Tsunami is a Japanese word. It means a 'harbour wave.' Often a tsunami is incorrectly termed as a tidal wave, which describes the periodic movement of water associated with the rise and fall of the tides. Oceanographers call tsunamis seismic sea waves because they are usually caused by a sudden rise and fall of part of the earth's crust under or near the ocean. Less powerful tsunami waves can also be triggered by volcanic activity. These are very common in the Pacific Ocean.
"A tsunami is not a single wave, but a series of waves that can travel at speeds more than 800kms an hour. In the deep ocean, hundreds of kilometres can separate wave crests; many people have lost their lives during tsunami after returning home thinking the waves had stopped.
As the tsunami enters the shallows of coastlines in its path, its velocity slows but its height increases. A tsunami that is just a few centimetres or metres high from trough to crest can rear up to heights of 30 to 50 metres as it hits the shore striking with devastating force. For those on shore there is little warning of a tsunami's approach. The first indication is often a sharp swell, not unlike an ordinary storm swell."
On December 26, 2004, the mega-quake off Sumatra struck ensuing tsunami waves which brought the massive destruction of lives and properties over South East Asia.
The US Geological Survey said the earthquake was measured 9.0 on the Richter scale making it the largest quake world-wide in four decades. Indonesia's Aceh province bore the burnt of the temblor, hit at point-blank range and then battered by a tsunami, leaving over 175,000 dead and many more missing.
Sri Lanka and India were also severely hit with respective death tolls of 40,000 and 14,000. Tsunami waves also struck Thailand, Myanmar, Maldives, Malaysia and Bangladesh. Moreover, huge waves swept about 7000kms as far as Africa, crashing onto the shores of Kenya, Somalia, Mauritius and Seychelles.
This horrendous tragedy has been appalling and heartbreaking. The worst hit sections of humanity were coastal communities in Sri Lanka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Aceh. Natural calamities invariably claim far more lives in poor than in affluent countries. The reasons are density of population and the quality of dwellings. Then there is pressure on resources such as health care, and the fact that diseases spread more rapidly amid insanitation. In the wake of unprecedented tsunami, tens of thousands died. Corpses scattered across beaches. Livelihood destroyed. Millions were shelterless.
Financial costs, estimated at up to $20 billion, are tiny relative to the human sufferings. By comparison, Hurricane Andrew killed 50 people in 1992 but, with much of the damage in the USA, costing around $30 billion. It confirms that natural calamities in affluent societies kill fewer people but in material terms it is huge.
It is heartening that most of the countries responded quickly in respect of donations for the rescue and rehabilitation operations. Western nations, including Japan, contributed substantially and it has crossed $2 billion. It is estimated that it would be over $4 billion. World Bank has also earmarked $1.5 billion for this tragedy.
Oil-rich Muslim countries have shown less enthusiasm, which is very unfortunate because most of the dead and disabled are Muslims. Big dignitaries, like Colin Powel, former Secretary of State of USA, Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the Untied Nations, former president of USA Bush (senior) and Clinton and foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom, Jack Straw etc, are surveying the intensity of devastation in the affected countries.
It is a good omen that the world has woken up to help the orphans, widows and homeless people of the calamity-stricken countries. The government of Pakistan also responded very well. It sent its two naval ships and two C-130 aircraft with paramedical staff and army jawans along with a heavy load of relief goods.
This destruction occurred because there was no tsunami warning system in these countries. Had there been such a warning system, most of the lives would have been saved.
To save human lives in future, the director of UN's International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, said, "I want to see that every coastal country around South Asia and Southeast Asia has at least a basic but efficient tsunami warning system in place by this time next year."
The seismic map prepared by the Geological Survey of Pakistan shows that the highest risk categories are located in Balochistan, the NWFP, the Northern Areas and Kashmir.
The second highest risks are Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Karachi is also exposed to this danger on account of Urmara, Pasni and Gwader, which are in the belt of Balochistan. Therefore, Karachi will not escape if tsunami hit Pasni or Gwader.
If, unfortunately, such a tragedy strikes the city of Karachi, what would be trauma of the Karachiites and the people residing in the coastal areas? There are no adequate arrangements to cope with such calamities, ie thunderstorm, devastating fires and major traffic accidents resulting in a heavy loss of life and, material damage what to say of fighting with a violent tsunami! All civic agencies responsible for coping with such emergencies have always been found grossly wanting.
There was a virtual collapse of whatever existed in the name of a system of emergency handling when two bomb blasts occurred in the Saddar area of Karachi during 1987, killing at least 67 persons and injuring 200, besides causing extensive damage to shops and residential around Empress Market and Bohri Bazar. Eye-witnesses observed chaotic scenes in the Jinnah Post-Graduate Hospital, where most of the dead and injured were admitted. There were no proper arrangements to cope with that disaster.
Very little co-ordination existed between doctors and paramedical staff. Acute shortage of medicines and life-saving drugs was keenly felt. The entire burden of transporting the dead and injured was borne by private ambulances and those of the
Edhi Trust. The Karachi Municipal Corporation and the local administration had no clue.
The same trauma and inadequacies were witnessed when the following incidents occurred:
Some years ago, Bismillah Manzil in Lyari collapsed claiming the lives of 37 persons. Then the Fayaaz Plaza in Federal B Area fell. Mushaidi Square at Shahra-e--Faisal and one of Maymar at Clifton came down tumbling to the ground. A similar situation was experienced at Karachi Airport, where the attempted hijacking of a Pan Am plane had to be foiled by commando action leading to heavy casualties.
In this action, many lives could have been saved and human suffering minimized with better co-ordination between the agencies involved in rescue operation and casualty department of the hospital. On May 7, 2004, suicide bombing was carried out in the mosque, which is located in the compound of Sindh Madrassat-ul-Islam School.
Fourteen people died on the spot and another eight of the 50 injured succumbed in the next few days. On May 31, 2004, another suicide bombing in the Imambargah Ali Raza occurred and it claimed 20 dead and 60 wounded.
All these above incidents indicate that Karachi badly needs a disaster-management system to cope with emergencies and disasters. Departments properly equipped to deal with natural and man-made calamities must be set up in public hospitals and a system evolved to make the optimum use of the medical facilities available in the private sector as well in the event of an emergency.
The idea is to integrate the services of all these organisations as well as those of Hilal-e-Ahmer, the Edhi Trust, public and community ambulances services promptly and in a co-ordinate move to save lives and mitigate human sufferings in a grave emergency.
KMC at present has about 40 fire tenders for ten fire stations, three ambulances and one snorkel. According to international rules there should have been for each fire station, four tenders for every one hundred thousand persons and for the present population of Karachi, there should have been at least 110 fire stations, 440 fire tenders, 220 ambulances and 110 snorkels. Snorkels are required when people are buried under the debris. It helps trace live persons under the rubble.
Here, I suggest that to fill the above gap of fire stations of KMC, financial institutions should take the initiative in this humanitarian work. There are 42 modarabas, 26 leasing companies, 25 investment banks, 23 local commercial banks and 32 insurance companies. Each can easily contribute one ambulance and one tender to overcome this inadequacy.
Ambulances, if donated, can look after by the Edhi Trust and fire tenders, by KMC. Such charitable gesture should be granted tax exemption by the government to encourage other corporate companies to participate in this project of public welfare.
Fortunately, nature has spared Pakistan's coastal belt from the worst kind of tsunami that occurred on December 26, 2004. Our Prime Minister, Shaukat Aziz, has set up a committee with the task of setting up an early warning system to alert the people and the administration about the possibilities of an impending natural calamity.
The Institute of Oceanography would evolve this system. The aforesaid constituted committee will have the representatives of the government of Sindh and Balochistan.
We hope that the oceanography institute will set up the early warning system at the earliest, and an equally important task is for the government to set up disaster management machinery at the national level.
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