I wrote this article 2 weeks after the SE Asian Tsunami that devasted many coastal regions of the planet`on December 2004. The article was published on the Vanuatu Daily Post.
Nature has gone on the rampage often in our lifetime. Take for example hurricane Mitch that swept through Central America in 1988 causing havoc to the regions’ economies and 70% worth of damage to infrastructures or the powerful cyclone in India that destroyed 180000 villagers in one night in the state of Orissa.
Towards the end of 2001 typhoon Lingling caused widespread flooding and damage in areas of Vietnam and the Philippines. What about the El Nino phenomenon in 1998 that caused widespread drought that affected many countries resulting in 21000 deaths worldwide or the floods that affected the countries of China, Bangladesh and Southern Africa in the nineties that dislocated thousands of people.
In 1999 Mexico experienced its worst floods ever that left 300000 people homeless. Recall exactly a year ago to the day of the Indian Ocean tsunami when the Bam earthquake shattered the Iranian city of Bam? How about cyclone Heta in 2003 that swept clean the tiny island of Niue with winds over 300 miles an hour or the cyclones Uma, Betsy, Namu and Ivy that stormed through Vanuatu in recent years.
These disasters affect thousands of people, ruin livelihoods and may even wipe out communities. On a planetary scale most of these natural catastrophes are somewhat miniature.
The recent tsunami disaster generated by undersea quakes in the Indonesian province of Aceh is of a slightly grandeur scale in which the impact spreads overwhelmingly across several countries devouring over a hundred thousand lives. Hardly in the previous centuries has a disaster of such magnitude occurred. Some are already perceiving it as the biggest natural disaster that has hit the planet in our time. Others are more sceptical about their conclusions and would rather wait until an overall assessment of the deaths and damage across the affected countries are compiled.
In the past some major natural disasters have occurred that have deeply shocked humanity. Some of these disasters have been so immense that they even permanently altered the environment. Time slots between successive major natural disaster events stands in the range of thousands to millions of years such as the volcanic eruptions that inundate Siberia with lava resulting in shifts in global climate which may have triggered a mass extinction of animal species some 250 million years ago to the most recent major disaster before the Indian Ocean tsunami, the Bam earthquake disaster of 26 December 2003 in Iran that killed 41000, injuring 30000, leaving more than 75000 people homeless and 85 per cent of homes destroyed.
In between these ancient and modern day cataclysmic events are other prominent disaster events such as the landslide shears off the slope of Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii that spreads debris 300 kilometers over the ocean floor 105000 years ago, the enormous floods that carve up sections of north western United States 15000 to 13000 years ago, the giant landslides that sculpt the Canary islands 15000 years ago or the huge tsunamis that hit Java and Sumatra in 1883 killing more than 36000 people.
Closer to home in PNG, is the Saundaun tsunami of 1988 that destroyed 2134 lives and Aitape tsunami of 1998 that destroyed nearly 3000. Those were no match for the deadliest tsunami of the past century in 1933 off the coast of Sanriku, Japan that killed over 3000 people in the vicinity that it struck. 27 years on saw the most destructive Pacific wide tsunami generated along the coast of Chile on 22 May 1960 that killed 2000, injured 3000 and left another 2000000 homeless with US$ 550 million worth of damage. Waves in some coastal parts of the Pacific proximal to the epicenter were estimated to be 20 m high. The tsunami caused 61 deaths in Hawaii, 20 in the Philippines and 100 or more in Japan. Estimated damage were US$ 50 million in Japan, US$ 24 million in Hawaii and several millions along the west coast of United States and Canada.
But do these previous tsunami events any match for the recent catastrophe in the Indian Ocean?
The above facts and numerous others which have not been listed places us in a reasonable position to argue that the Indian Ocean tsunami of 26 December 2004 could well be the world’s worst natural disaster of the modern era which hardly any others in the past two centuries had matched in the size of its total death toll, widespread damage across eleven countries and the sheer size of ongoing emergency relief efforts which has reached US$ 2 billion. That assumption would still have to be verified. Actual death toll reaches to over 130000 and still growing by the minute. Severe damage and unprecedented destruction spreads over coastal communities in eleven countries. As time progresses higher digits are continually being added to the pre-existing high figures. All forms of disaster response mechanisms will most likely be exhausted as the response and relief funds discharged to supplement response efforts by stronger economies reaches record amounts. The scale of the disaster is truly immense.
Often natural disasters such as this boggles the mind. What indeed would it look like if half of an island gets obliterated? How is it that the impact of any given disaster can extend across several countries causing damage that run into the millions and millions of dollars? What if the world’s relief capacity is exhausted early in the response operation phase?
Natural disasters are wonders that will hardly come to agreement with our logic. They are triggered by natural hazards. Hazards of different sorts behave differently posing diverse threats and risks to people’s lives, livelihood, property and the environment which supply many of our basic needs. They are increasingly dynamic and with highly varying potential impacts. Understanding the nature of natural hazards involves a consideration of almost every physical phenomenon on the planet which this piece of writing will not examine. While natural hazards can be further divided into three broad categories of hydrometeorological, geological and biological, we simply group the whole lot and tend to use the common term ‘Natural Disasters’. Often there is a strong compound relation between different types of natural hazards. Cyclones for example can trigger other hazards in particular storm surges, flash floods and landslides. The most recent example of our time is the Indonesian undersea quake measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale that triggered the Indian Ocean tsunami depriving the lives of over 130000 vulnerable people across eleven nations encompassing the Indian Ocean.
Tsunamis in particular when triggered by undersea quakes around the magnitude of 8 to 9 on the Richter scale can be of very severe destruction especially to low lying coastal cities, towns and communities. Studies showed that there are 12 to 13 tsunami exceeding 1 metre every century and around 4 to 5 that exceeds the 5 metre mark. One or two will exceed the 10-metre mark. Japan is usually seen as the odd case for the reason that it gets more tsunamis than any other country on the planet followed on a wide margin by Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Hawaii, Chile, Alaska, Australia, West Coast of US, Mediterranean Coast and the East Coast of US. Tsunamis such as the current one making headlines across the globe are known as catastrophic tsunamis. Since 1840 catastrophic tsunamis have only affected sparsely populated coastal regions and so are not perceived as a major threat. That perception has become increasingly incorrect due to the increased development of coastal regions. Catastrophic tsunamis are triggered by powerful undersea quakes and can send waves traveling several thousands of kilometers.
In the 1883 Krakatoa eruption, pressure generated by volcanic eruption of the Krakatoa volcano caused waves to travel around the earth several times. While destructive effects of tsunamis are of uniform character their genesis vary. In simple terms tsunami generation requires the abrupt displacement of large volumes of sea-water. It is thought that the force that causes a tsunami to move in whatever direction is derived from the vertical displacement of the water column. Hence any process that displaces a large volume of sea-water is capable of generating a tsunami particularly if the water is displaced vertically. Scientists relate the water displacement phenomena to precede crustal movements more commonly known to us as earthquakes.
Tsunamis have also been induced by volcanic eruptions such as that of Krakatoa in August 27 1883. Alternatively tsunamis are also known to be caused by landslide events that impact more on a local level. The 1964 Alaskan landslide earthquake generated a tsunami induced by landslides.
Natural Disasters are an incomprehensible phenomena especially when their destructive scope becomes unprecedented.
Humanity still does not fully comprehend their formation and anatomy so as to establish mechanisms to help reduce their destructive supremacy.
