Barun Roy: A tsunami lesson

ASIA FILE

It has been proven once again that the world has perfected the art of responding to natural calamities, no matter how big they are.

Even India performed better. Yes, there was some initial chaos, aid piled up at airports for lack of timely clearance, and bureaucrats generally preferred to live with official niceties.

But in most places aid reached victims without an undue loss of time.

There were officials on the ground who had the courage to bend rules and skirt paperwork, relief camps were promptly set up, the dead were quickly disposed of, the debris began to be cleared, tubewells were dug and mobile water treatment plants were deployed, in some cases within 48 hours.

And weeks after the tsunami, there's still no report of any outbreaks of epidemics, which many had feared.

This tsunami also gave us another reason to feel reassured. Donations flowed like a flood and soon became what one official described as "a tidal wave of generosity."

In the US alone, private donations had surged past $200 million by January 5, and one charity reported receiving pledges at the rate of $100,000 an hour.

Significantly, much of this money was raised online, which made the giving easy, painless, and purposeful. It was the first real test of online fund raising for an emergency and its success heralds a powerful way of mobilising private money.

What about being wise before the fact? A lot of noise is being made about putting in place an early tsunami warning system in the Indian Ocean area.

India seems determined to build one on its own. Of course that would help. But simply knowing that a tsunami is on its way isn't going to be of much use if we lack a credible mechanism to transfer that knowledge to people likely to be its victims and arrange for their timely evacuation.

In the latest tragedy, scientists knew of the Magnitude 9 earthquake under the sea off Sumatra and the news was immediately on the Internet, as had been the news of all seismic activities in the area preceding the mega thrust.

It was as plain a warning as could possibly be there, but nobody paid any attention. The affected countries had a breathing time of between one and three hours before the tsunami actually hit.

Had they been watchful to read the geological message, a lot of lives could have been saved. They weren't. A faxed tsunami warning to Indian meteorologists was found making the rounds of various government departments. Nobody knew what to do.

An excuse can probably be made for earthquakes and tsunamis. They don't send out an advance notice and the damage is more or less instant. But what about those that do, like floods and cyclones?

These are possible to track. Yet tens of thousands die each year from such calamities and millions lose their homes and livelihood.

It exposes the utter disregard with which the entire question of preventive management is treated. There is no organised pre-disaster drill, nor is there the necessary infrastructure to evacuate people in advance of an impending cyclone or flood.

That's what we should seek to correct first. Scientifically speaking, we probably won't see another mega tsunami in the Indian Ocean for a long time, but floods and cyclones won't leave us alone and are far bigger takers of human lives over time.

If we can develop an ability to minimise the impact of these recurrent disasters before they strike, without simply waiting to clear the debris and count the dead afterwards, we will know better what to do when tsunamis threaten us in future.