Indian Ocean Islands
The Indian Ocean was bought under the spotlight after 26 December 2004 when the second largest earthquake ever recorded* occurred off the west coast of Sumatra and triggered a series of tsunami’s that spread across the Indian Ocean claiming the lives of over 200,000 people.
The Seychelles Red Cross deploys its three staff and some 100 volunteers to check on families affected by the tsunami on Praslin Island.
The Western Indian Ocean Islands (Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius and Seychelles) are prone to natural disasters, particularly floods due to the annual cyclone season from December to April.
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's five oceans (after the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Ocean, but larger than the Southern Ocean and Arctic Ocean).
There have been 7 reported tsunamis in the Indian Ocean in the last century. This number is proportionately low compared to other oceans such as the Pacific which has meant no early warning systems were ever put into place in the region.
There has been considerable speculation that had an early warning system been in place the devastating loss of life could have been minimized if not avoided altogether.
While the death toll in the Western Indian Ocean Islands was considerably less than their larger neighbours, such as Indonesia and Sri Lanka the devastation to what were already poor living conditions was considerable.
* Source; Wikipedia
