In the countries that will be connected to the systems, there are already doubts about the effectiveness of the systems that will be installed in 2008; A deputy minister in the Indonesian government: "At the moment of the disaster, the people will not have time to react, and may even ignore the warnings
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On December 26, 2004, an earthquake with a magnitude of 8.9 on the Richter scale was recorded in Indonesia, followed by another earthquake with a magnitude of 7.3 in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India in the Indian Ocean. Following the noise, huge waves rose up - "tsunami", which hit the shores of islands and countries on the coast of Asia.
Countries in the Indian Ocean region started yesterday, exactly on the one year anniversary of the disaster (26.12.05) in remembrance ceremonies for about 200 thousand people. Thousands of people, survivors, relatives of the victims and others, noted the severe disaster that befell the area, following the strong earthquake. A huge wave about ten meters high washed away many lives, destroying the livelihood of many others who were left to pick up the pieces. European tourists who survived the tsunami also returned to the place to participate in the ceremonies and honor the memory of the victims.
The northern island of Aceh in Indonesia was hit hardest by the earthquake followed by the tsunami. The President of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono announced a minute's silence at a ceremony to which about 1,000 guests were invited. In Sri Lanka, the president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, held a ceremony in the village of Pralia, where a train drifted and derailed following the disaster and caused the death of about a thousand people. The flags were lowered to half-mast and the bells of the churches, mosques and synagogues will ring. Two minutes of silence were observed at 09:30 (local time), the time when the tsunami struck, after which the president lowered the flag immediately in memory of the 31,000 dead in the country.
Thousands of people took part in ceremonies throughout Thailand, in Ko Lak. The official death toll there is 5,395 people - many of them tourists. The tourists returned very quickly to Thailand, which is rehabilitating Phuket and Ko Phi Phi, which were hit by the big wave, at a rapid pace, although the United Nations says that the process may take about five years. In India, children dressed in white marched where thousands were washed away by the huge wave. Hundreds of people will march in silence to a mass grave. Over 300 people attended the ceremonies in India.
About one and a half million people were left homeless in the area, after the huge wave washed away trees, houses and communities, although the exact number of dead is unknown. So far it has been reported that about 12 billion dollars have been collected for the purpose of rehabilitating the victims of the tsunami.
Among the many stops on the destructive journey of the tsunami waves on December 26, 2004, was also the Thai village of Ban Nam Kam, the "Salt Water Village". About a quarter of its 4,000 inhabitants were killed in the disaster, nearly 650 houses were razed to the ground, and hundreds of fishing boats were wrecked. One of the most tangible signs left as a silent witness in the field, is a fishing boat that remains stuck in the heart of the village.
Since then, the fear that the sea evokes among the residents has not disappeared. "The government has installed sirens and conducted alert drills, but the general feeling is that this is not enough," says the head of the village, Satain Petliang. "We want them to build emergency towers here to which we can run quickly, or to build a dike around the port that will stop the next surge. Unfortunately, the government claims that it is too expensive."
However, Thailand, anxious for its income from tourism, actually stands at the head of the initiatives to establish an early warning system. In the six coastal districts affected by the tsunami, 30 beach warning towers will be erected by the beginning of next week, and 62 more will be in place until March.
In Indonesia, a step forward was taken this year to ensure the safety of the residents: the authorities began installing ten warning buoys in the Indian Ocean between Aceh and Bali, as part of the sophisticated warning system that the authorities received as a gift from the German government. However, the system - which costs about 543 million dollars - will be active in 2008 at the earliest.
Doubts in India
However, Jakarta authorities believe that technology alone will not be able to help save human lives. "At the moment of the disaster, the people will not have time to react, and may even ignore the warnings about the arrival of the tsunami," said Indonesia's Deputy Minister for Technology Affairs, Ivan Suhardi. According to him, the government is initiating an outreach program that will warn of the dangers of the tsunami and instruct the residents on how to behave in the event that such a surge approaches. But according to him, this is a process that takes time, "maybe a whole generation", he added.
Quite a few doubts are also heard in India, which will be one of the 16 countries that will receive a warning about the possibility of the formation of tsunami waves through the general warning system that the United Nations will set up in the Indian Ocean. "How can a country like the Maldives, for example, train itself to use such a complex warning system in a short period of time", asked an Indian scientist.
According to G. H. P. Dharmaratna, deputy director of the Sri Lanka Meteorological Institute, even if the system warns of a possible disaster in time, the tools in the hands of the government are still not effective enough. According to him, since local police stations, the military, and radio and television stations are the main means the government has at its disposal to spread information, they may be ineffective, especially in the event that the tsunami hits at night.
Dharmaratna also believes that the countries located on the shores of the Indian Ocean will be forced to issue warnings whenever an unusual earthquake is felt, mainly because there is no way to predict whether the noise will cause a tsunami. "Therefore", he estimates, "the only sure thing that the residents of the area can expect in the coming year is hearing many false alarms".
Research: The trees, swamps and reefs reduced the damage from the tsunami
The mangrove tree forests helped save lives in the tsunami disaster that occurred a year ago in Asia. This is stated in a report by the "World Conservation Union", an organization working for ecological conservation, in an article published on the BBC website. The Union compared the death toll in two villages in Sri Lanka, which were hit by the huge waves. In one village, where there is a forest of mangrove trees, only two people were killed, compared to more than 6,000 who were killed in the other town, where there were no trees.
According to the organization's activists, the findings show that a healthy ecosystem served as a natural barrier to the waves. "The trees saved many lives as well as property," said the coordinator of the Union's operations in Sri Lanka, Vimukti Virtunga. "In some places the damage was minimal and the mangrove trees had a part in it."
According to the studies, the mangrove trees are able to absorb between 70% and 90% of the energy of a normal wave. However, there are no data indicating how the trees moderated the tsunami page. Nevertheless, many residents of the coastal areas want their communities to benefit from the planting of mangrove trees. "Humans now tend to respect the natural barriers more, especially after the tsunami," Virtonga said. "Now everyone wants to plant mangroves in the coastal areas, but unfortunately it cannot be implemented."
A year after the tsunami, the Union also assessed the damage caused to the reefs along the damaged coasts. According to the findings, there was no extensive long-term damage to the reefs and the reefs that were in good condition before the waves hit them are recovering faster than other sites. As with the mangrove trees, the surrounding reefs and swamps played an important part in reducing the damage caused by the tsunami, in which approximately 230 thousand people were killed.
