Digital Review of Asia Pacific

December 2004

In December 2004, a tsunami struck the coastal communities of several Asian countries; many of those technicians who saw the disaster approaching were, according to this article, unable to warn communities standing in harm's way - despite the purported power of their information and communication technology (ICT) systems.

However, according to this article, "This was not the case with Vijayakumar Gunasekaran, a 27-year old son of a fisherman from Nallavadu village, Pondicherry on the eastern coast of India, who works in Singapore. He had access only to a radio and television on the morning of 26 December....As the seriousness of the disaster in Aceh sank in he began to worry about the safety of his family living along the Indian coastline facing Aceh. He decided to phone home.

"...[H]is sister answered the phone. She told him that seawater was seeping into their home when he asked what was happening in Nallavadu...He asked his sister to quickly leave their home and to also warn other villagers to evacuate the village. 'Run out and shout the warning to others' he urged his sister.

"Her warning reached a couple of quick-thinking villagers who broke down the doors of the community centre set up by the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation where a public address system used routinely to announce sea conditions to the fishermen was housed. The warning from Vijayakumar, collaborated at this time by a second overseas telephone call from Gopu, another villager working abroad, was broadcast across the village using the loud-speaker system. The village's siren was sounded immediately afterwards for the people to evacuate.

"No one was killed in this village as a result of the timely warnings..."

Posting to the Global Knowledge for Development (GKD) list server on January 4 2005 (click here for the archives).