ReliefWeb » Four deadly disasters strike Asia Pacific
As earthquakes are being reported in Indonesia the Red Cross Red Crescent is now responding to four near-simultaneous disasters in Asia Pacific.
The Asia Pacific region is tragically living up to its reputation as one of the most disaster-prone regions of the world with four near-simultaneous disasters – devastation from Typhoon Ketsana and torrential rains in the Philippines and Viet Nam in South East Asia, and a strong earthquake followed by a tsunami on the Samoan islands, in the Pacific. In addition, at the time of writing, a 7.9 earthquake was recorded on Wednesday 30 September, off the West coast of Indonesia, about 50 kilometres from Padang, the capital of West Sumatra. Buildings were damaged but there are no reports of deaths or injuries, so far. A tsunami watch was immediately issued for Indonesia, India, Thailand and Malaysia.
These disasters have taken the lives of hundreds of people across the region, sowed devastation, chaos and economic hardship, and are severely testing the mettle and disaster preparedness of both governments and humanitarian actors. For their part, Red Cross Societies in the region immediately mobilized thousands of volunteers and staff skilled in disaster management. Thanks to early warning systems, threatened populations were evacuated ahead of the Typhoon and the tsunami; shelters were set up, pre-positioned relief stocks distributed as well as water and food.
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