Top UN officials have underscored the importance of continuous risk assessment and preparedness to safeguard coastal communities worldwide from the disastrous impact of tsunamis, marking World Tsunami Awareness Day on Thursday.
Government-led relief efforts are being stepped up at the tip of the Indonesia’s two main islands of Sumatra and Java after a tsunami slammed into densely-populated coastal areas along the Sunda Strait on Saturday night.
More emergency shelter supplies and relief for thousands of victims of Indonesia’s recent earthquake and tsunami is set to arrive on the island of Sulawesi in the coming days, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Friday, amid reports from staff that the devastation is “beyond imagination”.
Aid is getting through to victims of last Friday’s deadly earthquake and tsunami, which struck the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, but stricken communities are still in dire need, UN aid agencies said on Friday.
Rescue workers are still trying to reach areas of Sulawesi in Indonesia affected by an earthquake and tsunami, UN humanitarians said on Monday, noting that more than 840 people have died and more than 600 have been severely injured in the disaster.
Following a major, 7.5 magnitude earthquake in Indonesia’s Central Sulawesi province on Friday, the United Nations Secretary General António Guterres said in a statement that he’s “deeply saddened” by the “terrible loss of life” and injuries from the disaster.
It has been ten years since a massive tsunami swept across the Indian Ocean killing more than 200,000 people and devastating coastline communities from Indonesia to Somalia. Today, the world today is much better prepared to mitigate such disasters, senior United Nations officials have declared.
