2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami and a network of sensors is needed to detect it. Setting up the communications infrastructure to issue timely warnings is an even bigger problem, particularly in a relatively impoverished part of the world. Tsunamis are more frequent in the Pacific Ocean than in other oceans because of earthquakes in the "Ring of Fire". Although the extreme western edge of the Ring of Fire extends into the Indian Ocean (the point where the earthquake struck), no warning system exists in that ocean. Tsunamis there are relatively rare despite earthquakes being relatively frequent in Indonesia. The last major tsunami was caused by
Ring of Fire (anthology) minor cost to understanding and in appreciation that can be avoided. Flint has stated that he intends that short stories featuring major characters, or establishing points that will be important in future novels will be collected into the "Ring of Fire" anthologies, and that "The Grantville Gazettes" anthologies will feature the stories of characters that don't establish new background for the novels. However, many of the characters or events become more important in retrospect than either the author or editor expected, so this rule is fairly weak. Weber's short story sets up major story elements that play out in "1633"