A disaster is "a catastrophe that causes great damage or loss of life and property". Humans have passed down stories through the ages that helped cultures cope with disasters, and in the past decade geologists have begun to pay more attention to how indigenous people understood and prepared for disaster. This lesson explains how communities should respond to earthquakes, tsunamis, riots and fires.
1. Case Study – The 2004 Tsunami and the Moken
- Shortly before 8 am on 26 December 2004, a tsunami was generated by a magnitude 9.1 earthquake off the coast of Sumatra.
- The Moken, an isolated tribe on the Andaman Islands, knew of the Laboon – the 'wave that eats people'. Their elders told children: 'If the water recedes after an earthquake, run immediately to high ground'.
- The death toll in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands was 1,879, with another 5,600 people missing.
- Islanders who had heard the stories of the Laboon survived essentially unscathed. Most casualties in the southern Nicobar Islands were outsiders, who had no indigenous tsunami warning system to guide them.