U.S. Senate panel OKs
tsunami alert funds

Legislation that includes $17 million to improve the nation's tsunami warning system was approved Wednesday evening by the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee.

The money contained in the Supplemental Appropriations Bill would be used to pay for additional tsunami detection buoys, repairs to existing buoys and the expansion of the Honolulu-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. There would also be funds to make improvements to preparedness efforts in at-risk coastal communities.

The funding follows the Senate Commerce Committee's recent approval of Sen. Daniel Inouye's legislation to upgrade and modernize America's tsunami warning capabilities.

Inouye called the funding "a solid down payment," saying it will allow the nation to begin the board expansion that his bill advocates.

"We must continue to press for Senate and House approval of our blueprint to modernize and expand the entire (tsunami warning) system, and we need to secure additional funds to make those improvements a reality," Inouye said in a statement issued in Washington.