COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - Rescuers on Monday piled up bodies along coastlines devastated by a tsunami that obliterated seaside towns in Asia and Africa, killing more than 22,000 people in nine countries. Hundreds of children were buried in mass graves in India, and morgues and hospitals struggled to cope with the catastrophe.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6754820/

This is just horrific. It's difficult to think about how many of these lives could have been saved had these regions had an updated warning system. The earthquake hit 20 minutes before the tsunami hit the coast. It had been felt and measured, yet no warnings about the possibility of a tsunami were issued.

But the world leaders want Global Missile Defence Systems more than the instuments which can warn and save people's lives globally ....

Unreal, isn't it? <_<

If we focused more on updated warning systems, distributing food/water/medical supplies around the world---focused on saving lives, it certainly seems we'd do more good than waging wars. We need to reexamine our approach to 'spreading freedom.'

Very well said Ultraist..True feelings!

who was that us geo sth on cnn/bbc saying they got the news of the quake?

how long does it take to make a phone call?

why weren't somalia&kenya warned? there was enough time for that.

"hey, i'm the guy monitoring the wwgeo network. we just registered 9mag r quake and there's extremely high probability of a tidal wave hitting you in 15minutes."

how long does it take to say that?

Its not that simple i guess and if we are talking about this perticular incident than i read it happened after a century and a half in india, nobody can predict earthquakes and its after effects can precisely be monitored only by series of electronic instruments..But one thing is for sure that people could have atleast warned the africans after the devastation in south east asia,india and srilanka..and who knows it might be building up to strike at some other part of the world..

the point being: the guy i saw talking on the tv said they got the info of the earthquake.

he called it a high-risk for tidal waves.

he said, since most tidal waves generated by earthquakes happen in the pacific, a warning sys has been set up there.

but since he acknowledged they got the info of the quake, it still leaves wondering: don't these people know what a quake is? what to do? if it doesn't threaten some mil base, then early warnings aren't an issue?
since they knew the quake happened - why didn't they let those people know who'll likely face destruction?
not like the people monitoring the sys are so doped up in some govt experimental amph use they don't know what they see??

as much as i hate to call it that, it sounds like a double-standard.

Your point taken.

NPR report


A string of aftershock tremors followed Sunday's huge quake in the Indian Ocean, inset.

Story - http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4245761

a minute ago on a finnish tv-channel (nelonen): over 30 thousand missing...
(source-reuters)

20 something (24?)cm rain in zabol, over 24h, yearly avg 51 cm (i think these were cm...). over half in 1 day.

where is zabol?

any other env event coming up??

I just read in the Spiegel (german news magazine) that the ex kanzler of Germany: Helmut Kohl was in Sri Lanka at the time, but suffer no injuries.

TIDAL WAVE: Could a Warning System Have Saved Lives?
December 27, 2004

A wall of water of historic proportions has left over 20,000 people dead, many thousands more homeless and grieving. The scale of loss, the swath of destruction, are just so difficult to comprehend.

As we watched the first reports from Asia coming across the wires yesterday, we wondered: "Is there no warning system possible that could have saved some portion of those lives?"

The answer turns out to be "yes" - at least to some degree. A sophisticated warning system exists in the Pacific Ocean, where the majority of these earthquakes and tsunamis tend to occur. But this quake, from the floor of the Indian Ocean, was quite rare, and while the quake itself was identified by global seismic systems, warning systems in many of these countries are poor or nonexistent. Tonight Nightline's John Donvan will take us through the events of yesterday, hour by hour, tracking how the waves traveled and tore into land. He will consider the kind of warning system that might have been possible. But even with enough warning, for poor villagers living in seaside towns or low-lying island nations, where could they safely go?

Tonight we'll also have reports from ABC's reporters that have rushed to various spots throughout the devastated region. Nightline's David Marash is on his way, as I write this, to Colombo, Sri Lanka. And ABC's Mark Litke, normally based in Hong Kong, is now reporting from Phuket, Thailand. And ABC's Nick Watt is also reporting from Sri Lanka this evening. We'll take that reporting - plus more from our affiliated news organizations, including the BBC, and get as comprehensive a picture as we can of the scope of this natural disaster.

Nightline's Chris Bury will anchor tonight and turn at the end of the broadcast to a seismologist who can explain how tsunami and earthquake warning systems work now around the world, and how they could be made to work even better.

We hope you'll join us.

Sara Just & The Nightline Staff
Senior Producer
Washington Bureau

that is a rhetorical question, am i correct?

a tremor preceded the wave: people on the beach never had a chance, the ground was yanked under their feet, they couldn't run..."

bbc or cnn, flipping btw them

I know that the NGOs are involved. What specifically is the government doing? Helping those people is not just the compassionate and civilized thing to do. This would also be good foreign policy. We need to take advantage of every opportunity to work our global image problem.

I think that the government of the UK is much more concerned when these things happen. I have heard it said that grass roots pressure has a lot to do with this. Perhaps we need to apply grass roots pressure here. I would like to see one of our elected officials champion this cause.

Why aren’t we sending a hospital ship, or a Peace Corps mission?

Peace Corps? I imagine Resident W has decimated it. Don't count on much help from him as he is inhumanly selfish. About the warnings, I head talk that there were warnings to these countries before the quake and tsunamis but some countries didn't listen. If the warnings came from the U.S., they probably just thought it was more lies.

This is so horrible it's almost impossible to grasp it and believe that it's really happening.

I heard today the quake was so massive that it has CHANGED THE ROTATION OF THE EARTH. If so, we could be in big trouble.

But I said "could be." Here's big trouble for real. When the tektonic plates shift in one certain place, it can cause shifts in other places. Look out for other quakes, and they may be massive if there has been massive shifting. Watch out, California! The whole thing could continue round and round the earth, shifting and quaking, but over a long period of time. In other words, maybe a quake next week, then another in three months somewhere else, and another big one a year from now in another place. Something like that. Frightening. Watch out for freaky weather, volcanos, tornadoes in weird places -- just about anything. Watch out for what our volcanos (whether dormant or active) are telling you, and maybe springs that are deep underground, and especially hot springs, or dormant hot springs that suddenly come to life.

Know where your fault lines are, and be careful. We have one that runs through our capitol in Jefferson City, MO, and it does act up sometimes. I wouldn't suggest taking any cruises near or on top of a fault line, either.

Stay safe, everyone. Pay attention when your animals act crazy or confused. They know what's happening.

Hopefully, nothing at all will happen. But keep an eye out, for a long, long time.

Cholera

Cholera is an intestinal infection caused by a bacteria - and is often linked to contaminated supplies of drinking water.

By the start of the 20th Century, six major cholera "pandemics" had affected countries across the world.

The world is now fighting the seventh, caused by a new strain of the Vibrio cholerae bacterium.

Epidemics involving this strain started in 1961 in Indonesia, spreading rapidly elsewhere in eastern Asia, and from there to India and Bangladesh, the USSR, Iran and Iraq.

The bacterium is part of the flora of brackish water and estuaries - it is when this water gets into the drinking supply that an outbreak can start.

It causes severe diarrhoea and vomiting, and patients, particularly children and the elderly, are vulnerable to dangerous dehydration as a result.

Treating the condition - or rather alleviating these severe effects, requires only simple measures.

However, the clean water and rehydration salts required are often in short supply in areas where they are needed most.

An outbreak of cholera can spread quickly in areas where there is poor sanitation and where water supplies can be tainted.

It is only rarely spread by person-to-person contact.

Carriers

Most people infected with cholera don't actually get ill.

Despite this, they are contributing to the problem because the bacteria remain in their faeces for up to a fortnight.

Most symptomatic cases are hard to distinguish from other illnesses that cause diarrhoea - it is only in one in 10 that severe symptoms such as dehydration occur.

A well-organised response to cholera, says the World Health Organization, can reduce death rates to 1%.

An unprepared community, however, will experience many times this death rate, it says.

Normally, rehydration salts are the only treatment given, although severely dehydrated patients may need intravenous fluids.

Antibiotics can reduce the amount of diarrhoea.

Vaccines

There are two oral cholera vaccines - but these are mainly aimed at travellers rather than wider use in a community stricken by the illness.

Control of an epidemic is difficult in a community unless clean water supplies can be restored.

Systems for hygienic disposal of human wastes also need to be brought in.

Cooking practices need to be made as safe as possible - where practicable, food needs to be cooked thoroughly and eaten while hot, and raw fruit and vegetables avoided unless they are peeled first.

Handwashing after going to the toilet is a vital measure to prevent the spread of the disease.

Malaria

Malaria kills over a million people a year and is second only to tuberculosis in its impact on world health.

The parasitic disease is present in 90 countries and infects one in 10 of the world's population - mainly people living in Africa, India, Brazil, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Colombia and the Solomon Islands. There are four main types of malaria, all spread via moquitoes.

Ninety per cent of all malaria cases are in sub-Saharan Africa where it is the main cause of death and a major threat to child health. Worldwide, a child dies of malaria every 30 seconds. Pregnant women are also particularly vulnerable to the disease, which is curable if diagnosed early.

The economic impact of the disease is immense, causing many lost days of work and loss of tourism and investment.

What are the symptoms?

Most people survive a bout of malaria after a 10-20 day illness, but it is important to spot the symptoms early. The first is high fever, followed a few hours later by chills. Two to four days later, this cycle is repeated.

The most serious forms of the disease can affect the kidneys and brain and can cause anaemia, coma and death.

Why has malaria increased?

After years spent bringing the disease under control, the number of people dying from malaria is now higher than it was 30 years ago and has spread to new countries.

Although it is mainly a disease of tropical and sub-tropical countries, malaria has been identified in eastern European countries such as Russia and Turkey and recently a handful of cases were diagnosed in the US.

The increase in cases is due to a number of factors:

* the disease is becoming resistant to traditional treatments. In some areas of Asia, none of the major drugs is effective in fighting malaria.

* mosquitos are developing resistance to the main insecticides which have been used to control the spread of the disease.

* political and social upheaval has led to large numbers of people moving into new areas where disease is spread more easily.

* changes to the environment, caused by road-building, mining and irrigation projects, have created a good breeding ground for malaria.

* In many countries, budget restraints have led to malaria control programmes being cut back or abandoned.

How can malaria be contained?

The amount spent on research into malaria was around $84 million in 1993. The main thrust of research is towards developing a cheap vaccine.

None has yet been developed which is proven to work for humans outside laboratory conditions. But scientists have discovered vaccines that work on a range of animals.

The spread of the disease can be reduced by cutting down the mosquito population, for example by filling ditches where mosquitos breed.

Early diagnosis can lead to successful treatment so education in spotting the symptoms of malaria is important. The spread of the disease can also be tracked and preparations made.

Bednets coated in insecticide have also reduced the incidence of the disease by up to 35%, according to the World Health Organisation.

Typhoid fever

Over the centuries, the real killers in many wars haven't been the soldiers with their guns and bombs but a much more inconspicuous enemy - bacteria and other infectious micro-organisms. Typhoid is high on the list of culprits.

How do you catch it?

These days, the main risk of typhoid for people in the UK isn't war but travel to an area where water supplies may be less clean than people in the UK are used to.

Typhoid is a major problem in the developing world, and is common in Africa and South America but the greatest risk seems to be in the Indian subcontinent.

There are nearly 150 cases of typhoid reported each year in England and Wales, with a similar number of cases of the related infection paratyphoid. But worldwide the figure is much more significant - 13-17 million cases with an estimated 600,000 deaths.

Salmonella typhi

Typhoid fever is caused by the bacteria Salmonella typhi (S typhi). There are 107 different strains of this bacteria. Paratyphoid is caused by Salmonella enteritidis paratyphi A, B or C. It's usually a much milder infection than typhoid.

Symptoms include sudden onset of fever, severe headache, nausea, abdominal pain, loss of appetite, constipation or diarrhoea. These symptoms can be very severe and there is a one in ten mortality unless treatment is given. With antibiotics this can be reduced to one in 100, although resistance to antibiotic treatment is a growing problem. Multi-drug resistant strains of S typhi have been reported from Asia, the Middle East and Latin America.

Healthy typhoid carriers

People who get typhoid carry the bacteria in their bloodstream and intestinal tract while they're ill. People can transmit the disease as long as the bacteria remain in their system. Most people are infectious just before and during the first week of convalescence.

About ten per cent of untreated patients will discharge bacteria for up to three months. A small number - about two to five per cent - will recover from typhoid but continue to carry the bacteria, shedding it in their faeces. These people are called carriers.

Main sources

Typhoid is caught by eating food or drink that has been handled by someone shedding the bacteria, or if sewage contaminated with S typhi bacteria gets into the water you use for drinking or washing food. Polluted water is the most common source. This explains why typhoid is a worrying problem in disaster areas, where water supply and sewage disposal is disrupted and controls on food lost.

Vaccination against Typhoid

Vaccination is the other way to prevent the infection, and is recommended for any traveller to areas where typhoid is a problem (check with your travel agent when you book a holiday or arrange flights). But immunisation against typhoid is not a compulsory requirement for entry into any country. Neither is it routinely recommended for travel to industrialised countries.

A vaccine against typhoid was first developed more than a century ago in 1898. In recent years, new typhoid vaccines have been introduced that are more effective and much less likely to cause side effects. You can choose between a four-dose oral vaccine and a single dose injection. Both are up to 75 per cent effective in preventing the infection but there are important differences between them, not least the cost.

The NHS no longer routinely pays for travel vaccination, and you can expect to pay much more for the oral typhoid vaccine than the injection.
---------------------------------
Disclaimer
All content within BBC Health is provided for general information only, and should not be treated as a substitute for the medical advice of your own doctor or any other health care professional. The BBC is not responsible or liable for any diagnosis made by a user based on the content of the BBC Health website. The BBC is not liable for the contents of any external internet sites listed, nor does it endorse any commercial product or service mentioned or advised on any of the sites. Always consult your own GP if you're in any way concerned about your health.
---------------
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/medical_notes/3009779.stm cholera
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/medical_notes/120644.stm malaria
http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/conditions/typhoidfever1.shtml typhoid

http://www.yle.fi/uutiset/vasen/id4973.html
(source:reuters)
Sri Lanka 18 700 - 25 000
Intia 11 500*
Indonesia 21 000 - 25 000
Thaimaa 1 500 - 2 000
Malesia 59
Malediivit 52
Myanmar 34
Bangladesh 2
Somalia kymmeniä, jopa satoja
Kenia 1
Tansania 10

Arviot kuolonuhreista perustuvat paikallisten viranomaisten ja tiedotusvälineiden tietoihin. Syrjäisimmiltä tuhoalueilta ei ole saatu tietoja. Tuhansia ihmisiä on yhä kateissa. Arviot uhrien määrästä vaihtelevat suuresti.

*) Intian lukuun sisältyy arvioitu 7 000 kuolonuhria Intiaan kuuluvilla Andamaanien ja Nikobaarien saarilla.

Andaman&Nicobar islands - 1/3 of population missing.

http://www.delfi.ee/news/paevauudised/vali....php?id=9398531



<_<

latest - AFP - 55 000

(not to worry, bbc lags in its count at 38 000..., ap is already at 44 000 - they'll catch up.)

expected to rise...

i'll look into that what i wrote before here...
brb

I received three e-mails and one phone call from my friends in Sri Lanka. The destruction they describe is beyond belief.

Boats hanging from the tops of trees, automobiles piled one upon another, no food, no drinking water, and the dead still being found everywhere.

My friends say death is waiting to take the poor which survived the tsunami through disease and starvation unless massive amounts of help arrives soon.

U.S. Vows to Do More to Help Asia Victims
--------------------

By BARRY SCHWEID
AP Diplomatic Writer

December 28 2004, 6:07 AM PST

WASHINGTON -- Secretary of State Colin Powell bristled Tuesday at a United Nations official's suggestion the United States has been "stingy," saying the administration expects to follow its initial $15 million Asian earthquake aid package with billions more dollars.

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/na...ll=sns-ap-topus

Immigrant Communities Await Word From Asia
--------------------

By GILLIAN FLACCUS
Associated Press Writer

December 28 2004, 6:01 AM PST

LOS ANGELES -- Hari Chandran spent much of the weekend on the phone frantically trying to reach loved ones on opposite coasts of Sri Lanka after monstrous tidal waves devastated his homeland.

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/na...ll=sns-ap-topus

Areas Where Tsunamis Hit Are Underinsured
--------------------

From Dow Jones/Associated Press

December 28 2004

Losses for the global insurance industry from the devastating earthquake and tidal waves in Southeast Asia are likely to be well below claims from the hurricanes in Florida this year because the regions hit over the weekend are generally underinsured, analysts said Monday.

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-insu...dlines-business

--------------------
... and What We Make of It
--------------------


December 28 2004

A 40-foot-high wall of water that sweeps away more than 26,000 human lives makes other aspects of the human condition seem pretty minor. The Indian Ocean's tsunami naturally was the top story in this and every other newspaper Monday, even though the estimate at that time was only 13,000 lives lost. It takes today's 26,000 number to apply that macabre "only" to Monday's 13,000 — and even so, in our reaction to horrors like this, we heavily discount extra lives when they reach into the thousands. Did anyone's horror and sadness double when the toll doubled?

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editor...0,2234330.story

http://www.gfz-potsdam.de/geofon/alerts/

http://www.gfz-potsdam.de/geofon/alerts/ev041226010654/

http://www.gfz-potsdam.de/geofon/alerts/ev041226111537/

take a peek...

Tsunami's Carnage Is Vast
--------------------

Death Toll of 26,000 May Double; Billions in Aid Sought to Rebuild, Thwart Disease

By Mark Magnier and Paul Watson
Times Staff Writers

December 28 2004

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — With bodies splayed over once-pristine beaches in Sri Lanka, Thailand, India and other southern Asian countries hit by an Indian Ocean tsunami, the estimated death toll passed 26,000 and authorities indicated Monday that it could nearly double.

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wo...0,6937929.story

'They Came Like ... Beasts'
--------------------

A series of powerful waves smashed into a south Indian village and carried away loved ones.

By Paul Watson
Times Staff Writer

December 28 2004

THAZANGUDA, India — Seconds before the first wave struck the fishermen from behind, the air turned to mist and they heard a loud hissing noise, as if the sea had become a savage animal.

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wo...0,7614029.story

For Many, Holiday Getaways Turned Tragic
--------------------

The tsunami claimed the lives of hundreds of foreign tourists. Many families remain separated.

By Mark Magnier, Barbara Demick and Tracy Wilkinson
Times Staff Writers

December 28 2004

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Paul Forkan, a 15-year-old British high school student, woke up Sunday to find 2 feet of water surrounding his bed at a beachfront resort in Weligama, Sri Lanka. He started to pile his belongings on the furniture to keep them dry, but soon a second and then a third wave roared in, smashing down hotel doors and sucking people out.

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wo...0,7718613.story

California's Readiness Lags Other Pacific Coast States
--------------------

Only one town, hit by a killer wave 40 years ago, is 'tsunami ready.' Maps of worst-case flooding are done for only half of the state's shoreline.

By Nancy Vogel
Times Staff Writer

December 28 2004

SACRAMENTO — California lags behind other Pacific Coast states in preparing for a tsunami, with maps of worst-case flooding finished for only half of the state's shoreline and Crescent City — where a killer wave drowned 11 people 40 years ago — the only town officially declared "tsunami ready" by the federal government.

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-ca...0,5879861.story

Sounding the Alarm
A warning system like the one that protects the Pacific
basin could have cut the death toll from Sunday's tsunamis
in half.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/28/opinion/28tue2.html?th

OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR
When Nature's Wrath Is History's Reminder
By DENNIS SMITH
We will continue to be unprepared for natural disasters
until we take a better look at the pattern of geologic time.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/28/opinion/28smith.html?th

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/163...0678D87CA14.htm

Asian tsunami toll may exceed 50,000

Here is an excerpt from an e-mail I received from my friend in Sri Lanka;

but the devastation all around is too great to comprehend. Rail tracks are twisted & torn as is they are match sticks, vehicles are plied one on top of another, boats are on trees and roads. Its going to be quite a while till they are able to come back to normal.

Other e-mails are just too graphic to post.

A Third of the Dead Are Said to Be Children
By SETH MYDANS
Survivors arranged for mass burials and searched for tens
of thousands of the missing in countries thousands of miles
apart.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/28/internat...28quake.html?th

In Drowned Village, Grim Searches, Quick Burials
By AMY WALDMAN
In Cuddalore, India, a wiry gravedigger had no time to
waste, no sentiment to spare: just a mass grave for
victims, and mass grief.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/28/internat...28scene.html?th

Vahetult pärast pühapäevast Sumatra saare lähistel meres registreeritud
maavärinat istusid tai spetsialistid kriisikoosolekul ja arutasid , mida
edasi teha. Nende käsutuses olid esialgsed , ekslikud andmed, mille kohaslet
maavärina tugevuseks oli 8, 1 Richteri skaala järgi. Sama suur maaväring
2002 aastal ei pöhjustanud tsunamit, seepärast otsustati ka nüüd mitte
asjast numbrit teha, ..
lootuses, et hiidlainet ei teki, kirjutab tai leht The
Nation. Tsunamit polnud regioonis esinenud üle 300 aasta.
Peapöhjus aga miks hoiatust elanikkonale ei väljastatud oli majanduslik:
tursmihooaeg kogu regioonis on haripunktis ja köik hotellid olid regioonis
100 protsendiliselt täis. Kardeti välja minna asjatu evakueerimishoiatusega
-------------------------
from someone who got a raw translation from swedish tv-text

channel was www.svt.se

me not speak swedish...

UN Says Cost of Tsunami Disaster Without Precedent

http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=AA6223:2F72C9D

More than 23,000 are killed in nine countries hit by Sunday's 9.0
magnitude quake and the tsunamis that followed

Earthquake Victims in Aceh, IndonesiaThe U.N. emergency relief agency
is struggling to respond to a natural disaster that has brought death
and destruction to at least eight countries. Senior officials estimate
this could be the costliest disaster in history.

As he briefed reporters Monday, an obviously worried U.N.
Undersecretary General Jan Egeland said it is far too early to
determine the scope of the devastation.

"The figures we have now are so wrong that in many ways it may be
wrong to really present them," Mr. Egeland says.

Earthquake magnitude in Sumatra, IndonesiaMr. Egeland, the U.N.
emergency relief coordinator, said death and damage tolls are rising
by the hour. He expressed concern that in some of the hardest hit
areas, particularly in Indonesia, he has still not even heard from
U.N. staff.

"There are many communities in Indonesia, which are closest to the
epicenter, and therefore the tsunami would be at its biggest, where we
haven't even a clue of how many have been affected," Mr. Egeland says.
"These are some of the smaller communities in Sumatra. Certainly
Bandar Aceh is a very grave concern, and it is not good that I cannot
communicate with our people there, of which we have many local staff,
not even with satellite phone, which could be an indication that
something very bad has happened."

Mr. Egeland said, although the killer wave that hit the south Asian
coastline was not the biggest in recorded history, it may have been
the most destructive, because several hard-hit countries are among the
world's most heavily populated.

Aftermath in MaldivesHe said the eight worst-hit countries, in order
of magnitude, were Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, India, Maldives,
Malaysia, Burma and Bangladesh.

A massive appeal for aid is to be launched in the next few days. Mr.
Egeland expressed concern, however, that several rich donor countries
are becoming less generous, even as needs continue to grow.

"We were more generous when we were less rich, many of the rich
countries. It is beyond me why we are so stingy," Mr. Egeland says.
"Actually foreign assistance for many countries now is 0.1 or 0.2
percent of gross national income, that is stingy."

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell Monday said the United States
would give an initial 15 million dollars in relief assistance. In
addition, several disaster assessment teams are being sent to
determine what else can be done to help victims.

U.N. disaster relief coordinator Jan Egeland said among the happiest
developments following the quake and tidal wave has been the response
capacity of local relief agencies. He said in places such as
Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Malaysia and Thailand, local and national
authorities have displayed a "remarkable resilience". He added that,
while the international response has been overvalued, the local
response has been undervalued.

International Pressure Builds for Indian Ocean Early Warning Tsunami
System

http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=AA6225:2F72C9D

Tsunamis, while relatively common in the Pacific Ocean, are extremely
rare in the Indian Ocean International pressure built Tuesday for an
Indian Ocean tsunami warning system mirroring a system being used for
the Pacific. Some scientists say such a system might have prevented
some of the deaths in Sunday's massive earthquake and tidal waves,
which may top 40,000.

Australia on Tuesday proposed setting up a system to warn of potential
tsunamis in the Indian Ocean. Japanese officials say they will propose
a similar system at a disaster management conference next month.

Several other nations, including some hit by the tidal waves on
Sunday, have indicated they would participate in a warning network.

Tens of thousands of people in at least 10 countries have died since a
magnitude 9.0 earthquake hit near Indonesia's Sumatra Island on
Sunday, and set a series of tsunamis slamming across the Indian Ocean.

In Thailand, where more than 2,000 may have died, Foreign Minister
Sihasak Phuangketkeow says a warning system is a good idea.

"Definitely, in view of the destruction that has taken place, we
believe that it would be in the interest of all countries to see how
we can work together to put in place such an early warning system," he
said. "The details would require the experts to get together and
discuss how such a system can be put in place."

The Thai government has been criticized by residents and vacationers
who complained they were given no warning of the impending tidal
waves.

But tsunamis, while relatively common in the Pacific Ocean, are
extremely rare in the Indian Ocean. The last significant one to hit
the region was probably in 1883 after a volcano erupted in Indonesia.

In the U.S. state of Hawaii, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center and
the International Tsunami Information Center both detected Sunday's
earthquake.

But neither institute could warn the threatened nations, which were
not part of the warning network.

Experts say if a warning system for the Indian Ocean had been in
place, lives might have been saved.

Jan Egeland, the United Nations disaster relief coordinator, warns
that installing a warning system will be a huge undertaking.

"The problem with the tsunamis is that it takes hours or minutes for
this wall of water to come," said Jan Egeland. "There's just very
little time. This is something we have to look into. I think it would
be a massive undertaking to have a full-fledged tsunami warning system
that would really be effective in many of these places."

Much of the affected region is poor and lacks the infrastructure for
such a system.

The Pacific warning system issues public warnings via radio and
television, coastal sirens, and even mobile phone text messages in
some countries.

Asia Struggles to Cope With Tsunami Aftermath

http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=AA6221:2F72C9D

Rescuers continue to recover bodies in many of the 11 countries hit by
the tidal waves caused by Sunday's magnitude 9.0 quake in the
Indian Ocean Around the Indian Ocean, assistance is starting to arrive
for the millions of people whose lives were shattered by Sunday's huge
earthquake and the tsunamis it spawned. More than 25,000 people are
confirmed dead, but more bodies are being found all the time and that
death toll could double. In Jakarta,

Three days after the earthquake, the numbers continue to rise
inexorably - tens of thousands dead, hundreds of thousands displaced,
millions of lives shattered.

Rescuers continue to recover bodies in many of the 11 countries hit by
the tidal waves caused by Sunday's magnitude 9.0 quake in the Indian
Ocean.

Indonesia's Vice President Jusuf Kalla says that the death toll may
rise to 25,000 people in Indonesia alone. Many parts of northern
Sumatra Island, the closest landmass to the quake's epicenter, have
yet to be reached by rescuers.

"Certainly the body count in Banda Aceh is very high," said Kevin
O'Reilly, who is with the United Nations Office for the Coordination
of Humanitarian Assistance in Indonesia. "The unknown of course is how
seriously the west coast has been affected from Aceh all the way down
to north Sumatra, a lot of those areas are out of communications
contact and the extent of devastation is still uncertain."

The only contact authorities have made so far with Meulaboh, one of
the main towns on that stretch of coast, is a desperate S.O.S. message
that time is running out. Food was being air dropped in the area
Tuesday.

Sri Lanka was also badly hit and is expecting its death to rise to
more than 20,000.

In India, smoke was rising from the beaches of the east coast as the
bereaved cremated the thousands of remains of their beloved. New Delhi
has deployed the Army in what the government says is its largest
peacetime mobilization ever. Sonia Gandhi, the leader of the ruling
Congress Party, toured the worst affect communities.

"We'll do all [we] can to support the Army in this exercise of
rehabilitation of reaching food, water, medicines to those people who
are stranded," said Mrs. Gandhi.

In Thailand, near the resort island of Phuket, more than 200 bodies
lay in a Buddhist temple Tuesday. More than 60 percent were foreign
holidaymakers.

Bangladesh, the Maldives, Malaysia, Burma and even Somalia on the east
coast of Africa; all suffered casualties from the massive tsunamis
that fanned out from the quake's epicenter - moving as fast as 1,000
kilometers an hour before smashing into costal into towns and
villages, leaving devastation in their wake.

Assistance is beginning to reach those most in need. Representatives
of the United Nations, governments and aid agencies met Tuesday in the
Swiss city of Geneva to try and meld a coordinated response to the
tragedy.

The United Nations says that the earthquake is likely to be the
world's most expensive natural disaster. In Indonesia alone, aid
workers estimate that it will cost almost $25 million to support half
a million people for three months. And few people believe that the
victims will be able survive on their own even after three months.

For many of the survivors, the danger is not over: they are now being
stalked by disease. For aid agencies, the immediate priority is to
provide food, shelter and clean water, to stave off illness like
cholera and typhoid.

"The medical needs are enormous," said Gloria Chan, who is with the
Hong Kong aid office of "Doctors Without Borders." "A lot of victims
are in remote and inaccessible areas that need help urgently and
immediately and on top of that there is a high risk of epidemic
outbreak."

Aid workers fear that unless assistance can be provided quickly,
people will continue to die, and will continue to die in large
numbers.

Asia Gears Up for a Massive Relief Operation

http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=AA621C:2F72C9D

Task especially challenging in smaller countries such as Sri Lanka
where gigantic waves claimed most victims

A Sri Lankan fisherman stands next to fishing vessels that were pulled
ashore the coastal town of BerwallaIndian Ocean countries and
international aid agencies are putting together what the United
Nations says may be the largest relief operation the world has ever
seen in response to Sunday's earthquake and tsunamis. The task is
especially challenging in smaller countries such as Sri Lanka where
the gigantic waves claimed the most victims.

From India to Indonesia, governments and volunteers have begun
distributing food and clean water to hundreds of thousands of people
sheltering in schools, temples and public buildings.

For many desperate survivors, aid has been slow in coming. Some
countries face shortages of supplies, others need trucks and
ambulances to ferry the injured and aid. Still others must repair
broken roads and telecommunications to reach jungle villages and
remote islands.

Alan Bradbury at the Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent
Societies in South Asia says the geographic reach of the disaster
poses a challenge on a scale never seen before. Sunday's earthquake
and tidal waves killed tens of thousands of people from Indonesia to
East Africa.

"It is a massive disaster. I think I can't emphasize that too much,"
he said. "It is the extent of the area that has been affected, it is
quite unprecedented. The needs are clearly much, much greater than we
had initially estimated."

At least 11 countries in Asia and Africa are affected - the worst hit
are Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia and Thailand.

The United Nations says the relief operation will cost many billions
of dollars. The Red Cross is already planning to triple its initial
call for $6.5 million. Assessments of needs are still being made.

Aid agencies say in the coming weeks people will need food, clean
water, clothes, blankets and medicines. In the long run, they need
help to rebuild flattened homes and shattered lives.

In Sri Lanka, roads are jammed with dozens of trucks loaded with food
and water packed by volunteer groups and local residents. But that is
barely enough to cope in a country where more than one million out of
its population of 19 million is now homeless. Some of the first relief
planes from overseas are heading to the island.

Authorities in smaller countries such as Sri Lanka and the Maldives
say they are struggling to cope with the disaster.

The deputy director of health services in the Maldives, Sheena Moosa,
says the government is unable to meet the needs of thousands of people
washed out of their homes.

"We do not have enough personnel to go and deliver [supplies]," she
said. "And there's diarrheal disease outbreak occurring in these
sites. We do not have equipment to attend to the major injured."

In Indonesia, the government has allowed U.N. staff access to Aceh
province, where foreign aid workers had been barred. The U.N. workers
will provide relief to about half a million people in a province that
already had been battered by a separatist insurgency.

In Thailand, a naval ship headed to the devastated resort island of
Phuket to attend to the many injured people.

In India, Oil Minister Mani Shankar Aiyer is supervising relief
operations. He says the focus will be on rebuilding the hundreds of
fishing communities that bore the brunt of the disaster.

"The highest priority has to be given to restoring the livelihood of
the fishermen community. So that means boats, that means nets, that
means enabling them to get back to work as soon as possible," he said.

Countries from around the world have stepped in to help, pledging
everything from money to plastic sheets and tents. Governments have
pledged nearly $70 million in initial aid. But coordinating the relief
operations could stretch the resources of the battered countries and
aid agencies.

US Pacific Command Launches Earthquake Relief Effort

http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=AA621D:2F72C9D

Spokesman for the Pacific Command, says three P-3 'Orion'
patrol planes have been dispatched to Thailand to aid search and
rescue missions in the region, and that other efforts are under way

U.S. military officials say relief efforts for Sunday's earthquake and
tsunami disaster are either being prepared or are already on the way
to affected countries.

The U.S. military's response to the devastation from the tidal wave is
being coordinated at Pacific Command headquarters in Hawaii. Lt.
Colonel Bill Bigelow, a spokesman for the Pacific Command, says three
P-3 "Orion" patrol planes have been dispatched to Thailand to aid
search and rescue missions in the region, and that other efforts are
under way.

"We also have six C-130 (military transport) aircraft that are being
loaded with some basic aid relief, such as temporary shelter, clothing
and food that will depart to Thailand in the next 10-12 hours. We are
also assembling three assessment teams whose mission will be to
different locations throughout the region and identify needs that the
U.S. military Pacific Command can fill," Lt. Colonel Bigelow says.

Lt. Colonel Bigelow says requests from specific nations will be passed
to the U.S. military through the State Department. He says there are
many relief-oriented tasks America's military is equipped to carry
out, such as large-scale transport and water purification, and that
everyone involved in the effort is aware of the dire needs that exist.

"This is a tragedy for folks throughout the region, and it is our duty
to help in humanitarian assistance efforts and disaster relief, and we
are prepared to do that," Lt. Colonel Bigelow says.

Lt. Colonel Bigelow adds that the Pacific Command will draw on U.S.
military resources in Japan, Guam and elsewhere in the region.

Diseases Threaten Tsunami Victims, Health Experts Warn

http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=AA6227:2F72C9D

Thousands of displaced people are crammed in makeshift camps where
poor sanitation could bring about a variety of illnesses, say experts

People displaced by the tsunami mourn their losses as they sit inside
a relief camp at a temple in Varichikudi, IndiaAs the death toll in
Sunday's tsunamis continues to rise, health authorities are struggling
to prevent the outbreak of diseases in the worst affected areas. The
disaster hit poor countries whose health systems are inadequate to
deal with the scale of the disaster, which may have killed nearly
40,000 people.

Authorities in at least 10 Indian Ocean countries are scrambling to
dispose of thousands of dead bodies left after walls of water slammed
into coastal areas Sunday.

Health experts say the decomposing bodies of humans could contaminate
drinking water. Thousands of displaced people are crammed in makeshift
camps where poor sanitation could bring about a variety of illnesses.

"The water sources are affected. The food situation may be under
stress. People cannot properly cook their food. Hand washing will
suffer so that means your personal cleanliness is bad so
automatically, it will be diarrheas of different kinds," said Dr. Han
Heijnan, the regional advisor for water sanitation at the World Health
Organization in New Delhi. "And then sometimes because of the wetness,
and the general kind of distress that people are in they might also
have a variety of respiratory infections."

Dr. Heijnan said it is a race against time to prevent such outbreaks.

"If people are coming together and maybe temporarily collected in a
camp when people are already in a weak state of health, not so
well-fed and with poor hygiene, yes, you really have to work fast in
order to make sure that people are not falling into disease
situation," he added.

A magnitude 9.0 earthquake off the coast off the Indonesian island of
Sumatra Sunday triggered tidal waves in India, Sri Lanka, Thailand,
Malaysia, Burma, the Maldives and other Indian Ocean islands and as
far as eastern Africa. Thousands died and scores of people are still
missing.

The nations hit hardest by the quake and tidal waves are poor and the
scale of the catastrophe is straining their inadequate health systems.

In the low-lying island-nation of Maldives, health authorities are
struggling to deliver what little assistance they can to thousands of
victims, some on remote atolls.

Dr. Sheena Moosa, deputy director of health services in the Maldives,
says the Maldives lacks medical workers and has little equipment to
treat major illnesses.

The thousands of Maldives residents are now packed into shelters. Dr.
Moosa says diseases already are spreading among the evacuees.

"The sanitation problem is very bad and water shortage is very, very
bad," said Dr. Moosa. "Because the islands have been flooded from one
side to the other, the water tanks, the ones that are not fixed to the
ground, have been wiped away and the ones on the ground are
contaminated. And transporting them, we do not have enough containers
to transport water."

Other experts are concerned about the invisible injuries that many of
the victims suffer.

Gloria Chen, a spokeswoman for the medical relief agency, Doctors
Without Borders, in Hong Kong says psychological problems are harder
to heal.

"From our past experience, the people who have undergone such a tragic
situation are highly traumatized as they have lost their loved ones,
the mental consequences could last for months and even years," she
said.

The United Nations says the disaster is the worst in recent history
and it is mounting the largest relief effort ever.

:o

Death toll now up to 44,000

immediatey after sunday earthquake near Sumatra, thai specialists convened in a crisis meeting and discussed further actions. They had initial false data that declared the magnitude 8,1 richter. earthquake as big on 2002 didn't result in a tsunami, and that was the reason they decided not to make it a big issue in hopes, that there will be no tsunami this time as well., writes Thai newspaper The Nation. There hadn't been a tsunami in the region for 300 years.

But the main reason a warning wasn't issued to the local population was financial: the tourist season was peaking and all hotels were 100% full. There was a fear of an unfounded evacuation...

That is precisely the reason a true unbiased warning system needs to be put in place so that Scientists issue the warnings and the call is not made by some arbitrary person who decides tourist money is more important than safety.

We don't have just anyone issue weather warnings here. We rely on the Scientific community; reputable meterological centers/institutions.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...ake_tidal_waves

Asia struggles as death toll hits 44,000