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Lessons from the epicentre: early warnings and immediate assistance are crucial when natural disasters strike, but donors need to look beyond the immediate relief period to provide meaningful aid.

Article Excerpt
ON JULY 17,2006, a magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck the coast of West Java in Indonesia, causing a powerful tsunami that claimed the lives of more than 300 people, and displaced as many as 28,000. Conjuring up images of the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004, the 2006 tsunami struck with little or no warning from official agencies. Although the scale of the 2006 tsunami paled in comparison to the 2004 tragedy, the recent disaster in West Java highlighted the limitations of the current warning system to protect vulnerable coastal populations in low-income countries.

The Asian tsunami of 2004 elicited an unprecedented outpouring of sympathy and support from the international community, which for a brief period of time included not only the professional purveyors of aid--the UN, the Red Cross and other international aid agencies--but also a wider and more eclectic assortment of Hollywood actors, prime ministers, rock stars and others who felt the need to do something about a tragedy that claimed the lives of an estimated 230,000 people. When it was all added up, the international community had raised an estimated US$14 billion.

Here in Canada, the federal government pledged $425 million for relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts in the Asian region, in addition to an estimated $213 million raised from charitable organizations and members of the Canadian public. The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) is now leading the Canadian aid program, directing much of its assistance towards Sri Lanka and Indonesia, which were by far the most badly affected countries.

Early warning systems

Once the worst effects of the disaster were alleviated, international efforts turned towards the development of an early warning system that would detect and communicate the onset of future maritime disasters. The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are working to develop a system that would co-ordinate the activities of national institutions with the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre (PTWC) in Hawaii. The PTWC will be co-ordinating a series of experimental trials on the system in late 2006, and will support related efforts to upgrade the system of 70 tidal gauges in the Indian Ocean in order to provide real-time data on storms and tidal surges. Meanwhile, Germany and Indonesia have entered into an agreement to place ten seismic detection buoys in the Indian Ocean, although neither of these was operational at the time of the 2006 tsunami. Australia, India and Thailand have agreed to develop a similar system of buoys along the Sundra Trench, the site of the earthquake that led to the 2004 tsunami.

However, even with the best early warning strategies, it will be difficult to reach remote rural areas and densely populated urban centres. According to Indonesian officials, the Indonesian government received a tsunami bulletin from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre 45 minutes after the 2006 earthquake, but failed to communicate the warning in time. Given the political and infrastructural constraints that such areas face, local warnings and local knowledge are possibly the most important means by which coastal communities can better prepare themselves for disasters of this kind. Eyewitness accounts of the 2004 tsunami suggest that coastal waters...