Intro to Disasters (Case) - Essay Example

The tsunamis in both places are of the same cause and measure, but the amount of destruction is different due to the kind of preparedness made to hurdle an almost insurmountable event. Comparison Between the Two Tsunami Events The event in December 26, 2004 has surely dominated all media outlets during that time. A horrid image of the vengeful waters was depicted around the areas of the Indian Ocean, specifically the ten nations to experience the tsunami. The said tsunami disaster claimed more than 280,000 lives, and leaves 1 million people homeless (Morrow & Llewellyn, 2006).

Ten nations were affected but it was Sumatra and Indonesia who were whipped tremendously killing about 178,000 of its citizens, almost half of the entire death toll (Morin, DeCoster, Paris & Lavigne, 2008). Resources of the nations affected were depleted and drastically changed the economic flow at that time. Life became harder on the poorest regions of South Asia and Indonesia since fishing is one of the main sources of income. Furthermore, Morrow and Llewellyn (2006) informed that “the earthquakes and tsunamis severely damaged medical facilities and killed much of the female labor force.

” Thirteen years before the Dec. . Shuto (2006) focused on Aonae, a place in Hokkaido, Japan where the tsunami literally “washed away housing on the seaside of the road” (p. 45). Like the ones in Dec. 26, the fishing industry of Hokkaido was greatly affected; the government has to do tremendous reconstruction of the fishing villages. Impact of the Tsunamis Morin, De Coster, Paris & Lavigne (2008) stated that the tsunamis impact may be “technological, economic, behavioral, social or cultural in nature.

” Especially to the nature of the economy, countries would differ in the approach of the two tsunamis which occurred in Hokkaido and the Indian Ocean. Japan has generally all the essential warning signals to prevent further casualties in such events. However, much of the Hokkaido residents and properties were affected because there was a 5-minute delay of the relaying of the tsunami warning (Edward, Terazaki & Yamaguchi, 2006). Prevention Damages may have been prevented or decreased if proper disaster management and prevention was applied beforehand.

According to Perry (2007), vulnerable areas are the ones who should have the at least above average knowledge about disaster preventions. Cooperation of the non-government offices, the government, and most especially the local residents is a vital factor of conceptualizing successful precautionary measures. NGO’s are particularly essential after the occurrence of a natural disaster where most victims are mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausted. In the December 26 event, early warning systems may have been helpful in saving more lives, but one essential factor could also be education.

As what Bird and Lubkowski (2005) denote, “early