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Warum wurden die Menschen nicht gewarnt?
Auszüge aus internationalen Pressemeldungen zum verheerenden Seebeben
in Südostasien
Folgende Auszüge liefern interessante Details und Fragestellungen,
die in der hiesigen Presse- und Medienlandschaft kaum diskutiert und berichtet
werden. Vor allem zu der Frage, warum die Bevölkerung in keinem der
betroffenenen Länder gewarnt wurde. Immerhin dauerte es an die 2
bis 3 Stunden, bis die vom Seebeben ausgelöste Flutwelle (Tsunami)
in Indien, Sri Lanka oder Thailand angekommen ist. Indonesien war aufgrund
der Nähe zum Epizentrum schon wenige Minuten nach dem Beben betroffen,
aber auch dort hätten Warnungen noch etliche Menschen retten können.
-----------------------------
Das amerikanische Intenational Action Center kritisiert in einer
Stellungnahme scharf die Regierung und Behörden der USA, die, obwohl
sie das Erdbeben registiert und eine Tsunami erwartet haben, die betroffenen
Länder nicht gewarnt haben!! Dort heißt es:
""...Die
US-Regierung unterließ Warnungen an die Region"
Während die
Regierungen in der Region keine wirklichen Warnungen hatten, lagen diese
der US-Regierung vor, und sie leitete die Information nicht weiter.
Innerhalb von Minuten nach dem massiven Erdbeben der Stärke 9 vor
der indonesischen Küste vermuteten US-Wissenschaftler der National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), daß sich eine tödliche
Welle im Indischen Ozean ausbreite. Sie riefen niemanden in den Regierungen
der Region an. Jeff LaDouce, ein Beamter der National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA), sagte, sie hätten e-mails an indonesische
Behörden geschickt, sagte aber, daß er keine Kenntnis habe,
was nach Absendung der e-mails geschehen sei.
In diesen Zeiten
unmittelbarer Kommunikation, die zu großen Teilen von den USA
kontrolliert wird, kann man innerhalb von Minuten mit jedem Teil des
Globus kommunizieren. Man kann es nicht glauben, daß die Beamten
der NOAA keinen Weg finden konnten, direkt und sofort mit zivilen Behörden
der Region Kontakt aufzunehmen.
Selbst eine Warnung
von wenigen Minuten hätte den Bewohnern die Chance gegeben, höheres
Terrain aufzusuchen. Mehrere Stunden, bevor die ersten Wellen auf Küsten
auftrafen, hatte die NOAA Kenntnis. Tim Walsh, Programm-Manager für
geologische Risiken beim Washingtoner Ministerium für Naturressourcen,
sagte: "Fünfzig Fuß [ca. 16 m] Erhebung wären ausreichend,
um selbst den schlimmsten Wellen zu entgehen. In den meisten Fällen
wären 25 Fuß ausreichend. Wenn man bergauf oder landeinwärts
geht, vermindert sich die Wirkung des Tsunami." Aber die Einwohner
der Region bekamen die Warnung nicht - mit dem Ergebnis, daß in
Thailand Fernseh- oder Radio-Warnungen erst eine Stunde, nachdem die
Wellen schon zugeschlagen hatten und Tausende tot waren, herauskamen.
Die Unterlassung
jeglichen wirklichen Versuchs, die Menschen der Region zu warnen, im
Wissen, daß es um Zehntausende von Menschenleben ging, ist Teil
eines Verhaltensmusters von imperialistischer Verachtung und Rassismus,
das weltweit zum Eckstein der Politik der USA geworden ist.
Die NOAA warnte
sofort die US-Marinebasis auf Diego Garcia, die von dem Tsunami nur
sehr geringen Schaden erlitt. Es ist bezeichnend, daß die NOAA
in der Lage war, die Warnung an die US-Basis in der Region zu übermitteln,
aber nicht den Telefonhörer in die Hand nehmen wollte, um die Zivilbehörden
der Region zu warnen. Sie stellten sicher, dass eine US-Militärbasis
gewarnt wurde und taten fast nichts, um eine Warnung für die Zivileinwohner
auszugeben, die sich im direkten Weg der Welle befanden - eine Warnung,
die Tausende von Leben hätte retten können. Das ist kriminelle
Fahrlässigkeit...." (eigene Übersetzung
aus dem englischen Original)
" ...U.S.
government failed to warn region
Although the local
governments had no real warning, the U.S. government did, and it failed
to pass along the information. Within minutes of the massive 9.0 magnitude
earthquake off the coast of Indonesia, U.S. scientists working with
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) suspected that
a deadly wave was spreading through the Indian Ocean. They did not call
anyone in the governments in the area. Jeff LaDouce, an official in
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said that they
e-mailed Indonesian officials, but said that he wasn't aware what happened
after they sent the e-mails.
In this day of
instant communications, controlled in a large part by the U.S., it is
possible to communicate within minutes to every part of the globe. It
is beyond belief that the officials at the NOAA could not find any method
to directly and immediately contact civilian authorities in the area.
Their decision not to do so may have cost thousands of lives.
Even a few minutes
warning would have given the inhabitants a chance to seek higher ground.
The NOAA had several hours notice before the first waves hit shore.
Tim Walsh, geologic-hazards program manager for the Washington State
Department of Natural Resources, said, "Fifty feet of elevation
would be enough to escape the worst of the waves. In most places, 25
feet would be sufficient. If you go uphill or inland, the effect of
the tsunami will be diminished." But the inhabitants of the area
weren't given the warning - as a result, television and radio alerts
were not issued in Thailand until nearly an hour after the waves had
hit and thousands were already dead.
The failure to make
any real effort to warn the people of the region, knowing that tens
of thousands of lives were at stake, is part of a pattern of imperial
contempt and racism that has become the cornerstone of U.S. policies
worldwide.
The NOAA immediately
warned the U.S. Naval Station at Diego Garcia, which suffered very little
damage from the tsunami. It is telling that the NOAA was able to get
the warning to the US Navy base in the area, but wouldn't pick up the
phone and call the civil authorities in the region to warn them. They
made sure that a US military base was notified and did almost nothing
to issue a warning to the civilian inhabitants who were in the direct
path of the wave--a warning that might have saved thousands of lives.
This is criminal negligence...."
Der vollständige Artikel (in englisch) bei International
Action Center: 134,000
Dead: The Role of U.S. Criminal Negligence on a Global Scale
--------------------------------
Ein Artikel aus "The Nation", Bangkok, übt schwere Kritik
am nationalen Wetterwarndienst. Da vor 6 Jahren der Leiter einmal fälschlich
einen Tsumai bei Phuket vorausgesagt habe und entsprechend dann angegriffen
worden sei, hätten die Bürokraten es trotz massiver Daten (das
Beben des Meeresbodens war bereits mit 8,6 gemeldet worden) vorgezogen,
nichts zu tun. Mit der Begründung, sie könnten mit einer Warnung
dem Tourismus schaden.
"Horrendous
failure of our national warning system
“Why
weren’t we warned?” This question has been echoing
around the tsunami-wrecked coast in the South ever since Sunday. The
answers, none of which is very satisfactory, are at best evasive. Based
on interviews given by senior officials from the Meteorological Department
and the Geological Resources Department, though, the official response
could be paraphrased thus:
“The public
was not warned because we weren’t sure. Tsunamis have rarely been
reported in the Indian Ocean. We’re more familiar with tsunamis
in the Pacific.”
Not very convincing.
The very rationale for a warning system is to expect the unexpected.
That’s what forecasters are there for. That’s what monitoring
natural disasters is all about. A much more tell-tale explanation of
the massive failure given by another Weather Bureau official would go
something like this:
“Since we
haven’t had a tsunami in the Indian Ocean for decades, we were
reluctant to issue a warning. Six years earlier, the then director-general
of the Weather Bureau issued a tsunami warning for off of the coast
of Phuket. One never materialised. A lot of people there condemned him
for making a prediction that they claimed could scare off tourists.
The public outcry there at the time practically banned him from ever
visiting Phuket again. Frankly, we had this very bad memory in mind
when we were considering whether or not to issue a warning.”
Tragic but true.
Absurd and eerily surreal. A lot of lives could have been saved on that
day had the country’s main weather warning agency been operating
on a strictly professional basis – and not on the subjective judgement
of the officials in charge.
It was out of fear
of being subjected to social and political pressure that the government
agencies concerned decided to resort to negligence of duty – to
expose hundreds of thousands of people to grave danger – in order
to protect their own social status. This is just one aspect of Thai
society’s currently fast-deteriorating professional standards
in almost every field of public service. It is a testament to the erosion
of courage and commitment to professionalism throughout the entire country.
The standard procedure,
as laid down by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in 1965, dictates
that any underwater earthquake with a magnitude of greater than 6.5
must automatically trigger the tsunami warning system. That morning,
the seismological monitoring section noted an earthquake initially registering
8.6 on the Richter scale. But bureaucratic inertia and timidity –
instead of a clear sense of alertness and emergency management –
reigned.
..."
"The Nation", Bangkok on December 30, 2004
-----------------------------
"Times of India" vom 28.12.04. bringt Äußerungen
eines indischen, weltweit tätigen Tsunami-Forschers:
"India had been struck by tsunamis twice in recent recorded history,
and in Dr Tad Murty's mind, there was always a third on the cards sooner
or later.
So more than once in recent months, following his retirement into Canadian
academia after setting up Canada's tsunami warning center, Dr Murty
told former colleagues in India to press the Indian government for something
similar. He also wrote papers on tsunamis in the Indian Ocean and the
possibility of India facing another tidal onslaught.
"They told me they can't sell the idea to the government,"
he said in an interview on Monday from his home in Ottawa. "Tsunamis
are such a rare phenomenon and the government looks at more urgent issues
of the day. Frankly, who can blame them?""
--------------------------------
Zum Fehlen eines Warnsystems auch der indische Präsident Kalam:
"After an
earthquake occurs beneath the seabed, it takes three hours for the dynamic
waves of great height to build up. All communities within a three-hour
travel time from the epicentre of the earthquake can be evacuated to
safety thanks to the tsunami warning system. This only means that technologically
there is a solution," Mr. Kalam said."
(Aus einem Artikel der ind. Zeitung The Hindu vom 30.12.04.)
------------------------------------
Ein Artikel der Times of India berichtet über Ausflüchte
indischer Wissenschaftler wegen Untätigkeit, daß sie angeblich
keine dringenden Informationen bekommen hätten:
"When it hit,
could they have called?
NEW DELHI: By 7
am on Sunday, Indian scientists tracking the tsunami had figured that
it had taken place outside India. They relaxed, thinking there was nothing
to worry about.
"The first
mistake," said department of science and technology secretary V
S Ramamurthy, on the sidelines of a news conference by science and technology
minister Kapil Sibal on Wednesday. During the news conference, he said
they contacted the Port Blair office at 8.25 am. It just reported damage
to buildings. At 9.51 am, another earthquake hit the Great Nicobar island,
over 7 in magnitude.
The Andamans station
did not report the tsunami. Ramamurthy's defence: "When it hit,
could they have sat and called?"
On the sidelines,
he said they called Port Blair before the tsunami hit Chennai. What
time did it hit the Andamans? He said he didn't know. Once they saw
what was happening on TV, they immediately realised it was a tsunami.
"We lost two and a half hours, there was nothing we could do,"
he said. Not everybody is convinced."
The Times of India
Online 29. Dez 2004
------------------------------
Jakarta Post vom 30.12.2004 über die besondere Betroffenheit
der Aceh-Provinz und die Lokalisation des Bebens:
Die Stadt Meulaboh in Aceh, Indonesien sei nur 150 km vom Epizentrum
entfernt gewesen. Dort habe es 10 m hohe Wellen gegeben. Derzeit wird
über 40.000 und mehr Tote allein in dieser Stadt berichtet.
" It was reported
earlier that Aceh's Simeulue Island had also survived the disaster,
despite being only 40 kilometers from the epicenter of Sunday's 9.0-magnitude
quake.The tsunami that hit Simeulue was reportedly about a meter high.
Other parts of Sumatra and countries bordering the Indian Ocean reported
tsunamis as high as 10 meters." (***)
"Aceh deaths
might hit 80,000: UN official
BANDA ACEH, Aceh
(Reuters): The death toll in Indonesia's Aceh province from a quake
and tsunami that struck on Sunday might reach between 50,000 and 80,000,
a UN official said on Wednesday. "I would say we are probably talking
about somewhere in the order of 80,000 people, 50 to 80,000 people,
that would be my educated guess," Michael Elmquist, head of the
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs for Indonesia,
told reporters. "It's a guess based on the relation between the
numbers we have so far and our experience from other earthquake disasters."
Elmquist said the coastal town of Meulaboh alone may have had 40,000
deaths. "The news I got from a government official on arrival today
was that their estimate was that a third of the population (of Meulaboh)
had been wiped out, which would equal 40,000 people." The latest
official government estimate of the death toll for all of Indonesia
is 36,268 deaths. Aceh was by far the hardest hit province in the country.
Asked if he was surprised by how high the death toll might go, Elmquist
said: "I wouldn't be surprised at all." He said while several
other countries in the region had been hit by tsunamis on Sunday, triggered
by a powerful undersea quake just off Aceh, Indonesia had been struck
especially hard by the quake, the epicenter of which was about 150 km
from Meulaboh. "The other countries were basically hit by a tidal
wave on the beach. What we had here in Aceh is a combination of serious
earthquake and tidal wave," Elmquist said. The 9.0 magnitude earthquake,
the biggest in 40 years, triggered a wall of water up to 10 meters high.
Official estimates thus far put total deaths in the countries hit by
the quake and tsunami at more than 67,000." (***)
Eine indonesische Insel an der Südküste Sumatras, Simeulue,
nur 40 km vom Epizentrum, sei nur von einer 1 m hohen Welle getroffen
worden, während es anderswo bis zu 10 m gewesen seien:
"It was reported
earlier that Aceh's Simeulue Island had also survived the disaster,
despite being only 40 kilometers from the epicenter of Sunday's 9.0-magnitude
quake.The tsunami that hit Simeulue was reportedly about a meter high.
Other parts of Sumatra and countries bordering the Indian Ocean reported
tsunamis as high as 10 meters."
(***) Jak. Post 30.12.04
------------------------------
Uwe Müller
31.12.04
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