Tsunami Lawsuits Begin

Like it's really the hotel chains fault that a tsunami killed people?
The American NOAA knew of the earthquake and it told those it
was supposed to. But of course ... people see the word AMERICAN
and they automatically think they can get money out of them, even
though they did nothing wrong. NOAA is a service ... it's not an
on-demand-agency paid for, or held accountable by, the United Nations
or any other group. This stinks. People are understandably
upset that they have friends and family who died, but sometimes it
just isn't anyones fault. Perhaps the Thai government should have
had a warning system in place, but that certainly isn't the fault of
NOAA or a hotel chain. Geeeeeeeez!

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Tsunami victims to sue French hotel chain Accor, Thai govt, US authorities

Excerpt - Yahoo/Feb 15, 2005

VIENNA (AFX) - A group of Austrian and German victims of the Asian
tsunami disaster are to file a lawsuit demanding that Thailand, French
hotel chain Accor and US forecasters prove they reacted adequately
to the disaster, their lawyers said.

The suit, naming Accor and the US-run tsunami early warning
system in the Pacific as well as Thai authorities, will be filed in
a New York district court this week, the lawyers said in Vienna.

The targets are the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA) in Washington and its Hawaii-based tsunami warning centre;
the Accor group of hotels where some of the victims stayed; and the
Thai government.

The NOAA is accused of having registered the earthquake but
failed to alert Indian Ocean countries of the impending tsunamis
as the Hawaii centre covered only the Pacific.

The lawyers said that if the NOAA and Thai authorities, which
had their own information, had passed on their alerts in time,
it would have enabled people on shorelines to flee inland.

Full Story


[edit on 2/15/2005 by FlyersFan]

Erm sorry FlyersFan, but Criminal Neglect is even a felony in the US. Its the one thing they could most definatly, provable and for sure put the entire Bush and Clinton Administrator in jail for imho.

If they knew about it or saw it comming(French Hotel, Tai goverment or US/other agency, doesn't matter) and didn't do all they could to warn people, then they are in error.

This lawsuit asks that these groups prove they did all they could, if they can, no problem, lawsuit over, if they can't and didn't do all they could, then they are in error, need to pay up, get punished and done with it.

How Not To Be Taken Seriously

Originally posted by thematrix
Its the one thing they could most definatly, provable and for sure put the entire Bush and Clinton Administrator in jail for imho.

Please don't take this personally, but when you post statements like these, it makes it impossible for me to believe anything you say.

Seriously, this just makes you seem irrational.

Please, think before you post.

Originally posted by thematrix
This lawsuit asks that these groups prove they did all they could,

Innocent until proven guilty. The lawsuit should prove that the
groups didn't do what they should have. Those suing have it
backwards.

And I doubt very much that it's in the hotels
charter that they are responsible for natural disasters or
'acts of God' to begin with so 'Criminal Neglect' is impossible.

That .. and it isn't the job of NOAA to contact every hotel in
the entire Indian Ocean and to tell them that they registered
a big earthquake. They contacted those that they were supposed
to ('supposed to' by their own rules, no one else's) and there
wasn't time to contact anyone else even if they
knew who to contact (which they didn't). PLUS .. it isn't their job.
That may sound cold, but it isn't NOAA's job to police the entire
planet to tell everyone what is going on at all times. They never
garunteed to anyone that they would do that. They aren't paid
by any of these foreign governments to do it either. Again,
Criminal neglect is impossible in this situation.

The victims see deep pockets. I understand they are upset, but
to drag a hotel chain and NOAA into their misery when they should
be looking at the government of Indonesia, is ... just greedy.

AND like I said. Sometimes people die and it's no one's fault.
This was a natural disaster. Insurance companies call these
things 'an act of God'. Sometimes there is no one to blame.

I still say -

And if you warn people, but no tsunami happens, yet people are injured by tramplings during the escape, you would still see lawsuits. How is anyone to know how to respond to anything anymore?

If any nation is responsble for the tsunami devastation, and a natural disaster like that I am hard pressed to say anyone is responsible, its the government of india. They are the ones who not only rejected an indian ocean tsunami monitoring system, but actually fired the government meteoroligist who suggested it. That was 7 years ago. They hired him back now. The United States, nor any other country, can be held legally responsible for not informing people of an upcomming disaster, besideswhich, the US agencies that detected the tsunami did warn the foreign governments about it.

thematrix
and didn't do all they could to warn people, then they are in error.

There is no international law as such that I am aware of. Do you know of one? The US is not responsible for the citizens on the coasts of the indian ocean. It would be morally reprehensible to not warn them. The US did warn them.