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Inadequate Emergency System Contributes to Indonesia’s Rising Death Toll Following Earthquake and Tsunami

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The death toll on Indonesia’s island of Sulawesi has risen to 1,200 as of this morning, in the aftermath of a 7.5 magnitude earthquake on Friday and the tsunami that followed. As emergency crews still lead efforts to locate and save victims and clear debris, officials warn that the number of casualties could rise further.

The current warning system is comprised of tidal gauge stations augmented by land-based seismographs, sirens in about 55 locations and a system to disseminate warnings by text message. Time reported that the country had not updated its emergency notification systems (ENS) following the 2004 tsunami that devastated the region, due in part to lack of funding. According to Time:

The high-tech system of seafloor sensors, data-laden sound waves and fiber-optic cable was meant to replace a system set up after an earthquake and tsunami killed nearly 250,000 people in the region in 2004. But inter-agency wrangling and delays in getting just 1 billion rupiah ($69,000) to complete the project mean the system hasn’t moved beyond a prototype developed with $3 million from the U.S. National Science Foundation.

Analysts say that a proper ENS would have provided earlier warnings of the disasters and may have prevented some of the casualties.

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At the time of impact, the country was already dealing with the fallout of major seismic activity in the region. Within the span of about a week in late July and early August, the Indonesian resort island of Lombok was the site of intense earthquakes that killed hundreds, displaced hundreds of thousands and destroyed more than 13,000 houses.

Indonesia is prone to earthquakes because of the country’s location in the “Ring of Fire,” the arc of volcanoes and active fault lines in the Pacific Basin.

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Sutopo Purow Nugroho, a National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman, said communications with the earthquake-stricken region were disrupted.

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“Our early estimation, based on experience, is that it caused widespread damage, beginning from Palu northward to Donggala,” he told MetroTV.

It seems as though social media will have to play a more central role in alerting the public of new disasters. This morning, Indonesia’s Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysical Agency (BMKG) tweeted a new alert of a 5.0 magnitude quake near the North Central Timor Regency in East Nusa Tengarra – an Indonesian province – that could potentially lead to a tsunami.

Can Britney Spears Ward Off Piracy?

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Britney Spears

Pirates remain a notable risk for businesses that involve maritime activities like shipping for supply or distribution. While it’s easy to dismiss the idea with images of wooden ships, gangplanks and a thoroughly unwashed Johnny Depp, the face of piracy has changed, but it has far from disappeared.

In the last decade, increased pirate activity out of war-torn Somalia have drawn considerable media attention, especially as hundreds of ships were attacked and dozens hijacked and their crews held hostage. Pirates earned an average of $4.87 million per ship in 2011, a huge financial toll for businesses that was only compounded by rising need for kidnap and random insurance for crews.

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Yet the Horn of Africa and the Suez Canal are not the most perilous seas. Australia’s News Limited reported, “Shipping industry figures show that the waters around Indonesia and the Malay Peninsula is the world’s hotspot for pirates.

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” The International Maritime Bureau found that Indonesia has experienced a more than 50% surge in pirate attacks in the first half of 2013. Of the 48 attacks reported, 43 involved pirates boarding vessels and assaulting the crew. West Africa has also grown as a hotspot, and the Control Risks RiskMap Maritime 2013 also highlighted high conflict potential at sea off South Korea, Nigeria, and Bangladesh.

RiskMap Maritime 2013Some experts are turning to more creative measures to ward off pirates, Time magazine reported this week. To deter pirates from approaching supertankers off the east coast of Africa, merchant navy officer Rachel Owens said ships have begun blasting the musical stylings of Britney Spears.

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“Her songs were chosen by the security team because they thought the pirates would hate them most,” Owens said. “These guys can’t stand Western culture or music, making Britney’s hits perfect.”

It’s a colorful approach to consider, especially as Hollywood turns a spotlight on mismanaged pirate attacks with the new Tom Hanks movie “Captain Phillips.” Let’s just not take it too far – as Steven Jones, of the Security Association for the Maritime Industry, told Time, “I’d imagine using Justin Bieber would be against the Geneva Convention.”

Indonesia’s Year of Tragedy

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The recent tsunami that devastated several remote islands in Indonesia has brought to light the country’s horrible history of natural disasters. Here, we take a look at the worst disasters to strike the chain of islands in Southeast Asia this year alone.

June 16, 2010: The 7.0 magnitude Papua earthquake destroyed nine villages and killed 17 people. More than 2,500 houses were destroyed. This came on the heels of the 2009, 7.6 magnitude Papua earthquake that killed four and injured dozens.

October 6, 2010: The Papua area experienced yet another disaster when torrential rains caused overflowing rivers and landslides. More than 145 people were killed, more than 800 injured and hundreds more displaced. The government blamed heavy rains for the severe flooding, rather than illegal logging and deforestation.

October 25, 2010: The U.S. Geological Survey reported a 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Indonesia’s Sumatra island, causing a deadly tsunami.

October 25, 2010: The tsunami struck Indonesia’s Sumatra province, flattening villages and a resort. West Sumatra provincial disaster management official Ade Edward was quoted as saying, “The number of dead is now 282 and 411 are missing.” He said aid such as food, blankets and tents had begun filtering into the affected areas but that clean water was scarce and that the risk of disease was growing. Indonesian officials have said that the country’s tsunami warning system was not working because it had been vandalized. (The warning system was implemented after the horrific 2004 earthquake and tsunami that killed more than 230,000.)

October 26, 2010: Indonesia’s most volatile volcano, Mount Merapi, erupted, killing at least 28 people. Authorities have been attempting to evacuate 11,000 villagers living on the slopes of the volcano where many houses have been destroyed. Among the dead was the elderly spiritual guardian of the volcano, a man who, Japanese believed, possessed magical powers over the mountain.