The Tsunami – 100,000 dead – how no one decided to take any action while watching the killer wave travel for two hours and smash South Asia
Shanthi Subramanium, Special Correspondent
December 29, 2004

It was a failure on part of the whole world that could not save 100,000 lives in South and South-eastern Asia from the killer Tsunami waves. The whole world was just not prepared. Some saw it happening, some had full capability to see it and some could have seen it. But when all said and done, no one informed the poor 100,000 people of the killer tidal wave that traveled for two long hours and smashed innocent lives.

United States Geological Survey and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration could see it. But they did not know whom to contact. Indian Space Research Organization recorded the waves when it came on the surface of the sea but no one programmed the system to warn any one. The earthquake and Tsunami hit Sumatra hours before hitting Sri Lanka and India but no one cared to notify the authorities in those countries.

We hear that no one knew whom to call! Well what happens if a big asteroid approaches India will there be phone numbers available! Were there Government hot lines? Embassies or something available? 

Indian Government was asked to implement a Tsunami warning system. It cost three million US Dollars. Indian Government dragged its foot for all these years and now have decided to implement the same. It is too late and too little.

USGS, ISRO, UN have come forward to help and provide detailed data. But again for those thousands of children and adults it is too late and too little.

A day after the killer tsunami cut a swathe of destruction on the country's eastern seaboard, questions have been raised over whether the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) could have done more to alert the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), the nodal agency for issuing weather alerts, and perhaps save hundreds of lives.

Though ISRO's weather satellites could not have imaged the tsunami's early phases, they must have recorded the later surface manifestations and could have alerted the nation, at least in time before the powerful waves struck the Indian coast. 

Did our satellite system image the tsunami? ISRO officials here took a defensive posture by evading this crucial question. But according to a scientist who spoke on condition of anonymity, “Our satellite system is capable of imaging a tsunami as it becomes manifest on the ocean surface, though not at its origin.” Many space scientists believe that there could have been some “harbinger” indications of the tsunami. Tsunamis, caused by seabed disturbances, initially travel like undercurrents, making it difficult for satellite imaging in their early phases. But as the undercurrent approaches shallower regions, the waves appear on the surface, satellite images of which, had they reached the IMD, could have generated an alert at least an hour before the disaster struck the coastline. IMD officials in the City pointed out that though ISRO satellites generate real-time images, the Department's central office in Delhi depends entirely on the space agency for timely access to this data. 

“The Meteosat - Kalpana, which was launched in 2003 - and Insat-3A are the satellites which are deployed for meteorological applications. We normally receive, via IMD Delhi; real-time data on cyclones, low pressure areas and cloud storms. The IMD centres in the country can only forward the prediction and forecast received from Delhi,” explained the Director of IMD Bangalore, Dr. Anand Koppar. Another expert rued the lack of a definitive technology to predict earthquakes. “Such cases involve displacement of thousands of people at a short notice. We cannot evacuate people based on a forecast that is not 100 percent reliable,” he said.