Subject: Requesting additional funding for NOAA Tsunami Protection

To: Dana Caccasmise, The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Pacific Southwest
OfficerOfficials and Treasury
From: Nicholas Clark

To whom it may concern,

Ever since NOAA’s founding, wethey have made great strides to protect the United
States’ coasts and people from the devastation that tsunamis can cause. From creating high-
technical tsunami/earthquake detection, such as the DART system, to setting up coastal physical
protection and barriers along the coasts affected by tsunamis, NOAA’s our tTsunami pProgram
has been active in its protection of the United States since the 1950s. However, since the last
major tsunamis in the United States occurred in the 1950s, and as time has gone on, fewer and
fewer protection and detection systems have been produced and implemented by our teamby
NOAA. If this trend continues to grow, when the US is eventually hit with a large tsunami, the
damage could be catastrophic while being easily avoidable unless we implement a solutionwith
the help of NOAA’s department.

The simplesteasy solution to this problem would be for NOAA you and your department
to provide ask ofr more funding for not only more resources and research for their detection
technologies (primarily DART), but also to provide states along the West Coast resources and
instructions on how to better incorporate physical barriers, such as breakwaters, dikes,
floodgates, and sea walls, along the beach fronts. WhileHowever, it may seem irresponsible to
provide these services funding because a major tsunami has not hit the US coast in many
decades. i It is my personal belief that the lack of tsunamis disaster over the past couple of
decades isthat is all the more reason to provide this funding because as time moves on, more
people forget about the threat of tsunamis leading to less research and funding applied to tsunami
protection ultimately leading to disaster once a tsunami inevitably hits the your coast.. I request
that we have a meeting in the coming week to discuss how this funding could be acquired by the
end of the year

While the work NOAA has done for the US’s protection has been great over the years,
additional funding would prove very beneficial to ensure the US’s protection for many years to
come. These precautious actions would not only protect the citizens of these communities now,
but improved detection and protection technology would keep the people safe for many
generations in the future. Please respond with a meeting time at your earliest convenience so we
may begin these funding discussions.
Thank you for your time and consideration,

Email: nrclark@noaa.edu
Phone: 888-232-9009
Nicholas Clark
Date: 5/54/12/2022
To: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Board and Faculty(NOAA)
From: Dana Caccasmise Nicholas Clark
Subject: Increasing funding for tsunami protection along the West Coast
Reference: Prior email sent this week
Action Required: Response with available funding by the end of the year Attendance of funding
meetings in the coming days
Distribution List: NOAA employeesofficials and treasurer

An email sent out earlier this week discussed the potential insecurities we have on the West
Coast against large-scale tsunamis which need to be addressed quickly. Here at the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Tsunami Program Division, we pride ourselves on our
ability to not only detect earthquakes and potential subsequent tsunamis but also to protect the
people of the United States when tsunamis do inevitably hit our land. However, without proper
funding, resources, and infrastructure, our company goals will not be met, and thousands of lives
could be at risk. Luckily, Aan internal solution and subsequent meeting is being worked on to
give our department additional funding for future improvements, the contents of which are
explained belowimprove our current situation.

Summary
Our main goal is “dedicated to saving lives and protecting property before, during, and after
tsunami impact through applied research, detection, forecasts, archive, mitigation, and
international coordination” (U.S. Tsunami Hazard). However, without proper funding due to the
lack of major tsunamis in the past few decades, our technology and protection have been quite
lacking for some time. Therefore, we request that everyone attend the meetings starting
tomorrow that will discuss the obtainment and distribution of additional funding for our
department. if we were to upgrade our detection technology and supply West Coasts states with
the proper knowledge and infrastructure, we would be able to fulfill our company mission and
keep people safe.

Our Current PropositionBackground on the Need for Additonal

Funding
The Problem
Our current problem, as stated before, is that we are lacking the funding to increase our research
and development for our detection technology and provide coastal areas with proper ground
protection for when a tsunami would emerge. The last major tsunami struck the West Coast in
the 1960s, and since it has been so long since the last attack, we have slowly stopped supplying
states along the coast with proper protection. It is only a matter of time before a disastrous
earthquake/tsunami combination happens again, and with our current funding, technology, and
infrastructure, we would not be prepared for it.
The Solution
The increased funding we will bearediscussing in our meetings asking for would mainly go into
two of our important resources: technology upgrades and infrastructure remodeling and
replenishing. Firstly, we would need to modernize our DART detection system to be on par with
current detection systems as seen in other countries. That would also require us to build several
more DART systems to have better control along the coastline and support regions such as
Alaska and Hawaii. Secondly, and most importantly, we need to help fund construction projects,
such as breakwaters, dikes, floodgates, and sea walls, along the western coastline. This is our
main line of defense for the people in these regions and should be our main priority when
applying this additional funding.

Conclusion
Our team has made our number one priority to protect the people of the United States from
tsunami disasters, and this additional funding is needed to helpwould allow us to fulfill our
mission. The longer we wait, the higher chance when a tsunami makes landfall, we and the
people will not be prepared, and thousands of innocent lives will be at risk. That is why it is
imperative that this funding is discussed as soon as possible, and hopefully, we can reach our
goals before the year is over. Please attend these meetings and give input on where and how we
should use this funding.

Recommendation
It is my belief that we should fFirstly, after we allocate some funds, we need to determine how
infrastructure is needed for each state and how much needs to be replaced. This will include
going to each state and speaking with state representatives and locals to determine the most
vulnerable places for a tsunami strike. Hopefully, we will be able to convince these state
representatives to supply additional funding for their state’s infrastructure and also for our next
piece, the DART system. With that additional funding, we would be able to update our systems
with modern hardware that tracks earthquakes/tsunamis quicker and more accurately. We would
also need to build more systems for a larger-scale detection network, meaning we would need
more funding for this as well. This process will require collaboration from many state
representatives and government officials, so we will need to start right away to meet our
optimistic goal by the end of the year. Please keep this information in mind as we begin our
meetings so we can most efficiently source and apply this funding.

References
Simmons-Duffin, Selena. History of Tsunami: The Word and the Wave. NPR, 18 Mar. 2011,
https://www.npr.org/2011/03/18/134600508/history-of-tsunami-the-word-and-the-wave.

“Tsunamis in the United States”. Worlddata,

https://www.worlddata.info/america/usa/tsunamis.php.

U.S. Tsunami Hazard. National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program,

https://nws.weather.gov/nthmp/ushazard.html.

“U.S. Tsunami Warning System.” National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,

https://www.noaa.gov/explainers/us-tsunami-warning-system.