The biggest tsunamis in over a hundred years have left tens of thousands dead in South Asia -- and the worst may yet to come, writes Gamal Nkrumah Must years always end on a tragic note? Last year, on 26 December the Bam earthquake struck Iran with ruthless ferocity laying the historic town to waste. Exactly 12 months later to the day, a barrage of huge tsunamis (tidal waves) swept in to the coasts of many Indian Ocean countries early Sunday morning, demolishing entire fishing communities and upmarket beach resorts, and leaving many thousands dead, in what is the worst disaster of its kind this century. The epicentre of the powerful earthquake was located in the waters off Indonesia's war-ravaged province of Aceh, on the north-westernmost tip of the country's largest island of Sumatra. According to some reports, up to 80 per cent of the population perished in many fishing villages in the area, though their extreme remoteness meant accurate information was difficult to obtain. The Indonesian government immediately called for the cessation of hostilities with the province's militant separatist groups. The ebbing waters uncovered the extent of the tragedy -- not only the huge number of those who have died or suffered serious injury, but also the extent of devastation to homes, crops and infrastructure. As a result, in many areas there is now a major risk of epidemic infection, and even famine. The human consequences of these knock-on effects could be even worse than those of Sunday's cataclysm. Many survivors are without access to potable water and enough food. The relief effort required to keep them alive and in good health will be on an enormous scale. The authorities in India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand are enlisting the support of the international community to combat a wide range of infectious and diarrhoeal diseases, including cholera, malaria and dengue fever. Meanwhile, initial voices were raised asking why no Early Warning System (EWS) had been installed in the region to guard against such a disaster. Scientists in both Australia and the US picked up the earthquake within half an hour of its happening, but were powerless to relay the information to where it was most needed. Head of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Los Angeles, Charles McCreery, told the Australian newspaper The Age that US officials who detected the undersea quake had tried frantically to get a warning out, but were hampered by the lack of an official alert system. "We tried to do what we could. We don't have any contacts in our address book for anybody in that particular part of the world," McCreery said. Scientists estimated that an effective EWS could have given communities in Thailand 15 minutes warning, and those in India and Sri Lanka substantially more. In India, one of the hardest-hit countries, tsunami after tsunami claimed the lives of an estimated 20,000 people and engulfed all economic activity along the coastlines of the southern states of Tamil Nadu and Andra Pradesh. Life in affected regions came to a complete standstill. The challenge now facing international relief agencies is how to transfer food aid and medical supplies to remote and rural backwaters as rapidly as possible. "We launched a preliminary appeal for $6.6 million, and the appeal was covered in less than 12 hours," Marie- Françoise Borel, press officer of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, told Al-Ahram Weekly. But with the death toll fast rising, Western governments and international aid organisations will soon be needing more cash. "Now we have to drastically revise the appeal," Borel added. "The key message that we need to get out is that disasters of this magnitude need to be funded correctly and adequately. First and foremost we need to support community resilience," she explained. She also stressed that the health and psychological impact of such traumas can be both long-term and devastating. There are also many practical problems which can have serious psychological and moral impact. "Tracing mechanisms can be a tortuously difficult exercise. Finding missing family members and reuniting families takes up much time and money. Our main goal is to let people have a better chance of facing adversity and bouncing back." International relief organisations have to coordinate closely with each other and with national governments. The Federation, for example, is working closely with both the UN and the countries worst affected by the tsunamis. "We cannot do everything alone. Everyone does a little piece, and when we add the whole lot together, it amounts to something big," Borel explained. "We okay our actions with the national Red Crescent and Red Cross societies, local and international NGOs and the emergency committees of the governments concerned. We filter the flow of information. We help disseminate information relating to the catastrophe." And this week's disaster is on a colossal scale. "This is the largest catastrophe we have seen in decades," warned Federation secretary-general Markku Niskala. "We haven't even seen the tip of the ice-berg yet. We face a huge challenge due to the vast area affected." At the time the Weekly went to press, the death toll was 100,000 and still rising. Sri Lanka is the country worst hit by the disaster. The eastern and northern coastlines, which took the brunt of the blow, are inhabited mainly by ethnic Tamil and Muslim communities, while the Buddhist majority are geographically concentrated in the inland and southwestern parts of the island- nation. The United States pledged $15 million in aid -- a lot of money, but little in comparison to the $1 billion a month Washington spends on bolstering its brutal occupation of Iraq. Oil-rich Gulf Arab countries were indirectly impacted by the tsunami. Millions of South and Southeast Asians work and reside in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and other Gulf Arab countries. Among Arab countries, Kuwait donated the largest amount of emergency relief assistance, but Muslim organisations in the West also came to the rescue. "We are mobilising groups across the country to channel funds to the victims of the disaster," Rabiah Ahmed of the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations told the Weekly. "We are also organising prayer services." Mercifully, no major port in the devastated region was seriously damaged. One of the largest, Chennai, in the Indian province of Tamil Nadu, was able to resume most operations on Monday, much earlier than expected. The fact that this large-scale infrastructure remains operational means one less obstacle in the way of bringing aid to those who need it. Now, the race is on, not just to count the dead, but to save the lives of those still living.
