Southeast Asia will never forget the Christmas of 2004

10 years ago today, on December 26, 2004, the world woke up to the news of a tsunami that swept through South-East Asia. An earthquake of magnitude 9.3 on the Richter scale, with the epicentre off the island of Sumatra in Indonesia, causes huge waves. No destructive waves are slow to reach the coasts of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand. In a few hours, paradisiacal beaches are transformed into a doomsday scenario.

The telluric shock is the third largest on record in the history.

Vacancies, which are 30 feet, not if they get by the Southeast Asia. Shock waves reach the East coast of Africa. The natural disaster kills more than 230,000 people. The tidal wave was so strong that the Earth's axis has moved an inch.

10 years later, the question remains: how is it possible that the world, in the 21st century, he wasn't prepared for an incident of this magnitude?

Part of the answer can be given by the fact that, apart from Indonesia and Thailand, there is no tsunami warning system in the region. Coastal populations have not been warned and this contributed to dramatically increase the number of dead and wounded.

On the other hand, there are those who consider that the responsible hesitated before launching the alert for fear that the information was false and would undermine the paradisiacal image of tourist destinations in the region. The bureaucratic slowness also set the tragic fate of thousands of families:

"It's been 10 years and every time I return to my old House I can't stop crying. I have peace of mind because I lost three children in the tsunami, and even if you have another, I won't be able to forget ", refers to a mother still in mourning.

The international community reacts quickly. The fact that more than 2,000 tourists have lost life helped to accelerate the process. 14,000 million dollars is the amount of financial aid you raise until today. Has to heal the wounds? Those who survived say they don't:

"Since the compensation money for the tsunami ended, our problems started. Managing the family budget became too complicated and difficult. We are truly struggling and in trouble because my father is not very helpful. You always get in trouble when she drinks ".

Marco Lemos | With APTN, REUTERS, EFE, AFP

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