Forum Views ()
Forum Replies ()
Read more with google mobile :
Tsunami early warning must start at community level
|
Edition:
U.S.
Article
Save
Email
Print
Reprints
Most Popular
Most Shared
Russia to work on new nuclear missiles: Medvedev
24 Dec 2009
Japan PM under fire over budget scandal
24 Dec 2009
Pope dragged to floor but unharmed at Mass incident
12:33am EST
Military to scrap pregnancy punishment
24 Dec 2009
Venezuela's Chavez threatens to oust Toyota
24 Dec 2009
Treasury uncaps credit line for Fannie, Freddie
24 Dec 2009
Japan PM under fire over budget scandal
24 Dec 2009
Iran security clashes with cleric mourners: website
24 Dec 2009
CORRECTED - METALS-Copper near 15-mth high on dollar, supply worries
24 Dec 2009
Pope dragged to floor but unharmed at Mass incident
12:33am EST
Tsunami early warning must start at community level
Katherine Baldwin
LONDON
Fri Dec 25, 2009 2:22am EST
Factbox
How the Indian Ocean gets tsunami warnings
2:21am EST
LONDON (Reuters) - Five years on from the Indian Ocean tsunami, the region has its own early warning system but experts say the new technology will not save lives unless local communities are more involved in planning how to respond.
World | Green Business | Natural Disasters
The 230,000 people killed in Africa and Asia by the 2004 tsunami received no formal warning of the approaching waves.
Since then, millions of dollars have gone into building a vast network of seismic and tsunami information centers, setting up sea and coastal instruments and erecting warning towers.
But studies show that the closer the warning gets to those it is designed to help, the more it fades out, and much more needs to be done to connect the technology to the people.
"The weakest link remains at the interface between the early warning system and the public, and in ensuring there's enough preparedness at the local level to react appropriately," said Bhupinder Tomar, senior officer for disaster preparedness at the International Federation for the Red Cross (IFRC) in Geneva.
In terms of technology, the region has made great strides since December 26, 2004, and is much better prepared, experts say.
Warning centers in Japan and Hawaii receive seismological and tidal data and send out alerts to national agencies in Indian Ocean countries. These agencies then warn the population, via SMS, radio, television, watch towers and loud speakers.
By 2010, regional centers in Australia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand are set to take over primary responsibility from Hawaii and Japan for issuing the warnings.
START WITH COMMUNITIES
Many relief workers, however, believe the system's design is too top-down and that local communities should be the starting point, not the end point, in any early warning network.
Local people should be the 'first mile' in early warning, rather than the 'last mile' as they are often called, the workers say.
"You need to start with the people and move outwards," said Ilan Kelman, a senior research fellow at CICERO, the Center for International Climate and Environmental Research in Oslo.
In a June 2009 report, the Global Network of Civil Society Organisations for Disaster Reduction found community participation in the decision-making process was insufficient.
It said the emphasis must shift from international and national policy-making to policy execution on the ground.
Similarly, Oxfam found in a recent report, "Collaboration in Crises," that disaster-affected communities wanted the chance to play a more decisive role in programs designed to help them.
Evacuation routes and drills need to be integrated into communities' day-to-day activities, experts say.
"In a heavily vegetated area, people need paths to get from the coast to inland ... and there's no reason why those paths should be different from an evacuation route," said Kelman.
"Having a development project to create more paths and maintain them is actually useful for the communities every day, as well as every decade when there's a tsunami warning."
Other community-based measures that need to be developed further include the teaching in some schools of "Shake, Drop, Run" -- when the earth shakes, drop everything and run.
Teachers and children must be taught what most fishermen know, that when the sea recedes you should run, said Kelman.
Thailand has put tsunami education on its national curriculum and more countries should do this, the experts say.
MULTI-HAZARD APPROACH
Communities must also design their own warning messages.
"We don't want to see panic, we don't want to see people taking the wrong action. So getting the words right, getting the message right and getting it delivered are key components," said Al Panico, head of the tsunami unit at the IFRC.
In order to maintain the tsunami early warning system, at the community, national and international level, it is vital to extend it to other hazards like cyclones and storm surges.
"Any warning system you don't notice is a dormant system, and treasuries don't like anything that they cannot justify," said Peter Koltermann, head of the Tsunami Coordination Unit for the United Nations' Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), which began coordinating the Indian Ocean system in 2005.
The best approach to saving lives, however, is better urban and coastal planning to move people away from high risk areas. But experts agree this is the hardest thing to accomplish when communities and livelihoods are established.
"That is by far the best approach," said Panico. But "it's the individual who decides where to live."
(Additional reporting by Thin Lei Win in Bangkok; Editing by Jerry Norton)
World
Green Business
Natural Disasters
More from Reuters
Pictures of the Year
A look at the best photos of 2009. Slideshow
PICTURES
What a wacky year it's been...
Um, what's up the Dalai Lama's nose? "Oddly Enough" editor Bob Basler rounds up the goofiest photos of the year. Full Article
The year of all things moronic
Stories that got the biggest laughs
Headlines that turned your heads
Oddly Enough
Political Risk in 2010:
Don't say we didn't warn you
With the financial crisis (mostly) in the past, U.S. investors are eying a fresh start to the coming year. Here's a look at what speedbumps lie ahead. Full Article
Tougher investment choices ahead
Will investors embrace "risk" trades?
Global Markets
© Copyright 2009 Thomson Reuters
Editorial Editions:
Africa
Arabic
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Mexico
Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
United States
Reuters
Contact Us
Advertise With Us
Help
Journalism Handbook
Archive
Site Index
Video Index
Analyst Research
Mobile
Newsletters
RSS
Podcasts
Widgets
Your View
Labs
Thomson Reuters
Copyright
Disclaimer
Privacy
Professional Products
Professional Products Support
Financial Products
About Thomson Reuters
Careers
Online Products
Acquisitions Monthly
Buyouts.com
Buyouts Europe:
Buyouts Conferences:
Venture Capital Journal
ECVJ
International Financing Review
International Securitisation Report
Project Finance International
PEhub.com
PE Week
Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.
Other News on Friday, 25 December 2009 Iraq attacks kill scores on eve of Christmas, Ashura
Officials rap Eurostar, Eurotunnel over Channel shutdown
Iran security clashes with cleric mourners: website
|
US-TECH Summary
U.S. military to scrap pregnancy punishment
Pilgrims crowd Bethlehem on warm Christmas eve
|
Follow Santa Claus, courtesy Google and NORAD
Israeli PM asks opposition leader Livni to join govt
US durable goods up 0.2%, led by computers
US jobless claims dip to 15-month low
Suicide bomber in southern Afghanistan kills eight: police
U.N. assembly condemns Myanmar rights record
|
Threats, Ashoura bring blue Christmas in Iraq
Chavez threatens to expel Toyota carmaker
|
Blasts kill 27 Iraqis before solemn Shiite holiday
Suicide car bomb kills 8 in Afghan south
|
German Protestant leader calls for Afghan pullout
|
Iran bans memorials for cleric in wake of violence
Two-time Venezuelan president Caldera dies at 93
|
Attacks kill at least 23 across Iraq
Apple shares hit new high on tablet excitement
|
Doomed China restaurant hires live-in protester
No time for Christmas for US troops in Afghan east
Sex offender charged in Md. girl's disappearance
Ex-aides to Japan's PM charged in funding scandal
Afghan police: Suicide bomb kills 8 in Kandahar
Massive storm disrupts last-minute holiday travel
China signals no clemency for British drugs mule
Donor walks into motel, rents rooms for homeless
Report: NKorea lauds soldiers who nabbed reporters
LA sees 10 percent drop in violent crime in 2009
Indonesian police arrest top militant's relative
Carbon monoxide suspected in 9 Pa. YMCA illnesses
Police arrest terrorist Noordin's father-in-law
U.S. Senate passes landmark healthcare overhaul
Indian committee recommends autonomy for Kashmir
Prisons: Madoff had dizziness, high blood pressure
US Senate passes 'historic' health reform bill
EMTs say they weren't asked to examine ill woman
China to execute five more for Xinjiang unrest
US dad flies home with son after Brazil custody win
Japan skaters face rich gold bonus
Pakistan's forex reserves rise to $13.72 billion
A Minute With: Daniel Day Lewis on Nine
|
US-ENTERTAINMENT Summary
A Minute With: Daniel Day Lewis on "Nine"
Singer Feliciano protests 'Feliz Navidad' parody
Tennis champ Djokovic to play Yugoslav king on TV
Michael Moore, Jeff Garlin announce MI comedy fest
Netanyahu asks Livni to join Israeli government
Classic books to US rock: Medvedev's private passions
Pope dragged to floor but unharmed at Mass incident
|
Apple up sharply on tablet computer reports
Saab to shut as GM won't consider Spyker bid: report
Bin Laden's daughter "in Saudi embassy in Tehran"
Twitter buys geolocation startup Mixer Labs
China jails dissident Liu Xiaobo for 11 years
|
Medvedev pledges Russian prison overhaul
Iran police clash with dissident cleric's mourners: website
Pilgrims crowd Bethlehem on warm Christmas eve
|
Deadly storm snarls holiday travel in central US
Suicide bomber in southern Afghanistan kills eight: police
Japan PM under fire over budget scandal
|
U.N. website details peacekeeper sex abuse claims
|
Venezuela's Chavez threatens to oust Toyota
|
Tsunami early warning must start at community level
|
Black pioneer journalist Dale R. Wright dies in NY
Senate OK's health care bill in victory for Obama
Huge US storm curtails Christmas celebrations
Donkeys escape from live nativity scene in Colo.
Official: Pakistan army kills 9 militants in NW
Obama asked to halt wild-horse roundup in Nevada
SKorea-Japan territorial dispute flares anew
Coast Guard suspends NJ search for 2 Va. fishermen
Japanese, Chinese historians fail to bridge differences
Taliban bomb schools in NW Pakistan
US military deaths in Afghanistan region at 859
Weather forecast for the Asia-Pacific region
Rescuers hunt for missing in Philippine ferry sinking
China's Zhang Yimou back with Coen brothers remake
China dissident jailed for 11 years for subversion
Japan PM under fire on scandal as govt drafts budget
China dissident gets 11 years in prison: lawyer
China revises '08 economic growth
Toyota to recall 43,000 cars in China
Japan jobless rate up in November, prices fall
Taiwan dollar up in holiday trade, c.bank eyed
Taiwan keeps certificate of deposit rates unchanged
Japan's jobless rate rises to 5.2 percent in November: govt
Geely's Volvo bid highlights China's global car ambition
Brittany Murphy funeral service set for Thursday
India to boost warship production: official
Japanese buy Mexico power plants for 1.2 billion dollars
Bank of Japan ready to 'to act swiftly'
It's Complicated: a man's film in a woman's world
|
Merge Records: 20 years of glorious noise
|
Patriarch calls for peace as Bethlehem rocks Christmas
New fees stain welcome mat for filmmakers in NYC
Some struggles, a lot of hope, for tsunami orphans
Merge Records: 20 years of glorious noise
"It's Complicated": a man's film in a woman's world
More Bolivar, fewer presents for Christmas: Chavez
Asian Film Awards to honour director Zhang Yimou
Grinches robbing US poor at Christmas
Pope inaugurates Christmas creche
Brittany Murphy funeral service set for Thursday
Virgin Mary sighting a glimpse of hope for Egypt Christians
Five dead in Germany house fire
Britain's queen calls 2009 difficult year
|
Palestinian groups claim killing Israeli in West Bank
Palestinian groups claim killing Israeli in West Bank
|
New Taliban video shows captive US soldier
Tug grounds on same reef as Exxon Valdez tanker
Animal welfare victories prompt farmers to change
Pakistan police: Americans may face terror charges
NJ dad rejoices in return of son held in Brazil
Crew of NKorean weapons plane jailed 12 more days
Pregnant soldiers in war zone won't be punished
Boston cardinal wants help for older, sick priests
Philippines halts operations of boats that crashed
SKorea-Japan territorial dispute flares anew
China defends role at Copenhagen
Indian Kashmir Christians pray for peace
Gifts bring Christmas cheer to Filipino evacuees
Thailand firm on Hmong return despite US, UN calls
Christmas Eve funeral for Brittany Murphy
Japan unveils record $1 trillion budget
China stocks mixed on new share sales
Panasonic develops more powerful battery for EVs
China revises up 2008 economic growth
Small, private funeral held for Brittany Murphy
British dishes tickle French taste-buds
Christmas Eve funeral for Brittany Murphy
Greece at new risk of being pushed off euro
Bodies of missing Tenn. mom, Jo Ann Bain, and daughter found
Female Breasts Are Bigger Than Ever
AMD Trinity Accelerated Processing Units Now in Volume Production
The Avengers (2012 film), made the second biggest opening- and single-day gross of all-time
AMD to Start Production of piledriver
Ivy Bridge Quad-Core, Four-Thread Desktop CPUs
Islamists Protest Lady Gaga's Concert in Indonesia
Japan Successfully Broadcasts an 8K Signal Over the Air
ECB boosts loans to 1 trillion Euro to stop credit crunch
Egypt : Mohammed Morsi won with 52 percent
What do you call 100,000 Frenchmen with their hands up
AMD Launches AMD Embedded R-Series APU Platform
Fed Should not Ignore Emerging Market Crisis
Fed casts shadow over India, emerging markets
Why are Chinese tourists so rude? A few insights