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FACTBOX: How warnings save lives

05 Oct 2005
Source: AlertNet

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• Disaster risk reduction

LONDON (AlertNet) – Good information saves lives according to the 2005 World Disasters Report, published by the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Following are some examples of how prompt warnings have prevented deaths.

The 2004 Atlantic hurricane season was one of the most destructive in history but early warnings saved thousands.

In Cuba, before Hurricane Charley, 224,000 people were evacuated, while four died as a result of the storm. (Cuba’s National Forecasting Center).
In the United States, 2.5m people in Florida were evacuated before Hurricane Frances according to Governor Jeb Bush. But 47 people were still killed by the storm (US National Hurricane Center).
In the Dominican Republic, Tropical Storm Jeanne prompted thousands to evacuate, though the storm claimed 23 lives (Dominican Government). But in neighbouring Haiti, the national meteorology office failed to get the warning to people at risk. No-one was evacuated and over 2,000 were killed or lost (Haiti Department of Civil Protection).

The Asian tsunami killed around 225,000 people. Most had received no early warning.

But in eastern India, 3,630 inhabitants of Nallavadu evacuated and survived after receiving an early warning by phone from a local fisherman’s son who had followed news of the tsunami on TV in Singapore.
In the Andaman islands, indigenous tribes who have lived there for 30,000 years moved to higher ground when they felt the ground shake from the earthquake which triggered the tsunami. They also realised disaster was approaching from the behaviour of birds and animals and the unusual appearance of the sea. Very few of the tribes’ 400-plus members died, while thousands of settlers on neighbouring islands perished (BBC News).
In Thailand, Tilly Smith, 10, was reported to have saved over 100 lives when she raised the alert after noticing the sea retreating on the beach in Thailand. She had remembered a geography lesson on tsunamis two weeks earlier. (Reuters)

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