MASS DISASTER

INDONESIA: Post tsunami Aceh progress report

Refugees International files the following report on the post-tsunami reconstruction efforts. While progress has been made the report recommends that the pace be stepped up...

The coast of Aceh is turning from brown to green as vegetation recovers from the great inundation of the tsunami which swept as much as five miles inland. While some land was washed away or is still flooded, much farm land could be reclaimed soon according to environmental experts. The impact of salt water on the land was not as bad as expected. Many tree crops, such as oil palm and coconuts, are salt resistant and even many rice paddies can be reclaimed and replanted as salt leaches away in heavy rains. Few international aid agencies are working at the farm level to restore agriculture, a failing that should be corrected immediately.

... read the full report here.

USA: Pacific Northwest Ripe for Mega-quake

The Cascadia subduction zone is overdue for a massive earthquake. Coastal communities in Oregon and Washington state - as they exist today - would be destroyed by the resulting tsunami...
Scientists say that when - not if - the earthquake takes place, the consequences could resemble the devastation that struck Indonesia in December of 2004 after an 8.9 magnitude quake hit off the coast in the Indian Ocean.

... via katu.com.

ABC of conflict and disasters

Anthony D Redmond pens an informative article detailing natural disasters from a medical/rescue standpoint. Read and be prepared.

Concerning the rescue timeline after earthquakes he writes...

Most successful rescues take place within the first 24 hours. Most lives are saved by the immediate actions of survivors. Local authorities implement the second phase, when a more coordinated response is established with local rescue teams joining the survivors. In the third phase more intensive and focused efforts are supplemented with extra help from other areas. The fourth and final phase involves the provision of specialist aid for rescuing people deeply entrapped.

... via British Medical Journal.com.

INDONESIA: Disaster of Man's Making Now Threatens Sumatra

In an attempt to expedite post tsunami reconstruction forests are being illegally logged for wood.

Baharuddin, a sawmill manager, said the demand for timber -- and its price -- has risen since people began to rebuild. Some of the best wood goes now for almost $300 a cubic meter.

"That's the tsunami price," he said, with a shrug.

Supply is not a problem. The wood comes "from up there," Baharuddin said, gesturing toward the mountains, "and in the next subdistrict over," indicating another set of mountains.

... via the Washington Post.