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Tsunami Impact on India: With Special Reference to

Early Warning System
Ashutosh Mohanty (MSc. AIT, Thailand) LLB, PhD. Contd
Introduction:
The word Tsunami is of Japanese origin, which means,
harbour wave. Tsunami are
large waves that are generated when the see floor is deformed by
seismic activity,
vertically displacing the overlying water in the ocean. The quake
occurred at a place
where several massive geological plates push against each other
with massive force.
Tsunami has very low height while traveling over deep ocean.
High waves occur only
when it reaches the shallow waters, typically near the coast. The
mega thrust earthquakemeasuring 9.0 at Richter scale, off the western coast of northern
Sumatra (Banda Ache),
Indonesia was the largest of its type since the 9.2 magnitude
Good Friday earthquake off
Alaska in 1964. The deadliest natural disaster caused by
the tsunami generated from an
undersea earthquake on 26 December 2004 in the Indian Ocean
has shaken up the world.
The 2004 tsunami generated waves of up to 15 meters in height
and even hit Somalia at a
distance of about 4500 km west of the epicenter. The tsunami
traveled slowly and took
seven hours to hit the farthest coast at the west. Because of the
1200 kilometer of the fault

line affected by the seaquake was in a nearly north-south

orientation, the greatest strength
of the tsunami waves was in the east-west direction.
The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was an undersea earthquake
that occurred at 00:58:53
UTC (07:58:53 local time) on December 26, 2004. The
earthquake originated in the
Indian Ocean just north of Simeulue island, off the western coast
of northern Sumatra,
Indonesia. The resulting tsunamis devastated the shores of
Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India,
Thailand, and other countries with waves of up to 15 m (50 feet)
high, even reaching the
east coast of Africa, 4500 km (2,800 miles) west of the
epicenter.The Unieted States
Geological Survey recoreded the magnitude of the earthquake of
Sumatra at 8.9 with the
epicenter lying 10km below the seabed. Aftershocks struck in
the magnitude 7 range. The
quake occurred at a place where several massive geological
plates push against each
other with massive force. The survey said, a 1000 kilometer
section along the boundry
of the plate shifted, a motion that triggered the sudden
displacement of a huge volume of
water. An interesting phenomenon of the seismic tidal waves in
the different part of the
world was that people saw sea water disappearing away from the
beaches in the minutes
before the giant wave lashed back with infernal fury devouring
whatever come on the

way of their lethal onslaught. Scientists say the effect is caused

by tidal waves shocking
shallow coastal waters out to see before returning them as a
massive wall of water.
The titanic tsunami that wrought unprecedented death and
destruction in South and
South-East Asia will go down in history as one of the greatest
natural calamities of the
modern times. The great disaster caught the people and the
government off guard and in a
matter of minutes, snuffed out more than 2,00,000 lives. Across
the more than twelve
countries. The number of people rendered homeless might run
into millions, as no
estimate is immediately available as to how many children have
become orphans, how
many women become widows and how many families have
been wiped out in a single
sweep.
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Impact of Tsunami in India:
Almost all the countries situated around the Bay of Bengal were
affected by the tsunami
waves in the morning hours of 26 December 2004 (between
0900 1030 hrs IST). The
killer waves were triggered by an earthquake measuring 8.9 on
the Richter scale that had
an epicenter near the west coast of Sumatra in Indonesia. The
first recorded tsunami in

India dates back to 31 December 1881. An earthquake of

magnitude 7.5 on the Richter
scale, with its epicenter believed to have been under the sea off
the coast of Car Nicobar
Island, caused the tsunami. The last recorded tsunami in India
occurred on 26 June 1941,
caused by an earthquake with magnitude exceeding 8.5. This
caused extensive damage to
the Andaman Islands. There are no other well-documented
records of Tsunami in India.
It was all quiet on the waterfront on the Sunday morning after
Christmas in 2004 at
Kanyakumari, the famous Marina Beach in Chennai and
elsewhere on the Kerala coast
and Andaman Nicober Islands. There was the excitement of a
holyday with an offbeat
mood with swarms of people on the sea front: children playing
cricket and man and
women on their morning work at the Marina. Elsewhere,
fishermen were putting out to
sea for the days catch. Then all on a sudden, a curious thing
happened. The
holidaymakers at Kanyakumari were awestruck when the sea
receded from the shores.
In the present tsunami, India was the third country severely
battered after Indonesia and
Srilanka. In India the State severely affected by tsunami are
Tamilnadu, Pondicheri,
Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Andaman and Nicober Island. The
following Table.1 shows

the average scenario of tsunami devastation in the respective

areas. The data relating to
the Andaman and Nicober are yet to be assessed, for which it
does appear in the e Table
Table. 1 (Tsunami damage in India)
Tsunami damage in India
1
Factor
Andhra
Pradesh
Kerala
Tamil
Nadu
Pondicherry
Total
Population affected
211,000 2,470,000 691,000
43,000
3,415,000
Area affected (Ha)
790 Unknown
2,487
790
4,067
Length of coast
affected (Km)
985
250
1,000
25
2,260

Extent of
penetration (Km)
0.5 - 2.0
1-2
1 - 1.5
0.30 - 3.0
Reported height of
tsunami (m)
5
3-5
7-10
10
Villages affected
301
187
362
26
876
Dwelling units
1,557
11,832
91,037
6,403
110,829
Cattle lost
195 Unknown
5,476
3,445
9,116
(Source: DiMaRF, India-2005)

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Tamil Nadu
The state of Tamil Nadu has been the worst affected on the
mainland, with a death toll of
7,793. Nagapattinam district has had 5,525 casualties, with
entire villages having been
destroyed. Kanyakumari district has had 808 deaths, Cuddalore
district 599, the state
capital Chennai 206 and Kancheepuram district 124. The death
tolls in other districts
were Pudukkottai (15), Ramanathapuram (6), Tirunelveli (4),
Thoothukudi (3), Tiruvallur
(28), Thanjavur (22), Tiruvarur (10) and Viluppuram (47).
Those killed in Kanyakumari include pilgrims taking a holy dip
in the sea. Of about 700
people trapped at the Vivekananda Rock Memorial off
Kanyakumari, 650 were rescued.
In Chennai, people playing on the Marina beach and those who
taking a Sunday morning
stroll were washed away, in addition to the fisherfolk who lived
along the shore and those
out at sea. The death toll at Velankanni in Nagapattinam district
is currently 1,500. Most
of these people were visiting the Basilica of the Virgin Mary for
Christmas, while others
were residents of the town. The nuclear power station at
Kalpakkam was shut down after
sea water rushed into a pump station. No radiation leak or
damage to the reactor was
reported
Pondicherry

An estimated 30,000 people are homeless in the Union territory

of Pondicherry. The
current official toll is 560. The affected districts are Pondicherry
(107 dead), Karaikal
(453 dead).
Kariakal is the most devastrated area from the Pondichery Union
territory.Where massive
destruction and loss of casualities accure.This mishalp occure
because of uncover stone
block.Mostly fisherfolk are affected due to location and distance
between sea and their
basti (village).Fishing peoples are just preparing for venturing
into sea and within
fraction of seconds every thinng wash away and their boats are
damaged they lost every
thing in terms of life and property. More than 453 people are
died so far and still some
are missing .
Kerala
The current official toll is 168. The affected districts are Kollam
(131 dead), Alappuzha
(32 dead), Ernakulam (5 dead).The tsunami that hit the Kerala
coust on December
26,2004 , were three to five metres high ,according to the
National Institute of Disaster
Management,(NIDM) which functions under the ministray of
home affairs.The Tidal
upsourge had affected 250 killometers of the kerala costline and
entered between one or
two kilometers inland.pounded 187 villeges affecting 24.70 lakh
persons in the state .As

many as 6,280 dwelling units were destroyed. As many as

84,773 persons wee evacuated
from the costal areas and accomedated in 142 Relif Camaps
opened in Kollam,Alappuzha
and Ernakulam Districts.
According to NIDM,131 Lives were lost in Kollam,32 in
Alappuzha and five in
Ernakulam,taking the official death tole to 168.High wave
sweept the cost along a 40-Km
stretch ,from Sakthikulangare in the south to Thrikunnapuzha in
the north.This stretch has
two narrow strips of land sand wiched between the sea and back
water.
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Andhra Pradesh
The current official toll is 105. The affected districts are Krishna
(35 dead), Prakasam (35
dead), Nellore (20 dead), Guntur (4 dead), West Godavari (8
dead) and East Godavari (3
dead).
Andaman and Nicobar :
The Andaman and Nicobar Islands comprise 572 islands (all
land masses in both low and
high tides) out of which 38 are inhabited, both by people from
the mainland and
indigenous tribes. The islands lie just north of the earthquake
epicentre, and the tsunami
reached a height of 15 m in the southern Nicobar Islands. The
official death toll is 812,

and about 7,000 are still missing. The unofficial death toll
(including those missing and
presumed dead) is estimated to be about 7,000.
The Great Nicobar and Car Nicobar islands were the worst hit
among all the islands
because of their proximity to the quake and relative flatness.
Aftershocks continue to rock
the area. One fifth of the population of the Nicobar Islands is
said to be dead, injured or
missing. Chowra Island has lost two thirds of its population of
1,500. Entire islands have
been washed away, and the island of Trinket has been split in
two. Communications
have just restored with the Nancowry group of islands, some of
which have been
completely submerged, with the total number of the population
still out of contact
exceeding 7,000.
Among the casualties in Car Nicobar, 100 Indian Air Force
personnel and their family
members were washed away when the wave hit their air base,
which was reported to have
been severely damaged. The St. Thomas Cathedral (also known
as the John Richardson
church after John Richardson, a missionary and member of
parliament) was washed
away. The church, established in 1930 was one of the oldest and
prominent churches in
the region. A cricket stadium named after John Richardson and a
statue dedicated to him
were also washed away.

The majority of the population of Andaman Islands is made up

of people from the
mainland, mostly from West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. The
natives of Andaman and
Nicobar Islands are endangered tribal groups, such as such as
the Jarawa, the Sentinelese,
the Shompen, the Onge and the Andamanese. They are regarded
as anthropologically
significant as they are some of the world's most primitive tribes
and considered the
world's only link to ancient civilisation. Most of these tribes
have maintained their
aboriginal lifestyle for centuries, and government policy has
been to not interfere with
them unless absolutely essential.
It is reported that most of the native islanders survived the
tsunami because they live on
higher ground or far from the coast. The Onge (with a 2001
census population of 96),
Jarawa (240), Sentinelese (39) and Andamanese (43) have been
reached by survey teams
and are confirmed to be safe although the number of dead is
unknown. The Sentinelese
live on a reserved island and are hostile to outsiders which is
making it difficult for
Indian officials to visit the island. They have shot arrows at
helicopters sent to check on
them. In the Nicobar Islands, the Nicobarese, a Mongoloid tribe
(2001 population of
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28,653), have lost about 656 lives with 3,000 still missing.
Surveys are being conducted
on the Shompen (2001 census count of 398) located on Great
Nicobar island.
India's only active volcano, Barren 1, located at Barren Island
135 kilometres (80 miles)
northeast of the capital Port Blair, erupted because of increased
seismic activity on 30
December 2004. People have been evacuated since then and
there have been no reports of
any casualties.
Early warning system:
The largest tsunami, which struck 11 nations that border the
Indian Ocean, was a
complete surprise for the people living there. Many seismic
networks recorded marine
earthquake, but there was no tidal sensors other than wave
sensors to provide
confirmation as to whether a tsunami had been generated. There
was no established
communication network or organization infrastructure to pass a
warning of any kind to
the people living at coastlines. No tsunami warning system
exists for the Indian Ocean as
it exists in the Pacific Ocean. There should need for Early
warning Center set up in
Indian ocean and every country within the Indian ocean part of
this for sharing
information .In India for whole costal line there should be
warning center both for

cyclone and tsunami. There will be need for starting a research

based on tsunami and its
impact.
From my Field visit, Relief operation, observation and
discussion with the affected
people (Tamilnadu, Kerala, Pondicherri) and local community; I
got following
information from the devastated site;
Economic problems-- 1) Many of them never had a bank
accounts regarding their
savings. 2) Another point is about their business i.e. some of
them lost their boat and
some of thems boats were partialy damaged, in this funniest part
is that govt. of Kerala
has prepared some data about this boats and their expenses in
that the number of boats
dameged r less in number than lost boats and govt. is paying
more for the dameged boats.
I have collected its particulars i.e. gove documents.3) People use
to keep money in
houses it all gone in tsunami. 4) They need money to restart
their business. 5) Basic
infrastructure is need to be develop, (5) Govt. should provide
both financial and subsides
to restate their business and there should be need of need for
storeing, canning and
draying facility for the long term rehabilitation of affected
people with the government
initiatives and assistance.
Social Problems--- 1) disturbed Minds 2) bad habites like
drinking 3) societal problems

in between some social groups like schedule cast and other casts
4) Psychological
problems in the students need to be sort out. 5) Fear about sea in
childrens 6) Proble of
migration from sea cost may arise 7) some other elements who r
not suffered r taking
govt. facilities because of which a group of people is dissatisfied
with the govt. 8) Many
of the distructed houses were of schedule cast people 9) role of
NGO and govt.
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Need Assessment:
Livelihood Restoration in the affected areas:
Restoration of livelihood of the tsunami victims is on the front
side of rescue operations
continuing in the affected areas. Shelter, water, food, and
medical relief continue to be
priorities of the people in the tsunami devasted areas, which
need to be addressed on
warlike basis. Oxfam, Unicef, CARE, Action Against Hunger,
AmeriCares, World
Vision, Save the Children, and many others bringing in (or
purchasing locally) supplies
for hundreds of thousands of tsunami victims for the coming
weeks and months. But
there are other problems to be addressed, too:
Establishing distribution systems. One of the most vexing
problems facing the relief
effort has been the difficulty of getting the relief where it is
needed most, especially in

Banda Aceh. The International Organization on Migration and

the Red Cross, along with
many partners, have worked to set up distribution systems in the
affected areas,
requisitioning warehouses and trucks tomanage the large
quantities of aid materials
flowing into the region. Military helicopters from the United
States and elsewhere have
been essential in distributing aid to places inaccessible by road.
Caring for children. Organizations like Unicef and Save the
Children have begun to
shift from focusing solely on food, hygiene, and shelter to their
particular child-focused
missions. Unicef has begun to construct temporary school
facilities and distribute
"school-ina- box" kits, pledging to have many schools
operational as soon as January 20.
The Red Cross and various partners are working to vaccinate the
displaced
children against measles, and Save the Children has taken steps
to register child victims
to help prevent their exploitation.
Post-trauma counseling. Children and adults alike may need
psychological help to deal
with the trauma of the disaster; in India, social workers,
psychologists, and others have
volunteered as counselors in the affected areas, but this is only a
beginning. The
Red Cross is sending more counseling professionals to the
affected areas.

Locating and identifying the dead. This may be one of the

largest forensic challenges
of all time, with more than 20 forensic teams in Thailand alone
gathering DNA samples
for analysis on site or in China. Their efforts have been
complicated by the need to
bury corpses quickly to prevent the spread of disease.
Restoring livelihoods. The tsunami destroyed the boats of many
coastal fishermen,
making it impossible for them to earn a living. Already, one U.S.
group has begun raising
money to pay local shipwrights to replace the lost vessels, thus
stimulating the
local economy while allowing the fishermen to become self
sufficient once again.
Cleanup and reconstruction. NGOs on the ground in the
affected areas estimate that
cleanup alone could take a year or more, and obviously
rebuilding infrastructure and the
local economy will take even longer. While assessments are
already being made, this
phase of the relief is not yet at the fore.
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Needs Assessment post math situation:
Impact on livelihood
The cyclones and the rough sea during certain parts of the year
have so far been the major
cause of loss of life and property of small-scale fishers in the
Bay of Bengal region. The

Tsunami has now added a new dimension to their safety and

welfare issues. Natural
calamities like cyclones, earthquakes, tsunamis, etc are also
becoming more frequent4 in
the coastal areas of the Bay of Bengal and the fishermen
community faces major impacts
of such calamities.
The consequences of natural calamities are manifold and bring
considerable hardships to
the small-scale fisher families. Besides loss of dwellings and
fishing assets, many lives
are lost. Since their socio-economic status is also low and
livelihood options are limited,
the calamities further push them into the fold of poverty and
deprivation. While the
immediate requirements of the fisher-communities (like food,
water, medicines, clothing,
etc.) are being provided by the Government and the various
relief/aid agencies, the
donors or specialized agencies (FAO, Regional Fishery Bodies,
etc.) may consider
providing technical interventions, which would be useful in
livelihood support and also
institutional building on a long-term basis. In this regard the
following short-term and
long-term suggestions are proposed.
Conclusion:
We are all numbed by the toll of human misery from this
disaster. It is estimated by the
World Health Organization that three to five million people in
the region lack basic

necessities such as food, clean drinking water and shelter with

the specter of diseaserelated illness spreading through typhoid, cholera, and dysentery
because of contaminated
water systems. Today the United States government annually
spends less than 1 percent
of its budget on foreign aid, mainly through USAID. Even the
$350 million pledged by
the United States government for this disaster relief accounts
only for .003 percent of our
gross national product. The oil rich kingdoms of Saudi Arabia
and Kuwait, which
run billion dollar surpluses in their budgets, initially gave only
$10 million each to the
relief effort as compared to the $764 million relief package
announced by Australia and
Germanys pledge of $674 million and Japans pledge of $500
million. Government of
India also providing huge amount of package foe all tsunami
affected areas like
1000Crors (INR) relief operation and restoration programme
and handling all operation
solely without international assistance funding/Aid.
We are seeing a confluence of assistance; a spirit of cooperation
and giving that has not
been seen since our own human tragedy of 9/11. Some charities
like Doctors Without
Borders and Save the Children are overwhelmed with financial
support beyond their
needs and capacity to deliver needed relief and are advising
contributors to make

contributions to other agencies and for broader causes. How

NGOs handle this
outpouring of money and support may well determine how the
world supports this sector
in the future. We are rapidly approaching the time that once the
immediate
humanitarian relief is provided we must look to the future. An
international relief effort
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will be needed to coordinate the assistance for the rebuilding of
devastated
communities and families. In this rebuilding and planning
process the lessons learned
from our experience with other disasters will be helpful but only
a beginning unlesswe
thoroughly change the process for the delivery of disaster relief.
What must be done is to continue the cooperation and building
of the capacity of
indigenous NGO communities so that they can become active
participants when disasters
of this nature occur. The scale of this tsunami tragedy offers an
opportunity for
international and domestic NGOs to focus on a more integrated
process of relief,
rebuilding, and, most important of all, reducing the vulnerability
of
international communities to future dangers.
NGOs need to be more proactive in advocating preemptive
strategies for the next tragedy.

For example, primary factors contributing to the high death toll

are poverty and poor
living conditions. NGOs must advocate long-term economic
development and
infrastructure projects including better roads, building
construction, and more hospitals
and clinics. NGOs must participate in economic and government
reforms in the poorer
countries in exchange for the support of richer nations providing
more aid and favorable
trade and debt reduction policies toward the affected countries.
The World Bank should
insist that future funding include community participation in
redevelopment efforts and
transparency in government action. The Bush administrations
Millennium Challenge
Account is another example of an attempt to fight global poverty
by requiring recipient
countries to meet tougher standards of good government and
accountability. NGOs must
remain in the forefront of advocating reform and democratic
ideals under the rule of law.
The world will be carefully watching to see what we have
learned from this disaster.
By: Ashutosh Mohanty, MSc., (AIT,Thailand),LLB
PhD. Student P.G. Dept of Public Administration
Utkal University ,Orissa, India
www.sc99ews.com
http://www.isse.ucar.edu/superstorm/team.html