The world is better prepared than ever for a devastating tsunami thanks to a global early warning system, although it is still impossible to predict exactly when such a disaster might strike, oceanography experts said in Jakarta on Thursday.
"We are much better prepared than we were in 2004. The global early warning system is saving lives," Bernardo Aliaga, a tsunami specialist with UNESCO's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, told a press conference.
He was referring to the 2004 tsunami that killed more than 170,000 people in Asia, particularly in India, Indonesia and Thailand. At the time, specialists did not have an operational warning system. Today, 1,400 stations around the world reduce the warning time after a tsunami wave has formed to just a few minutes.
"Are we safer? Yes perhaps. Are we safer in all places in the world? Perhaps not. We actually need your help, because we need to pass the message to be better prepared," Mr. Alaga told the journalists.
Above all, the experts want coastal populations in high-risk areas to be better prepared. "We are aiming that by 2030, 100% of these at-risk communities are prepared for and resilient to tsunamis," said Ardito Kodijat, head of UNESCO's Indian Ocean Tsunami Information Centre.
These preventive measures include educating residents in survival reflexes, such as running for cover as soon as they hear the roar of a tsunami, and deploying buoys near major fault lines to detect when a wave might form.
Countries affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which was caused by a magnitude 9+ undersea earthquake, and those located near fault lines such as Japan, are particularly vulnerable.
In 2011, a magnitude 9 undersea earthquake in northeastern Japan triggered a tsunami that left some 18,500 people dead or missing.
Experts warn that they cannot prevent all deaths caused by tsunamis, only minimise their impact.
"We just don't know when the next big one will be, but what we know is that we can be as ready as we can," said Laura Kong of the International Tsunami Information Centre, based in Honolulu Hawaii, USA.
