Ying Sirisuk lost her grip on her 4-year-old sister as a tsunami thundered ashore at the fishing village of Ban Nam Khem, Thailand, on December 16, 2004.

“We got separated later because the waves struck us so hard I couldn’t hold her hand any longer,” says Ying, who survived by clinging to a floating mattress. Her sister’s body was never found.

Ying’s family was among tens of thousands who lost loved ones, homes, and livelihoods in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand in one of the most devastating natural disasters in recent memory.

The Indian Ocean tsunami catastrophe, with its 270,000 deaths and high damage costs, stirred new interest around the world in responding to and preparing for natural disasters, especially in countries where large numbers of people live in threatened areas.

An interim tsunami warning system now operates in the Indian Ocean, thanks to collaboration between the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission. A full-fledged system is expected to be in place by the end of 2007.

Nations and institutions are looking for other ways to protect an estimated 3.4 billion people living in areas prone to at least one natural hazard, such as flooding, hurricanes, earthquakes. A Global Hotspots Analysis conducted by the World Bank and Columbia University estimates 105 million people are exposed to three or more natural hazards.

Source