Residents of the Atlantic coast may have had a wake up call this week as a devastating tsunami struck in southeast Asia. This catastrophic event has drawn attention to the fact that currently, there is no effective warning system in place that would alert residents of an impending disaster.

While the West Coast has the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center and other agencies in place, there is nothing similar on the eastern shore. Scientists predict that a tsunami similar to that which was spawned the earthquake in the Indian Ocean could destroy barrier islands along the eastern seaboard, causing a large number of deaths.

Some researchers are skeptical and claim that the Atlantic Ocean does not have the kind of fault lines that would be susceptible. Bob Morth, a research geologist at the U.S. Geological Survey's Center for Coastal and Watershed Studies in St. Petersburg said, 'There's potential there, but the probability is very low.'

But other scientists are not so sure. There is the possibility that a volcano on the Canary Islands could send a 150 foot tall tsunami to slam into the East Coast. George Maul, a Florida Tech oceanographer, who has been writing to President Bush, encouraging some sort of tsunami warning system for the east coast, believes that this event is concerned and said, 'I think it's -- one more time -- a wake-up call,'

The 1755 earthquake in Portugal created a small tsunami in Florida, but because there were few people living there, the number of deaths caused by this event is unknown. On July 3, 1992, a huge wave hit Daytona Beach, but this wave has been called a 'rogue' wave, similar to a tsunami, but caused by an underwater landslide. No deaths were reported during this event.

There have been similar events on the West Coast, mostly due to the tectonic plates under the Pacific Ocean. But there is evidence that similar plates are beginning to form under the Atlantic.

So far, to U.S. government has not funded any type of warning system for the East Coast, although the National Weather Service has tsunami warning centers in place in Alaska and Hawaii.