Pearl Forss, Channel NewsAsia 26 Dec 08;
SINGAPORE : The Indian Ocean tsunami killed more than 220,000 people four years ago on Boxing Day.
And the United Nations said the number of fatalities could have been considerably reduced if disaster prevention practices had been implemented.
Millions of people were left homeless by the tsunami, and scientists believe another massive earthquake could strike Indonesia again within the next 30 years.
Internationally, the number of natural events related to the weather has also increased five-fold between 1975 and 2005 due to climate change, and this number is expected to continue to climb.
Substantial sums have been spent on reconstruction efforts in tsunami-affected areas.
Questions have been asked if enough funds have been spent on other measures, such as the implementation of early warning systems and the use of quake-resistant construction methods.
Salvano Briceno, director, United Nations, International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, said: "The major hurdle in the Asia Pacific region remains giving higher priority to reducing risk and vulnerability to disasters. In other words, to focus more on disaster risk management, how to manage the risk and reduce it rather than just getting prepared to respond to the disaster. That shift has not yet occurred completely."
The United Nations estimates that every US$1 spent on reducing the risk of disaster, saves some US$7 in losses.
Yet, many local governments running a tight budget have been slow to respond to the call for disaster reduction.
Dr Bhichit Rattakul, executive director, Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre, said: "We have to make sure that members of the communities are aware that this is a fact of life and they have to live with disaster. It does not occasionally come once in a while, it can come anytime, any day. In other words, we have to build a culture of preparedness."
An important partner in preventive measures are non-government organisations.
Christopher Chua, secretary general, Singapore Red Cross, said: "We did not want to just build buildings that would collapse in the next disaster, so a lot of consideration was given into making earthquake-resistant housing and buildings."
Singaporeans donated US$57 million to tsunami relief efforts in 2004.
The Singapore Red Cross has used the donations to fund 72 projects in three countries, and these projects are expected to be completed by June 2009.
To date, almost all tsunami victims in Indonesia have been housed except about 1,000 people.
While in Sri Lanka, an estimated 10,000 people still live in temporary camps as the civil war delayed reconstruction efforts there.
Earlier this month, governments in the region pledged to apportion 10 per cent of humanitarian assistance funding for disaster reduction methods by 2010.
With preventive measures in place, the hope is that communities will be better prepared when the next natural calamity strikes. - CNA/ms
Thousands gather to remember victims of killer waves
Straits Times 27 Dec 08;
BANDA ACEH (INDONESIA): From India to Indonesia, communal prayers, shared meals and candlelight vigils were held yesterday to honour victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
For many survivors, the modest ceremonies were a time to reflect on their lives and weigh progress in rebuilding homes and communities wiped out by the killer waves that struck a dozen nations.
Mr Ibrahim Musa, a 42-year-old civil servant in the worst-hit Aceh province of Indonesia, said it felt like yesterday that his family was taken by the sea.
'Even after four years, I cannot forget how I lost hold of my wife and baby,' he said. 'I have tried in vain to look for them for three years. Now, I have no choice but to accept their departure as destiny.'
Mr Musa gathered with thousands of others along the Aceh coast, where a massive 9.2-magnitude tremor triggered the tsunami that killed around 230,000 people - more than half of them in Indonesia. The epicentre was located 9.6km under the Indian Ocean, south-east of Banda Aceh, Sumatra.
Ms Siti Hasnaini, 40, who still lives with her two sons and husband in a temporary shelter, prayed 'for my daughter who was washed away with my house'.
Homes for Ms Hasnaini and nearly 900 other families are scheduled to be completed by February, a month before the Indonesian government winds up its reconstruction mandate, said government spokesman Juanda Djamal.
Total spending has reached US$5.48 billion (S$7.9 billion). Seventy per cent has been paid out of foreign donations, and more than 124,000 houses have been built, he added.
However, many survivors still remain without homes. Some 50 of them chanted and waved placards after an Islamic prayer ceremony yesterday, demanding housing and accusing authorities of failing to look after victims.
Indonesia is also marking the anniversary with tsunami drills over the weekend at the northern end of the sprawling island of Sulawesi and on Java island, local media reported.
In Sri Lanka, the country that suffered the second-highest death toll from the tsunami, the government asked people to observe two minutes of silence in memory of the victims.
Religious services were held across the island's coastline for the estimated 31,000 people who perished there in the disaster.
Officials said the government's newly set up disaster management authority had by yesterday commissioned 25 out of 50 tsunami early warning towers planned after the disaster.
In Thailand, where an estimated 5,400 people were killed, half of them foreign tourists, hundreds of people gathered along the country's south-west coast to place wreaths, float lanterns and release over 150 sea turtles to commemorate the disaster.
In the tourist hot spot of Phuket, around 1,000 residents and tourists gathered on the main Patong Beach, with three other events held elsewhere on the island.
Thousands of candles were lit and placed in coconut shells along a 3km stretch of Kamala Beach, south of Patong, in a ceremony attended by Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya, a provincial official said.
Mrs Paulette Wyngaard and her husband, Bauke, a Dutch couple who return to Patong Beach every year to visit the spot where they survived the deadly surge, were among them.
'We were lucky to survive. Others were not as lucky,' said Mrs Wyngaard, who was pulled from the raging water by a hotel worker.
A total of 388 bodies of tsunami victims remained unidentified after four years, the Thai Tsunami Victim Identification and Repatriation Centre said on Wednesday.
In India, where thousands also perished, inter-faith prayers and a moment of silence will be held.
Meanwhile, an Australian report said the Asia-Pacific faces an era of large-scale natural disasters that could kill up to a million people at a time, with Indonesia, the Philippines and China most at risk.
The Sydney Morning Herald yesterday cited a scientific report that said the impact of natural events such as earthquakes and tsunamis would, in the coming years, be amplified by rising populations and climate change.
ASSOCIATED PRESS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, XINHUA
