Columbo (Reuters)
COLOMBO (Reuters) - Rescuers scoured the sea for missing tourists and fishermen in Asia Monday and fears of disease grew as emergency services struggled with rotting bodies from a devastating tsunami that killed more than 22,700 people.
(snip)
With at least seven Asian nations and one in East Africa counting the human and economic cost of the tragedy, Western nations pledged aid and geologists asked why warning systems that could have saved thousands of lives were not in place.
Mata Musing
This is truly a heartbreaker. So many vacationing over the holidays, not to mention the natives. There is no doubt that when Mother Nature goes on a rampage, the shock waves reverberate round the world and affect us all. There by the grace of God go any of us.
And no one would have seen this coming on such a calm sunny day.
But I must say, I was absolutely stunned to learn that so many Pacific Rim countries do not have a simple tsunami alert system for the coastal areas.
"No one ever told us that these things can be predicted and we can be told about them," said Sumana Gamage, a shopowner in Colombo, Sri Lanka. "Next time I hope our government can do this."
We're not talking extremely high tech here. A communication device - wire or otherwise - tied in with with seismology sources that report earthquakes - plus even a simple, loud community horn would be better than nothing. Tsunamis are one of those natural disasters enabling some opportunity to minimize the loss of life.
It is sad to think they will implement such a system, one would hope, after the fact. And my heart goes out to all for their losses.
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