporters and members of which I am one, want to see some courage from the opposition, not a betrayal of principles.
Don’t worry Padders, I think it’s just one self-important windbag. Any coalition MP worth a cent of their income, let alone their seat in parliament, will not side with his utter lunacy.
At least The Nationals are all on the same page, as Andrew Bolt noted on his blog.
We will not support a scheme that costs Australian jobs, we won’t support a scheme that delivers nothing for the Australian environment and we won’t support a scheme that is way out of kilter with what’s happening in the rest of the world. We have principles. We have issues that we stand up for and if we want the public to support us in an election—whether it be a normal, routine election in two years or some kind of contrived double dissolution—then the public will want to be sure we’re standing up for things and that we will deliver better outcomes for the country.
Precisely. Liberal Party take note and preselect somebody else to run in Tony’s electorate at the next election.
Samuel
July 24th, 2009 at 11:48am
The 40 cents per litre discounts temporarily offered by Coles and Woolworths have been permitted by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, which is the right outcome under the circumstances.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) was urged to step in last week after Coles and Woolworths promoted new discounts of up to 40 cents a litre of petrol when consumers spent $300 on groceries.
It provoked a consumer frenzy, but independent service stations called foul, accusing the duopoly of trying to drive smaller competitors out of the market.
The ACCC’s petrol commissioner Joe Dimasi on Thursday said that after close inspection, there was nothing dodgy about the offer.
“We have formed the view that these one-off promotions do not breach the Trade Practices Act,” he said in a statement.
“Other players in the market have the ability to match the short term competitive pressures of companies such as Coles and Woolworths.
“This is competition operating in the interests of Australian consumers.”
And Mr. Dimasi is entirely correct…remember this in March?
Marie El-Khoury, owner of the BP service station on Sunnyholt Rd at Blacktown, continued her campaign against oil companies and supermarket giants by dropping petrol prices to 49.9 cents per litre between 7.30am (AEDT) and 8.30 on Thursday.
Last October, she led a group of independent stations across Sydney in dropping prices by 40 cents per litre for four hours to protest what they said were anti-competitive practices by oil giants.
During Thursday’s discount hour, Ms El-Khoury said she served hundreds of customers and sold thousands of litres of petrol, losing about 60 cents per litre.
A stunt which was repeated in May. If she, and her independent colleagues, can have temporary massive discounts, then so can the big players.
I should point out that the October, March and May stunts were in protest against the fact that petrol is being sold by major retailers (Caltex Woolworths and Shell Coles) at a lower regular price than the wholesale price at which many of the independent retailers can buy the product. It had nothing to do with massive discounts.
When it comes to massive discounts though, the real questions is whether the ACCC would have come to the same conclusion if Coles and Woolworths were offering the discounts permanently. In my view, they would have reached the same conclusion, because the retailers offering the massive discounts would have to lose many truckloads of money before they would be able to force smaller retailers to go out of business, and the smaller retailers could potentially offer a more attractive discount anyway, by virtue of not requiring people to spend an exorbitant amount in a related store first, and by using this discount and the expected increase in sales as justification to buy a larger volume of wholesale petrol at a cheaper price.
Ultimately I think the biggest problem for the smaller petrol retailers is that, because of their size, it’s just not viable for wholesalers to sell products cheaply to them, as the overheads on their individual orders are greater than the overheads, relatively speaking, on the orders of the larger retailers. What the smaller retailers need to do, and have shown an ability to do in the mass discounts of October, is co-ordinate their efforts…perhaps it’s about time that the smaller retailers formed an IGA (Independent Grocers of Australia) type alliance, where they remain independent, but work together under a single banner on promotions and wholesale purchases.
Protectionism favouring small retailers is not the solution here. The free market works, you just have to know how to play it to your advantage.
Samuel
July 23rd, 2009 at 06:27pm
The Bureau of Meteorology have issued a tsunami alert for the south-east coast of Australia, following a magnitude 7.9 earthquake off the coast of New Zealand earlier this evening.
The Bureau are not expecting much encroachment on to land by the water, but do have concerns for the “marine environment”.
New South Wales:
Tsunami warning for the marine environment for parts of NEW SOUTH WALES.
Threatened areas extend from Gabo Island to Seal Rocks including Batemans Bay,
Bellambi, Botany Bay, Gabo Island, Jervis Bay, Kiama, Merimbula, Montague
Island, Moruya, Moruya Heads, Narooma, Nelson Bay, Norah Head, Shell Harbour,
Sydney Harbour, Ulladulla and Wollongong.
Possibility of DANGEROUS WAVES, STRONG OCEAN CURRENTS AND SOME LOCALISED
OVERFLOW ONTO THE IMMEDIATE FORESHORE for several hours from 09:45 pm (EST)
Wednesday.
Although major evacuations are not required, people are advised to get out of
the water and move away from the immediate water’s edge.
Victoria:
Tsunami warning for the marine environment for parts of VICTORIA.
Threatened areas extend from Lakes Entrance to Gabo Island including Gabo
Island, Lakes Entrance, Mallacoota and Point Hicks.
Possibility of DANGEROUS WAVES, STRONG OCEAN CURRENTS AND SOME LOCALISED
OVERFLOW ONTO THE IMMEDIATE FORESHORE for several hours from 10:15 pm (EST)
Wednesday.
Although major evacuations are not required, people are advised to get out of
the water and move away from the immediate water’s edge.
Tasmnaia:
Tsunami warning for the marine environment for parts of TASMANIA.
Threatened areas extend from Northern Tip of Flinders Island to Low Rocky
Point including Bicheno, Derwent Estuary, Eddystone Point, Flinders Island,
Hobart, Low Rocky Point, Maatsuyker Island, Maria Island, Orford, Scamander,
St Helens, Storm Bay and Channel, Swansea, Tasman Island and Wineglass Bay.
Possibility of DANGEROUS WAVES, STRONG OCEAN CURRENTS AND SOME LOCALISED
OVERFLOW ONTO THE IMMEDIATE FORESHORE for several hours from 09:30 pm (EST)
Wednesday.
Although major evacuations are not required, people are advised to get out of
the water and move away from the immediate water’s edge.
Norfolk Island and Lord Howe Island are also affected. The details for Norfolk Island are barely in existence, however Lord Howe Island is covered by a land and marine alert, prompting the Bureau to request the use of the Standard Emergency Warning Signal…in other words, media on Lord Howe Island should now be in full emergency mode.
Tsunami warning for LORD HOWE ISLAND.
An undersea earthquake of magnitude 7.9 (Latitude 45.960S Longitude 166.470E )
has occurred at 07:22 PM EST on Wednesday 15 July 2009 off W. COAST OF S.
ISLAND, N.Z.
For low-lying coastal areas there is a threat of MAJOR LAND INUNDATION,
FLOODING, DANGEROUS WAVES AND STRONG OCEAN CURRENTS for several hours from
09:30 pm (EST) Wednesday.
People in affected areas are strongly advised by the LORD HOWE ISLAND POLICE to
go to higher ground or at least one kilometre inland.
For all threatened areas, people are advised to get out of the water and move
away from the immediate water’s edge.
Next update will be issued by 09:05 PM EST on Wednesday 15 July 2009
Further updates are expected shortly after 9:15pm AEST for the rest of the affected areas.
Update 8:51pm: New Zealand’s NewsTalk ZB notes that New Zealand is also on Tsunami alert, and that NZ officials believe that the quake was only of 6.6 magnitude with a 6.1 aftershock. End Update
Update 8:58pm: Fox News have more details in the quake
Police in the town of Tuatapere on South Island, where the earthquake was centered, say they have reports of minor cracks in buildings and stock falling from supermarket shelves. But they have received no reports of serious damage or injuries so far.
The quake was felt widely across the South Island.
End Update
Update 9:06pm: There’s something you don’t see everyday. ABC News using AAP copy. The ABC normally avoid AAP as if it was carrying some contagious disease. End Update
Update 9:09pm: 2GB interrupting their half-time State of Origin wrap with a report from Jason Morrison. He notes that the time of alert has apparently passed without incident in New Zealand, indicating that a tsunami may not have been generated. Meanwhile the Bureau are late with their updated Lord Howe alert. End Update
Update 9:16pm: An evacuation has been ordered on Lord Howe Island, but the Bureau’s warning doesn’t have anything else new to say.
For low-lying coastal areas there is a threat of MAJOR LAND INUNDATION,
FLOODING, DANGEROUS WAVES AND STRONG OCEAN CURRENTS for several hours from
09:30 pm (EST) Wednesday.
[..]
– The NSW STATE EMERGENCY SERVICE has ordered the evacuation of low-lying parts
of coastal towns and villages.
– People are strongly advised to go to higher ground, at least ten metres
above sea level, or if possible move at least one kilometre away from all
beaches and the water’s edge of harbours and coastal estuaries.
– Take only essential items that you can carry including important papers,
family photographs and medical needs.
– It may be in your own interests to walk to safety if possible to avoid
traffic jams.
– If you cannot leave the area take shelter in the upper storey of a sturdy
brick or concrete multi-storey building.
– Boats in harbours, estuaries or shallow coastal water should return to
shore. Secure your boat and move away from the waterfront.
– Vessels already at sea should stay offshore in deep water until further
advised.
– Do not go to the coast to watch the tsunami, as there is the possibility of
dangerous, localised land inundation of the immediate foreshore.
– Check that your neighbours have received this advice.
End Update
Update 9:23pm: The Bureau’s updated east coast warnings keep the warnings at “marine inundation” level. Meanwhile TVNZ have more details of the quake:
The quake was centred 90 kilometres north-west of Tuatapere, in Southland, but was felt strongly by residents in Dunedin, Invercargill, Timaru, Wanaka and even as far north as Christchurch and Westport.
An Invercargill man said the quake lasted at least a minute. “Things just started to rattle a bit, then the house started to sway.”
He and his wife got their three young children out of bed and huddled under the dining table to wait it out.
Cracks had appeared around several door frames, he said.
Central Southland man Warren MacPherson said a hanging light in his house would have been swaying a good six inches each way.
He was on the phone when the quake struck and rushed outside.
“By geez, there was a fair bit of movement,” he said.
Invercargill police Inspector Olaf Jensen said there were no immediate reports of damage in the southern city, but the quake was significant enough to send staff into doorways.
He described it was a strong, rolling quake rather than a sharp jolt.
There have been some power cuts but so far there are no reports of major damage.
There are reports that the quake shook stock off the shelves of shops in Te Anau and Queenstown
End Update
Update 9:29pm: The Bureau have updated their New South Wales warning, although I can’t immediately see any difference. None-the-less, the current expected times for the tsunami are:
Port Kembla after 09:45 pm (EST) Wednesday
Batemans Bay after 09:45 pm (EST) Wednesday
Eden after 09:45 pm (EST) Wednesday
Sydney after 10:00 pm (EST) Wednesday
Newcastle after 10:15 pm (EST) Wednesday
Now waiting for news from Lord Howe Island.
End Update
Update 9:41pmhas been cancelled in New Zealand, but it remains in place in Australia.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center says a tsunami generated after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake off of New Zealand is small and poses no threat.
The warning center says no destructive waves are headed for New Zealand’s western coastline after a tsunami warning was issued earlier.
The waves generated are less than 8 inches (20 centimeters) in height and the warning was canceled after about an hour.
Whilst this is good news for NZ, it doesn’t necessarily mean Australia will get the same good news as tsunamis can affect different areas differently.
End Update
Update 9:51pm: 2GB incorrectly report that the tsunami alert has been downgraded to a “maritime alert”. The east coast alert has been a maritime alert all along…End Update
Update 10:00pm: TVNZ reports that New Zealand officials have brought their quake readings in line with international readings, declaring it a 7.8 magnitude quake. End Update
Update 10:03pm: It’s times like these that you realise just how horribly useless Twitter really is unless something actually happens. Right now it’s filled with people who have only just realised that we have a tsunami warning, and are noting that they have no idea why we have a tsunami warning, as well as people misinterpreting NZ’s cancellation as a cancellation of Australia’s warning, plus an endless stream of people linking to the weather bureau, and the rest of them refuting other posts, claiming that there are no evacuations (so what’s happening on Lord Howe?) or sending joking tweets to the ABC. End Update
Update 10:10pm: Website appears to be functioning normally again. Apologies for the earlier difficulties. Currently waiting for the next update to the Lord Howe warning…it’s late again. End Update
Update 10:13pm: Still no updates from the Bureau, and where have AAP disappeared to? Nothing from them since their widely quoted 8:39pm story. I’m taking a five minute break. Back shortly…hopefully we have some new news by then. End Update
Update 10:26pm: No updates from BOM or AAP. No citizen reports of tsunami activity yet either.
Update 10:32pmEnd Update
Update 10:39pm: Well that explains why people are confused. SBS News has a headline which claims that the Australian tsunami warning is cancelled, but their story is about the Pacific Tsunami Centre cancelling their warning, which does not in any way relate to Australia. The Hawaii based Pacific Tsunami Centre do not have jurisdiction over Australia…the Bureau of Meteorology do. That said, still no word from the Bureau, and still no report of tsunami activity.
End Update
Update 10:43pm: As mellowmarquis points out in the comments, please don’t go sightseeing. Tsunamis, small or not, can have extremely powerful tides.
And cyberdoc, yep, much easier to know about the football result than what’s happening on Lord Howe. I don’t think any of their news agencies have a web presence either. End Update
Update 10:50pm: BOM website updated, some updates twenty minutes old though. It’s official, the tsunami warning is still current in Australia, but there is no new information to report.
To recap. Marine and low-lying land areas at risk on Lord Howe Island. Official evacuations are in effect. No reports of damage or tsunami activity yet. Elsewhere on the Australian east coast, marine areas at risk, evacuations not mandatory.
End Update
Update 10:57pm: And a big thank you to mellowmarquis who has pointed me in the direction of the very bottom of the Tasmania alert:
Sea level observations have confirmed a tsunami has been generated.
Tsunami has been observed at Spring Bay at 10:05pm.
BOM also report in New South Wales a tsunami at “Port Kembla at 10:06pm”.
End Update
Update11:03pm: I’m seeing a report of the Spring Bay tsunami being 25cm. I can’t find a source for this though. End Update
Update 11:05pm: 25cm report seems to come from BNO News who say the report comes directly from the Bureau’s Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Centre. End Update
Update 11:09pm: AAP have woken up. Nothing useful from them though. Perhaps they can find a correspondent on Lord Howe? End Update
Update 11:18pm: 2GB have a BOM spokeswoman on the air now. Tsunami travelled at approximately 800km/h according to them. More to follow. End Update
Update 11:20pm: BOM spokeswoman says caravans in Kiama near the coast have been evacuated. “Largest waves are not necessarily the first waves [often] a few hours later”. End Update
Update 11:28pm: More technical difficulties. It looks like it’s being caused by a backup running on the server. Unfortunately I don’t have the required access to kill the backup…only enough to see that it’s happening. End Update
Update 11:32pm: Fox News quote BNO News:
Australian emergency services ordered the evacuation of low-lying parts of coastal towns and villages along Lord Howe Island, BNONews reported.
“People are strongly advised to go to higher ground, at least ten metres above sea level, or if possible move at least one kilometre away from all beaches and the water’s edge of harbours and coastal estuaries,” BNONews quoted NSW State Emergency Service.
End Update
Update 11:37pm: BOM have told ABC Radio that no inundation is expected, but strong currents remain a concern.
“The main concern at the moment is a strong current,” a spokeswoman told ABC Local Radio.
“We’re not expecting anything in the way of major land inundation.
“We’re not expecting it to increase to the extent of being a wave that comes onshore.”
The spokeswoman says while people are not being evacuated, those in affected areas are advised to move off the beach.
“I’d recommend getting off the beach, it’s not a matter of moving to really high ground,” she said.
“The threat is on the water.”
The Bureau of Meteorology has advised people to get out of the water and move away from the immediate water’s edge of harbours, coastal estuaries, rock platforms, and beaches.
It says the conditions on the water could last for several hours.
“Strong currents can go on for several hours so to be on the safe side it really would be a good idea to moor the boat,” the spokeswoman said.
“If there is anyone far away from the coast [out to sea] you might be better to stay there.”
End Update
Update 11:43pm: And we’re kinda back online. I’ll keep writing this stuff in the background anyway. End Update
Update 11:47pm: BOM website behind again, but Sky News (who have probably received a fax) say that the Bureau’s tsunami centre has cancelled the warnings for Australia.
A tsunami warning for Australia and New Zealand has been cancelled with the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre saying the wave is small and poses no threat.
[..]
The Centre says the waves generated from the quake are less than 20 centimetres high.
End Update
Update 11:51: I just called the Tsunami warning centre number. The automated messages say that the tsunami alert is still in place. Waiting for confirmation one way or the other. End Update
Update 11:58pmEnd Update
Update midnight: 2UE and 2GB both say the warning is still in effect. 2GB claim major risk on Lord Howe still exists. That said, we have now passed midnight, and the waves were expected to hit by now. We’ll wait and see. End Update
Update 12:03amEnd Update
Update 12:10am: We have an aftershock, according to BNO News.
A new aftershock with a preliminary magnitude of 5.6 has struck off the west coast of New Zealand.
End Update
Update 12:18am: Lord Howe alert has been downgraded to a marine alert, like the east coast ones.
TSUNAMI THREAT HAS BEEN DOWNGRADED. A tsunami warning is now current for the
MARINE ENVIRONMENT for LORD HOWE ISLAND.
However, there is still the possibility of DANGEROUS WAVES, STRONG OCEAN
CURRENTS AND SOME LOCALISED OVERFLOW ONTO THE IMMEDIATE FORESHORE from now
until 1:00am EST Thursday.
Although major evacuations are not required, people are advised to get out of
the water and move away from the immediate water’s edge.
Next update will be issued by 01:14 AM EST on Thursday 16 July 2009
[..]
Sea level observations have confirmed a tsunami has been generated. Reports
indicate a change in the size of the threat resulting in a decrease in the
level of warnings for LORD HOWE ISLAND.
Tsunami threat levels are expected to gradually decrease from 1:00am EST
Thursday.
No reports from the Bureau about damage on Lord Howe, in fact nothing more than the previous reports of the tsunami at Spring Bay, Tasmania and Port Kembla, New South Wales. All areas still on alert until 1am.
End Update
Update 12:45am: AAP report that the Bureau are still concerned, and have told Sky News as much…and yet Sky News still have the erroneous “warning cancelled” story on their site. From AAP:
The Bureau of Meteorology is warning people to stay away from coastal regions this morning .. with the possibility of dangerous currents and waves after last night’s earthquake off the New Zealand coast.
Bureau spokesman ROB WEBB has told Sky News .. there isn’t a big wall of water coming towards Australia .. but the potential for swirling currents still exists.
Mr WEBB’s also urged Lord Howe Island residents to remain on higher ground .. and says people hoping to spot large waves should stay away from the coast.
He says Norfolk Island’s less likely to be affected because it’s further above sea level.
End Update
Update 1:03am: 2UE and 2GB both say the alert is still in place. I’m now waiting for an update from the Bureau. It’s due in about ten minutes, so we’ll probably hear something in about 30 minutes. End Update
Update 1:14am: All tsunami warnings have now been cancelled by the Bureau of Meteorology.
Small unusual waves may continue but are NOT now expected to be damaging.
Tsunami warnings [..] are therefore CANCELLED.
No updates or further warnings will be issued unless the situation changes.
Your local emergency management authority will advise the All Clear when it’s
safe to return to coastal areas.
And with that I bid you all a good night.
End Update
Samuel
July 15th, 2009 at 08:43pm
