First of all, "tidal waves" is a completely inaccurate description of what happened this morning. It was a tsunami, a completely different thing from a tidal waves. Tides had nothing to do with it.

Much of the Pacific Ocean is covered by a tsunami warning network. Unfortunately, the Indian Ocean region wasn't covered with a similar network. You can bet that will be fixed soon, but tragically not soon enough.

The problem with early warning is that a tsunami can be very subtle near the triggering earthquake's epicenter. Sometimes, the generated wave might only be a few milimeters high and traveling over 700 KPH. They become destructive when the wave hits shallow water, causing the tsunami to reach 10+ meter heights in a matter of seconds. Often, the first warning is when the water suddenly receeds a considerable distance from the shoreline, only to come crashing ashore with deadly results.

The death toll now stands at over 13,000 and will almost certainly rise much higher. The triggering earthquake was a 9.0, the most powerful in 40 years and one of the most powerful ever recorded. Perhaps the best warning would be for people to evacuate coastal areas whenever a large underwater earthquake is detected. The problem is that most of the time, a tsunami doesn't result from an earthquake, leading to a high false alarm rate.