Tsunamis are devastating natural disasters that cause destruction in multiple forms – the crushing impact of the waves, sudden rapid floods, debris from destroyed infrastructure injuring people at high speed and the loss of human life. This is just the immediate impact after a tsunami. The devastation that follows includes the destruction of coastal ecosystems, the death and displacement of human survivors and its impact on communities, villages, towns, cities, nations and continents.
This was evident during the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that struck off the coast of Indonesia and led to the deaths of more than 220,000 people across fourteen countries. The devastation was multifold and affected communities in different ways depending on where they lived. For fishing communities along India’s eastern coast, the tsunami destroyed homes, fishing vessels, flooded entire villages and led to people going missing – and were never again to be found.
World Tsunami Awareness Day
World Tsunami Awareness Day is observed each November 5th around the world to prepare coastal communities in the event of a tsunami and to implement prevention, relief and rebuilding strategies. In 2015, World Tsunami Awareness Day was first suggested by the UN to work on prevention strategies and develop processes to reduce the damaging effects as much as possible. This includes both short term and long term initiatives to help get people back on their feet.
The theme for World Tsunami Awareness Day 2025 is Be Tsunami Ready. This theme focuses on awareness strategies to ensure that people know what tsunamis are, how to spot them and what to do when a tsunami appears to be heading in their direction. No piece of information, no matter how small, should be overlooked in its usefulness as we learn from the real life case of Tilly Smith who was just 10 years old when she saved people from the oncoming tsunami in 2004 – using knowledge.
Lessons from Tilly Smith
Two weeks before Tilly Smith went on holiday with her family to Thailand, her geography teacher taught her class about tsunamis. She remembers learning about underwater earthquakes and white froth on the water’s surface as indicators of a tsunami. Instantly, she began telling people to head to higher ground but was ignored. But Tilly was determined and kept pleading with people to leave the beach and head indoors to the highest floors of the hotel.
It was only when some of the beachgoers took notice and made the connection between Tilly’s loud warnings and the earthquake that had happened earlier in the day, that everyone started running from the beach. People who were were walking or playing sports on the beach only evacuated because of Tilly Smith and later watched the devastation from higher ground. It was later reported that Mai Cao beach, where they were, suffered no fatalities.
Be Tsunami Ready
Because this child learned the signs to spot a tsunami, she was able to save more than 100 people from sudden death. In later interviews, she shares that the importance of awareness education should not be understated and that awareness sessions in schools as well as public service announcements (PSAs) in public places such as buses and trains can help people living and working in areas that are prone to floods, landslides and tsunamis.
It is crucial that this awareness should go hand in hand with governmental and NGO initiatives to ensure that on-ground awareness education reaches the most remote areas that are cut off from radio, television, internet and even telephone access. These communities are often unaware of certain natural disasters, what to do when they strike or even what human behaviours or weather patterns lead to them. But to learn these is the difference between life and death.
There are government initiatives to predict tsunamis and disseminate crucial information to people and this includes comprehensive early warning systems. These systems detect earthquakes and send relevant information to localized centres who are then responsible for informing the public. Furthermore, NGOs are quick to respond on the ground with both short term assistance such as medicines, food and water as well as long term rebuilding strategies.
Lessons from the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami
In addition to awareness education and comprehensive early warning systems, there is another crucial aspect to mitigating the effects of natural disasters – the environment. In surveying the damage after the floods, it was found that an area in Cuddalore, which had planted a mangrove forest, was less affected by the tsunami floods compared to other places in the area which were destroyed by the rushing waters that crushed homes and took the lives of local residents.
Trees have natural properties that do wonders for the environment. We know that trees purify the air we breathe by removing dangerous toxins and other harmful pollutants from the air. But in addition to that, the roots of trees also absorb excess water. This helps reduce the severe effect of flooding which, when uncontrolled, goes on to cause landslides and other related natural disasters. This is exactly what happened with Pichavaram’s mangrove forest in Cuddalore.
The research and data collection on the effectiveness of mangrove trees in mitigating the effects of floods has proven that it is a worthwhile effort to engage in mangrove tree plantation efforts – focusing on coastal areas across India. The massive impact that this will have on people’s lives, homes and livelihoods is both immense and widespread. It means the difference between life or death, safety or destruction and security or helplessness.
Project Valam
United Way Chennai runs Project Valam and one of its main initiatives is tree plantation drives across Tamil Nadu and Kerala. It is understood that tree plantation drives have both a noticeable and a hidden impact on the lives of people through increasing the green cover of an area, reducing air pollution and preventing flood related disasters resulting from tsunamis and other natural disasters. For more than a decade, Project Valam’s impact has changed lives.
This World Tsunami Awareness Day, your support to Project Valam is one step closer to ensuring that communities living in flood-prone areas are safer and better protected in the sudden event of a tsunami. While mechanisms such as comprehensive early warning systems are crucial, tree plantation is an effort that a group of individuals can take upon themselves to make sure that their response to disaster prevention is effective and sustainable.
