24th December 2004, was a day that brought a new word to our dictionary. 'Tsunami' was a word that most us were never familiar and never heard of before. It's originated from Japan and familiar with those living in the pacific. But never to us Maldivians. Before 6 years we are thought to be far away from earthquake zone and free from related disasters.
Six years back on this day undersea earthquake near Sumatra in Indonesia resulted a Tsunami that effected several countries in the Indian Ocean killing over 200,000 people and several more homeless. Maldives lost 100 lives making it the deadliest disaster. It was a day nobody imagined in their worst nightmares and never expected to see.
This brought the country and people together for recovery. People got united in reconstruction with the assistance from all over the world.
Six years after the tsunami my question is are ready for such a disaster? This is something we don't want see again, but we should be ready if it happens to minimize the impact. With the experience of 2004, what experts advice is this can be mitigated if there is a effective warning system. With the recommendations, UN and governments have set up a Tsunami warning system in the Indian Ocean. What I don't understand is if the people are aware about the process if there are any warnings? How will they communicate such warnings. I think it's time we make people aware and this kind of issues.
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