Australia: Tsunami warning system meeting in Perth

The first big step towards an effective Indian Ocean tsunami warning system will come at a three-day meeting in Perth next week. Representatives of up to 29 Indian Ocean countries are expected to attend to work on technical plans for the system, including coordinating data and communicating warnings. The move follows last year's Boxing Day tsunami which killed at least 250,000 people in Asia, including 25 Australians.

The task of getting the system up and running has been coordinated by the United Nation agency UNESCO, specifically its oceans intergovernmental coordination group (ICG). A UNESCO spokeswoman said the Perth meeting would look at technical plans for the system, including seismic data and collection, sea level data collection and exchange, deep-sea pressure measurements, warnings and alerts and communication. Read More...


(Source: The AGE)

Malaysia: Penang on tsunami alert

Police in Penang have been put on tsunami alert following an earthquake of 7.2 magnitude that shook India's Andaman and Nicobar islands. A spokesman for the George Town police station said they obtained the information from the Selangor Meteorological Department at 11.42pm (Sunday July 24th) last night and were told to be on the alert.

“We will monitor the situation and act accordingly.”

The US Geological Survey (USGS) urged authorities near the epicentre of the tremor to be aware of the risk of local tsunamis.

If anyone feels the need to contact George Town Police Station, they can be reached on 04-2292222


(Source: Malaysia Star)

Indonesia: Earthquake hits Aceh, Panic caused, No Casualties yet.

An earthquake measuring 6.6 on the Richter scale rocked Bumi Serambi Mekah, Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam in Indonesia late Sunday, prompting panic in some areas but no casualties or significant damage were reported, an Indonesian official said.

The quake was centered about 33 kilometers below the Banda AcehSea, some 435 kilometers west of Banda Aceh, capital of Aceh Province at 22:42 p.m. (local time), said Edison Gurning of the National Meteorology and Geophysics Agency.

"So far, there are no reports of victims or damage but the earthquake did spark panic among the population, with many rushing out of their homes," Edson was quoted as saying by local press reports.


(Source: Xinhuanet)

Thailand lifts tsunami warning

Thai authorities lifted a tsunami warning early on Monday and declared the southwest coast, including Phuket island, safe after a major earthquake in India's Nicobar Islands.

"After closely monitoring the situation ... it was determined that there will be no tsunami to endanger people's lives," the National Disaster Warning Centre's director Plodprasop Surasawadi said in a live broadcast.

"Therefore the centre has cancelled its earlier warning."

Thailand, which saw its Andaman coastline slammed by last December's tsunami and suffered about 5 400 deaths, went on rapid and full alert shortly after US seismologists recorded a quake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale. The earthquake occurred some 660 kilometres west of Phuket island, Thailand's main beach tourist destination, which was hit by the December 26 disaster.

National emergency television broadcasts alerted millions of Thais to the threat, and disaster warning sirens blared along coastlines including Phuket's famed Patong beach, where police helped local residents and Western tourists evacuate to higher ground.


(Source: News24)

Sri Lanka says no tsunami threat after Indian quake

Following an earthquake off the Nicobar Islands in India, mild tremors were experienced in several places in Sri Lanka at about 9.45 pm on Sunday, FM stations quoting officials said.

The stations said that tremors were felt in Colombo, Kandy, Ratnapura and Matale in the Western and Central parts of the Island. The popular Tamil station Shakthi FM said that no tsunami warning had been issued by the Sri Lankan government till 11.30 pm (17.30 GMT).

Hindustan Times spoke to people in the eastern tsunami-hit districts of Batticaloa and Amparai and was told that no tremors were felt in these districts, nor was there any unusual turbulence in the sea.


(Source: PK Balachandran with Hindustan Times)

Strong earthquake hits Indian Ocean

A strong earthquake of magnitude 7.2 hit India's southern Nicobar Islands Sunday night (July 24th), but there were no immediate reports of any casualties or destruction, a meteorologist said. The same area was battered by the Dec. 26 Asian tsunami, which killed at least 178,000 people in 11 countries.

The epicenter of Sunday's quake, which hit at 9:12 p.m. local time, was near the Andaman and Nicobar Islands that lie between India and Thailand, said IBA Rao, a duty officer in New Delhi's Meteorology Department. The quake also jolted southern India's Tamil Nadu state.

"There is nothing to worry about," India's Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal said.
Thai authorities issued a tsunami warning for the Indian Ocean Sunday night.

The official warning was given just before midnight on a national television broadcast on all channels, although warnings were issued at a local level earlier in the southern sea coast areas under threat, according to local television channels.

Residents of at least one coastal village in Sri Lanka fled to high ground and the navy moved some ships out to sea as a precaution after a strong earthquake hit the Nicobar Islands late on Sunday, prompting fears of another tsunami disaster. Sri Lanka's Meteorology Department said there was no threat of a tsunami hitting the island nation after several hours had passed without any sign of giant waves.

"The time for that (to hit) has passed and also the intensity of the quake was low," said department official S.D. Jayasinghe.

On Sunday, some residents of Peraliya village, where the Dec. 26 tsunami swept away a commuter train killing 2,000, fled to a Buddhist temple on high ground when first word came via the Internet that there had been an earthquake in Nicobar. There were few reports of fear or panic in other parts of Sri Lanka. But some navy ships that had been in ports were moved out to sea to reduce any chance of damage from waves or sea surges.

"We are taking all precautions in a situation like that and keeping the past in mind," said a navy Commander J.K. Jayaratne.


(Source: AP via The Jerusalem Post)

Indonesia issues tsunami alert after Nicobar quake

Indonesian authorities issued a tsunami alert after a powerful earthquake struck near India's Nicobar Island, but said it was unlikely the waves would affect its shores.

'A warning has been sent to our office in Banda Aceh and they are transmitting it to the relevant institutions there' including the military and the police, said Meteorology and Geophysics Agency duty officer Rahmat.

But 'judging from the location, there is a very little likelihood that there will be an effect on our shores but we still have to be alert,' he told Agence France-Presse.

Rahmat, who goes by one name, said however that Indonesia did not yet have a mechanism by which to revoke tsunami warnings.


(Source: Forbes)

July 24 Earthquake Update

UPDATE:

US geological official says its unlikely that there will be any tsunamis as a result of the earthquake.

The only country to issue a tsunamis warning so far is Thailand.

Control room number in the Andaman Islands - +91-3192 -232-100 in case you need to get in touch.

Earthquake in Japan

Breaking news on an earthquake reported in Tokyo. 6.2 on the Richter scale. Initial reports suggest 30 people injured. It is yet to be known whether this is related to the Earthquake off the coast of the Andaman Islands reported at 9.12 pm IST this evening. Source - NDTV.

Quake Hits India; Tsunami Warning Posted

NEW DELHI - A strong earthquake of 7.2 magnitude hit India's southern Nicobar Islands on Sunday, prompting Thailand to issue a tsunami warning for the region devastated by a December earthquake and tsunami that killed about 180,000 people.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damages.

The epicenter of the earthquake, which hit at 9:12 p.m., was in Nicobar, Press Trust of India news agency quoted meteorologists as saying.

The quake also jolted the southern Indian state of Madras, PTI said.

The region was the worst hit in India by the December tsunami.

Thailand's warning was for the Indian Ocean.

Earthquake and Tsunami Alert - Andaman Islands

An Earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale, with its epicentre 135 kms west of Car Nicobar has been reported. Tremors felt in the Andaman Islands, and Vishakhapatnam and Chennai. Tsunami alert in the Indian Ocean sounded by Thailand - but thankfully, the 1-1.5 hour period in which there is a rise in the level of sea and waves might have occurred is past, without any disaster. Kapil Sibal, Minister for Science and Technology says that India is therefore not issuing a tsunami warning.

Officials in Port Blair say no damage or loss to life or property has been reported, and there is no need to panic.

Sri Lanka: 3 wounded in Tsunami relief centre bombing

Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels today attacked a tsunami refugee camp in eastern Sri Lanka, wounding two elite special task force commandos and a police constable. Military officials said the attackers lobbed a grenade into the sentry point at the Akkaraipattu Tsunami Relief Centre today, wounding two special task force commandos and a police constable. There were, however, no casualties among civilians.

It was the second attack in a week against a tsunami relief centre in the troubled eastern province where security forces have been placed on high alert. There was a similar attack on a security post at the Muslim town of Muttur eight days ago. Nine civilians, including a four-year-old girl, were hurt in that attack.

The latest attack came a day after the Tigers warned that a truce brokered by Norway was at "grave risk" of collapsing even as the Colombo Government said it had no intention of returning to war.


(Source: ReliefWeb via The Hindu)

Indonesia: Quake jolts Banda Aceh

An earthquake measuring 5.6 on the Richter Scale rocked the western coast of tsunami-hit Aceh province on Thursday, but there were no reports of damage or casualties, meteorologists said. The under-sea quake occurred at 08:42 a.m. and its epicenter was 33 kilometers under the floor of the sea, some 17 kilometers southeast of Meulaboh, the main town in the West Aceh district, they said.

The earthquake was strongly felt in Meulaboh, which was devastated by a powerful earthquake and tsunami on Dec. 26. "There are no reports of damage or injuries so far," said a meteorologist from the National Meteorology and Geophysics Agency here. Indonesia sits on the so-called Pacific Rim of Fire, where the meeting of continental plates causes high volcanic and seismic activity.


(Source: Xinhuanet)

Asian Tsunami Web Archive

The Singapore Internet Research Centre has launched its Asian Tsunami Web Archive

"This Web archive is a collection of over 1500 sites relating to the December 2004 Tsunami disaster in Asia. A shapshot of these sites has been taken once a week starting from the first week of January 2005 in order to build an archived record of this world shattering event.

Norway: Last tsunami victim identified

All Norwegians who were listed as missing after the December 26 tsunami in Thailand have now been identified. A total of 84 Norwegians, most of them vacationing in Thailand over the Christmas holidays, were killed in the catastrophe.

On Monday, the body of Victoria Kjær Romslo, age five, was confirmed to have been positively identified in Thailand. Her mother, Susanne Kjær Romslo told the web site for local newspaper Budstikka that she was in Thailand and would bring her daughter's body back to Norway.


(Source: Aftenposten)

Sri Lanka: Post-tsunami sterilisation reversal

A Sri Lankan surgeon today performed the country’s first known post-tsunami sterilisation reversal procedure on a mother whose three children were killed by the December 26 waves. The event in the southern coastal town of Galle, one of the worst-hit by the disaster, is another sign of how the tsunami-devastated nation is grappling to recover. More than 31,000 people were killed and 1 million affected by the tsunami.

“Since that day when I lost all my children, I have been waiting for this day,” said A. Shanthi, recovering from general anaesthesia at the Mahamodara Hospital for women.

“She has a good chance to have a baby again,” said Dr. Gamini Perera, who reconnected the fallopian tubes of Shanthi, 30, whose husband Shelton Soyza, 34, is an employee of the local municipality.

Many Sri Lankan mothers choose to be sterilised after their second or third child through a tubal ligation, a medical procedure that involves closing or tying a woman’s fallopian tubes. The technique is reversible in most cases.

“Now I have only one prayer and that is to have my babies back,” said Shanthi, as two nurses checked her blood pressure and shifted her from the recovery room to the ward where she will stay for three more days.

"Today is an important day for us,” said Perera, 48. “This is the first case since the tsunami in Sri Lanka.”

Another mother was waiting for her turn. Sithihy Fareedha, 28, also lost her three children, two girls and a boy, in the tsunami and came to the hospital for the reversal surgery.

“I discussed this with my husband and we decided to start life all over again,” she said of her husband Mohamed Fawsar, 35, a fisherman.

Perera is not charging the mothers, and the entire treatment is free in the state-run hospital.

“We are starting to see a trend of devastated families trying to restart their lives all over again,” said Dr. Priyanee Senadhira, the director of the hospital. The tsunami disaster killed more than 176,000 people in 11 countries, left about 50,000 missing and hundreds of thousands homeless.


(Source: IrelandOnline)

Somalia: Houses to be built for tsunami survivors

Four hundred housing units are to be built for survivors of the December 2004 tsunami in Hafun town, northeastern Somalia in a joint programme between the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT). The 12-month project that begins in August will reconstruct houses, public buildings and sanitation facilities at a cost of US $1.35 million. It is part of a larger integrated development programme involving various organisations, a statement issued by the two agencies on Tuesday, said.

The tsunami, which displaced more than 5,000 people, damaged most buildings on the town's seafront because the largely unplanned settlements were located "on a flat, low-lying sand plate" that made most of them vulnerable to the colossal waves. A joint UN agency assessment mission in February 2005 identified areas for investment in Hafun, some 1,500 km northeast of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, to bridge the gap between relief and development.

Maurizio Pieroni, the chief technical advisor to UN-HABITAT, said: "After meeting the immediate emergency needs of Hafun following the tsunami, the aim is to collaborate with the community to forge a medium to long-term assistance programme that will develop living and working conditions in a sustainable way." The head of UNICEF-Somalia, Christian Bae=1

Tsunami guru & IIT working on tidal atlas

A tsunami atlas is being put together by the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpore under the aegis of Professor Tad Murthy, the world’s best-known tsunami scientist, who lives in the US. Murthy, who is camping on the IIT-KGP campus for the next few days, is collaborating with IIT’s CORAL (Centre for Ocean, River, Atmosphere and Land), to chalk out how much time the tidal waves will take to reach coastal locations in 40 countries across the globe.

“The headlines are over. Now if we know how much time we have in hand to remove people from vulnerable locations, then we can at least pre-empt disaster on that scale.

“It’s basically a warning system”, Murthy told Newsline from Kharagpore.

Murthy feels that his work is relevant because over three lakh people died in the 25th December disaster that shook all countries in the Indian Ocean rim.

“At least 15,000 people were killed in India’s coastal regions alone.

“All these people could have been saved if there was either a warning sytem or if one could have anticipated how much time they had to flee from the waves”, said Prof Murthy, who is now attached to the University of Ottowa in Canada.

Murthy’s path-breaking work, which will comprise at least 250 charts, will benefit a minimum of 40 countries, which could be prey to the deadly waves in the future. Murthy’s team will also be working on some models, including the coastal inundation model.

“I will be travelling extensively within India, but I will keep coming back to the IIT to keep an eye on the project”, said Prof Murthy.

Interestingly, the IIT KGP has already set up an observatory for carrying out diverse experiments in weather prediction.


(Source: Kolkata Newsline)

Sri Lanka: Tsunami Camp Attacked

Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels have attacked a tsunami relief camp in eastern Sri Lanka, wounding at least five people, reports say. Police say the rebels threw a bomb at a security post in the camp in Muttur, 15km (nine miles) south of Trincomalee. There is no word on the incident as yet from the rebels.

The area has been tense since Sunday when two senior Tamil Tiger figures and two civilians were killed in an attack in Trincomalee. Police say the rebels burst into the camp early on Wednesday. One child is said to be among the injured. Another soldier was wounded in a separate attack in the same area a few hours later, police say. All the wounded have been taken to a local hospital.
Read More ...


(Source: BBC News)

Indonesia: Tsunami aid left sitting on wharf

Almost 1500 containers of aid supplies for the worst-hit Indonesian tsunami victims - including some paid for with $94 million in Kiwi donations - have been sitting on a Sumatran dock for up to five months. The aid delays have taken the Government by surprise. Neither Aid Minister Marian Hobbs nor government aid agency NZAID were aware of the backlog problems at the Medan port.

"They (NZAID) haven't received any reports from their partners that supplies are held up at the port of Medan but they are not surprised," she said.

"Whenever you have a large relief effort... particularly in an area that has been really smashed about, you have really challenging logistics. There is an influx of supplies into northern Sumatra and there are supply chain difficulties."

New Zealanders contributed $94 million for tsunami relief in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Nias and India, with $26 million coming from private donations and $68 million in Government pledges. About $19 million of the Government money – in a dollar-for-dollar matching of private donations – was paid directly to aid agencies such as Red Cross, Oxfam and Unicef and is being distributed through their international bodies.

The United Nations Joint Logistics Centre in Banda Aceh became aware of the backlog of aid at Belawan Port in Medan in May, and launched an investigation, spokesman Michael Whiting said. Information received from Indonesian port and military authorities showed there were 1458 containers sitting on the dock, 853 of which had been cleared by customs but had not been collected by their aid agencies owners. Read More...


(Source: Stuff)

Thailand: Tsunami alarm system online in August

The island’s tsunami warning system will be linked in August via satellite to the Nonthaburi-based National Disaster Warning Center (NDWC). Patong, which has been chosen for the pilot project of the NDWC’s tsunami warning system for the entire Andaman coast, is home to three NDWC warning towers and there are plans to increase the number of towers to cover 24 locations around Phuket in the future.

The NDWC system will make Thailand the first of the countries hit by the December 26, 2004, tsunami to devise a national warning system. Boonchai Somjai, head of the Phuket Provincial Office of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation explained that the next four locations for siren tower construction will be in Kata, Karon, Kamala, and Sakoo. After that, towers will be built at Mai Khao, Ao Poh, Laem Tukkae, Saphan Hin, Ao Chalong, Rawai and Laem Promthep.

Apart from delivering warnings through the towers, the system will be capable of interrupting regular radio and TV programs to alert the public to the approach of a tsunami or any other disaster, and will also deliver warning SMS messages to mobile phones. A Cabinet meeting will be held next month to approve a budget for the construction of 62 alarm system towers in the six Andaman coast provinces and Bangkok.

Dr Smith Thammasaroj, who was appointed to establish the NDWC, said, “Installing the tsunami alarm system should help tourists gain confidence in the safety of the region.” The alarm system in Patong will be tested once the satellite link to Nonthaburi is complete. Chairat Sukbal, Deputy Mayor of Patong Municipality, told the Gazette, “We are in the midst of solving problems related to the satellite. However, we will inform the public at least one week in advance so they can get ready for the test.” (The NDWC Hotline is Tel:1860)


(Source: Phuket Gazette)

Maldives: The Government U-Turns Over Hulhu-Male’ Tsunami Victims

In the first week of July, Minivan News reported that Tsunami victims who were provided housing tents in Hulhu-Male’ had been ordered to leave their shelters by the 21st of July. “We have been given no reason as of why, except that the island was reclaimed at a huge cost and is now needed by the government” a refugee said to Minivan Radio on July 5th. The tsunami victims were reportedly told if they didn’t leave by July 21st they would be “forced out of their shelters with their belongings”.

Yesterday, however, the same group of people reported happier news. “We have been given permission from the disaster management centre to stay” a young girl in Hulhu-Male’ confirmed to Minivan Radio. The reports have also been confirmed by Maldives Aid, the aid wing of Salisbury-based Friends of Maldives, who have been monitoring the plight of the Tsunami victims on Hulhu-Male’. The tsunami victims are overjoyed at the decision. As one woman put it: “[We are] thankful to the government for letting us stay. I don’t know what we would have done if not.”


(Source: Minivan News)

Australia: Tsunami detection centre for Perth

Perth is to play a major role in the early detection of tsunamis throughout the Indian Ocean, the Federal Government said today. The UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission in Paris has decided to base the secretariat for the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System in Perth.

The secretariat, located at the WA office of the Bureau of Meteorology, had run a global ocean observing system focusing on the Indian and south-west Pacific oceans, Environment Minister Ian Campbell said today.

"It makes good sense for the secretariat for an Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System to operate from Perth," he said.

"It is testament to the quality of Australia's technical and scientific agencies, including the Bureau of Meteorology and Geoscience Australia, that Australia was chosen to host the secretariat. The secretariat will play a coordinating role for the network of national systems that will make up the Indian Ocean warning system, including the newly announced $69 million Australian Tsunami Warning System, and data sharing arrangements."

Perth would also host the first meeting of the intergovernmental co-ordination group for the warning system from August 3-5, Senator Campbell said.


(Source: News Australia)

India: Tsunami villages reach out, via ICT

Many residents of Veerapattinam along the coast of Pondicherry would not have survived the killer tsunami waves on December 26 had the public address system installed in the lone information centre, located close to the shore, not existed. The information centre, set up to empower the villagers of Veerapattinam with knowledge through communication tools like the internet, turned into the lifeline of residents when the tsunami waves struck.

The villagers who saw the first wave rising rushed to the centre and used the mike to let the village know that they were in danger. Several lives were saved due to this one announcement in a village having a population of about 6,500 persons. The grassroots workers from Pondicherry and other states are here in Delhi to share their experience with communication technology tools at knowledge centres, set up by voluntary organisations in villages across the country. These grassroot workers are here to attend the National Convention on Mission 2007: Every Village a Knowledge Centre.

Mission 2007 is a nationwide initiative to facilitate setting up of such centres in each of India's 600,000 villages by the year 2007. During the convention, nearly 150 partner organisations of the National Alliance on Mission 2007 led by MS Swaminathan Research Foundation would discuss the issues of connectivity, content, care and management, capacity building and coordination. Even the government of India is a partner in the alliance.

Elaborating on the concept, Prof MS Swaminathan said that knowledge connectivity is fundamental to bridging the urban-rural divide. In a knowledge centre communication tools like the internet are used to put the information in context of the lifestyle and local needs of a particular village. Prof Swaminathan pointed after the tsunami tragedy, it has been felt that information centres need to be set-up in many more villages along the sea coast.

Agrees Ezhumalai, a volunteer at the information centre in Veerapattinam village in Pondichery. "After the tsunami disaster, people were terrified. In those days we collected information through the internet, on the wave height and the weather and inform villagers. These updates helped reduce the anxiety," he said.


(Source: Times Of India)

Sri Lanka: Political bickering undermines tsunami rebuilding, says report

Lack of cooperation between Sri Lanka's government and the opposition parties has hampered the post-tsunami rebuilding process, a non-governmental organization monitoring relief work said here Thursday. Kingsley Rodrigo, chairman of People's Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL), said the lack of national consensus between the government and the opposition toward the rebuilding effort has impeded the process, slowing it down to an undesirable low at the ground level.

PAFFREL's report released on its supervision of relief work during the six months after the tsunami says that less than 1,000 of permanent houses had been completed out of over 64,000 houses required. Local councils are controlled by the main opposition party, and the central government's relations with them has affected the progress, Rodrigo said, adding that the political parties are using the victims for political gain he charged.

PAFFREL recommends a mechanism to be set up at village levels to avoid delays and to increase efficiency. The government has faced accusations from the main opposition for its alleged inefficient handling of the relief efforts. The victims say that the non-governmental organizations both local and international have been of more use than the state apparatus in handling the relief coordination, according to the report.

Two thirds of the country's coastal line was devastated in the tsunami tidal wave attack on Dec. 26 last year, which killed over 30,000 people.


(Source: Xinhua News Agency via ReliefWeb)

Maldives: Government Blocking Tsunami Aid Effort

David Hardingham, of the Salisbury-based NGO Friends of Maldives has appealed to the British people to pressure the Government of Maldives to allow FOM aid to reach tsunami victims.

Speaking on BBC Radio’s Breakfast Show on Wednesday, Hardingham said: “We urge people of Britain to contact the Maldivian High Commission in London and find out what is happening to our aid. Check that it’s getting through, contact your local MP and put pressure on the Maldivian government.”

He also spoke about the Maldive government’s recent decision to ban him from the country.

“[The blacklisting is hampering our aid efforts] we really need to speak to the Disaster Management Centre to work out a way we can be involved in the distribution of the last of our aid.”

“We also want to see the progress of the aid effort in the Maldives in general. Government sources have told us that only about 10% of what is needed has got through to the people… so it sounds as if the Maldives is still having huge problems.”

“About ten tones of educational aid is sitting in government warehouses in the Maldives. We have asked the Maldivian government if we can deliver the aid ourselves or be part of the aid distribution or at least ensure that it gets out to the people that need it and they have refused all our requests.”

“We are going to request as much help as possible [from the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office]. We’ve got the help of a lot of MPs and the support of a lot of people.”

“The Maldivian government is a dictatorship… very corrupt and it’s very difficult to deal with them” he added.

Hardingham was in meetings with the British Foreign Office this week to explain FOM’s problems and seek diplomatic support from the UK, who now head the Presidency of the European Union.

Speaking to Minivan News yesterday, several resort owners complained that the Government of Maldives have “done nothing” to help tourism recover in the country and have been “preoccupying themselves with petty politics.”

Occupancy rates in Maldives resorts are approximately 20% down on last year, six months after the Tsunami tragedy.



(Source: Minivan News)

Tsunami donations still in Israel

Only half of Israeli donations to disaster victims have made it to Asia.

When disaster struck Southeast Asia in late December, Israelis donated more than NIS 4 million (USD 860,000) to the National Council for Volunteerism to aid relief efforts to millions of affected families. But according to Yedioth Ahronoth, more than six months later, at least NIS 2 million (USD 430,000) remains in Israeli bank accounts.

Sri Lanka, the country hardest hit by the tidal wave, has only received a few hundred thousand shekels. High tech company Amdocs, one of the principal donors to the relief effort, said Wednesday it did not know what happened to the money it contributed, but following an inquiry from Yedioth Ahronoth it would look into the matter.

Read More...


(Source: YnetNews)

FMR's Special Tsunami Review

Forced Migration Review is the world’s most widely read magazine on refugee and IDP issues., says the email. They've done a pretty cool job and you guys should probably check it out. The HTM/text version is here, and the PDF version is here. The HTML version offers Word files for download, chapter by chapter.

Vietnam to build tsunami alert center

The National Hydro-Meteorology Center has been assigned to report on the requirements for the building of the center, the minister added. Director of the National Hydro-Meteorology Centre Bui Van Duc said that the tsunami warning system's technical network should be built in coordination with other systems monitoring other kinds of natural disasters. He suggested that close watch be kept on tsunami risks in Vietnam, as the country is exposed to more than 3,000km of coastline on the South China Sea (East Sea), where large earthquakes originating in the Philippines often occur.

"The center is devising a plan to disseminate information guiding people to protect themselves from natural disasters, storms and tsunamis, and to evacuate when sea water suddenly withdraws. The plan is expected to be completed before the year's end", Duc said.

He warns that people's awareness on natural disasters and tsunamis is still limited. Fishermen still go to sea, even without lifebuoys, when they are informed that there will likely be a storm, Duc noted.Though Vietnam has 21 marine meteorological stations under the National Hydro-Meteorological Center, and a number of earthquake measurement stations under the Vietnam Global Physics Institute, they are as yet unable to forecast tsunamis. Vietnam has called for international support to the building of a tsunami warning centre.


(Source: ThanhNien News)

UN: Tsunami Has Increased AIDS-Risk In South Asia

<>The devastating Boxing Day Tsunami in South East Asia has increased the AIDS-risk within the region. The United Nations believes the tsunami has left millions of people homeless who are still, six months after, living under most awkward conditions. Furthermore at many places the health system has collapsed and people cannot get condoms.The situation has increased the risk of a rapid spread of the fatal low immunity disease AIDS in Asia, UN representatives said on Monday at an international AIDS-conference in the Western Japanese city of Kobe.

<>"That's why we are extremely worried", Jan Leno of the UN AIDS Programme highlighted. The number of new infections with the HI-Virus in the Tsunami-region has not yet risen. But latest surveys show a boost of pregnancies and diseases transmitted via sexual intercourse.According to UN estimations 8.2 million people in Asia are infected with the HI-Virus, worldwide 39 million people live with HIV or AIDS.


(Source: Scoop - New Zealand)

Malaysia: 3 spots identified for tsunami monitoring equipment

<>Three places in Malaysia have been identified as locations where tsunami-monitoring devices will be placed to help warn people of impending danger. Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Seri Dr Jamaluddin Jarjis said one would be placed a few hundred km north of Langkawi while the other two would be at South China Sea and the Sulu Sea.

"We have to place the devices a few hundred kilometres away from land so that people would have at least 45 minutes to an hour to flee if a tsunami should occur."

"If the devices are too near, there'll be no time to run," he said, adding that the government was still finalising the exact locations with international bodies.

<> The minister said this to reporters after opening the Second International Hydrographic and Oceanographic Industry 2005 Conference and Exhibition (IHOCE) on Tuesday (Malaysia). He said talks were also going on between Malaysia and Indonesia to link earthquake alert information via satellite to ensure that the people get real time reports from both sides.

"Present there is a 15 minute delay because we have to get confirmation from our Indonesian counterparts when an earthquake happens."

"With direct connection from both sides, information will be available immediately and online for the public," he said.

(Source: The Star - Malaysia)

Thailand: Tsunami Warning Empties Beach (Alert Downgraded)

Tourists on one of Phuket's most popular beaches were evacuated on Tuesday morning after a new tsunami-warning system responded to an earth tremor off the Indonesian coast. Foreign sunseekers and local people were told to leave Patong beach by a multi-lingual warning alarm, according to the Thai television network, The Nation. In the aftermath of last December's tsunami, the Thai authorities have set up new mechnanisms to alert people in the case of earthquakes that could trigger killer waves.

The alarm was soon scaled down from red to yellow after it was established that the Indonesian eartquake had not prompted a tidal wave. Indonesian geophysical authorities say the quake on North Sumatra on Tuesday registered around 6.0 on the Richter scale. The quake triggered panic among residents in the North Sumatra capital of Medan. In the aftermath of the disaster, the Thai government launched an early warning network with the first segment operational in Patong, a popular beach some 600 kilometres south of Bangkok.


(Source: AKI)