Tsunami alert shows nations much better prepared

Tsunami alert shows nations much better prepared

Mark Bendeich, Reuters/Kuala Lumpur

Shaken into reaction by the deadly Dec. 26 tsunami, Indian Ocean
states showed on Tuesday they were much better prepared to deal
with the possibility of another killer wave following an
earthquake off Indonesia.

In contrast to three months ago, when Asian nations were not
even part of a tsunami warning network, the risk was immediately
relayed by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii and
distributed across the region.

"We are happy with the alertness with which everyone woke up,
all countries and all agencies," said Mihir Bhatt of India's
Disaster Mitigation Institute in Ahmedabad.

Police, soldiers, monks, fishermen and ordinary residents of
coastal areas across the Indian Ocean used megaphones, radio,
telephones and temple bells to warn of the possibility of another
tsunami following the 8.7 magnitude quake off Sumatra.

Thankfully the waves that left nearly 300,000 people dead or
missing on Dec. 26 failed to materialize, but regional officials
were quick to take credit for the apparent swiftness and
smoothness of the reaction.

And while there were some reports of panic among people still
deeply traumatized by last year's tsunami, the overall reaction
was clearly "better safe than sorry".

In Banda Aceh, hardest hit last year, panicked residents
rushed into the streets after Monday's quake.

"We went down to the street and people began to panic. Some
people screamed 'Water! Water! The water is coming again'," said
Yudisia Arafah, a 23-year-old government worker in Aceh.

Elsewhere across the Indian Ocean, beach-front roads in major
resort areas -- where tourist numbers are still well down on last
year -- were clogged with traffic as residents and holidaymakers
jumped in any available transport to evacuate to higher ground.

On the tsunami-devastated paradise Thai island of Koh Phi Phi,
made famous by the cult Leonardo diCaprio backpacker movie The
Beach, bars emptied as word of a major earthquake spread by phone
and word of mouth.

"My phone didn't stop," said Andrew Hewett, an adventure
holidays operator.

"Everybody thought it better to be safe than sorry and made it
to higher ground. At least we had a bit of information
beforehand, which made people realize they should probably be
doing something other than just sitting in a bar."

Evacuation sirens began wailing on Sri Lanka's tsunami-
battered east coast within two hours of the earthquake, and
police drove through coastal communities with loudhailers
advising residents to flee inland.

All along Sri Lanka's ravaged south, east and northern
coastline, thousands of people packed a few possessions in
plastic bags and cardboard boxes and sat by the main coastal
roads trying to hail three-wheeler taxis or thumb lifts inland.

"When we heard the tsunami was coming, we ran to the top of
the road," said fisherman's wife Krishanthi Perera, who lives in
a wooden hut on the seafront on the outskirts of the capital,
Colombo.

In India both authorities and coastal communities appeared
better prepared and more aware of what to do this time. People
fled risk areas as soon as they saw or heard the first news
flashes, and authorities quickly mobilized police and officials
in vulnerable coastal areas.

J. Radhakrishnan, a senior official in Tamil Nadu where more
than 6,000 people died in December tsunami, said there had been
no panic.

"People are so used to the drill of evacuating beachfronts
because of persistent rumors of tsunamis. In that sense, it was
easy to get people away from the danger zones."

Communities along Malaysia's west coast, caught disastrously
off guard last year, sprang into action after the latest quake.

Within an hour, Malaysian authorities had issued tsunami
warnings telling people to head for higher ground. Police went
from door to door raising the alarm, fishermen rushed to secure
boat moorings and hotels put staff on standby to evacuate guests.

About 1,000 people fled their homes along the coast of
northern Kedah state and on the resort island of Penang, in stark
contrast to the ignorance shown on Dec. 26.

On that day, beachgoers watched bewildered as the sea rose.
About 70 people died on Malaysian shores.

In Thailand, where nearly 5,400 people died in the Dec. 26
tsunami, officials used everything from megaphones and radio to
telephone to get the message out, because a planned warning
system is not yet installed.

"The cell phone service was completely overwhelmed by users
scrambling to call families and friends," Udomsak Asawarangkura,
governor of the southern resort island of Phuket, told Bangkok
radio.

"It turned out that the most useful channel was local C-Band
radio. I came out on a local radio station and my deputy also
went on TV to warn people."