Bangkok, December 28 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Two days after Asia’s worst earthquake in decades and the resulting tsunami in the Indian Ocean that left tens of thousands dead and millions displaced, local and foreign media Tuesday, December 28, probed the lessons learned, shortcomings and ways to address them to avoid future catastrophes.

While acknowledging the near impossibility of predicting tsunamis, especially those triggered by strong earthquakes, a Thai daily said good forecasting, early warning systems and education could have lessened the scope of Sunday’s disaster and saved lives.

Thai daily The Nation said countries in South and Southeast Asia must put in place without further delay an effective international communications system to ensure quick dissemination of information throughout the region.

“It may well be true that no one can prevent seismic events such as earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions from happening. But it is also true that even the most rudimentary monitoring and public warning systems could have saved many lives,” The Nation said Tuesday, December 28.

The Thai paper warned that after the terrifying tidal waves, continued complacency is no longer an option for Thailand or any other country in this part of the world, which must pool their resources and expertise to acquire the capability to forecast the likelihood of tsunamis.

Forecasting tsunamis requires an adequate understanding of the phenomenon, accurate collection of earthquake and sea-level data, as well as accurate assessment and interpretation of this data.

Such a catastrophic natural disaster makes for sobering reflection. Unlike in the Pacific Rim areas, there is no warning system for tsunamis around the Indian Ocean because such a devastating phenomenon only occurs in the region about once every 700 years, the paper added.

The paper also said that at the moment, all available manpower and resources at the Thai government’s disposal must be concentrated on the search-and-rescue operations for surviving victims and in helping people whose lives and livelihoods have been destroyed get back on their feet.

When all of the desperately needed assistance, it added, has been delivered to victims not only to help them overcome the tragic events but also to enable them to stand on their own feet again, Thai society as a whole would do well to learn the right lessons from this catastrophe.

“In the case of Thailand, the Meteorological Department and Department of Mineral Resources, which is in charge of monitoring seismic activities, are making conflicting statements about whether a public warning could have at least informed people in potentially dangerous areas to evacuate before the tidal waves hit.

“The Meteorological Department says what happened was unforeseeable to explain the lack of a public warning about the huge surge of water heading towards the Thai coast. Although the Meteorological Department did make note of the violent earthquake in Sumatra in its daily bulletin about an hour before the tsunami struck the southern coastal provinces of Thailand, it made no mention of potential consequences,” the paper said.

“Even a warning about the possibility of a tsunami - regardless of its probability - could have tipped off people in vulnerable coastal areas and prepared them to brace for the worst.”

The daily further recalled a more disturbing fact on a warning some 10 years ago, by the then-chief of the Meteorological Department, about the tsunami risk that Phuket and other part of Thailand’s western coast facing the Indian Ocean was exposed to.

“Due to complacency and a fatalistic attitude, no studies have been conducted to try to gauge the risk factors - much less to step up preparedness,” it added.

Houses submerged in water in Port Blair, capital of India's Andaman and Nicobar islands. (AFP)

The issue was also raised in India, with a newspaper reporting that India repeatedly turned a deaf ear to warnings that it needed to set up a tidal wave alert system.

Quoting a leading world expert, the Indian Express said that twenty-six countries were alerted to Sunday's devastating tsunami in 15 minutes, but India, where more than 8,500 died, was not one of them.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center and the International Tsunami Information Center, both in Hawaii, detected the December 26 earthquake off Indonesia that generated the Indian Ocean tsunamis, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

But the centers were set up to provide alerts to Pacific nations and frantic scientists had no contacts in the countries in the path of the giant waves.

India had decided the cost was too great, Canada-based Indian Tad Murty told the Express.

The daily noted that “such was the level of ignorance (in India) that even the National Institute of Oceanography director Satish R. Shetye only found out more than three hours after disaster struck”.

“I was completely taken by surprise,” he said.

“I have tried several times with the Indian government, but they have said they do not have enough money to sustain a full-fledged system,” said Murty, who helped set up the Pacific and Canadian systems three decades ago.

“It will be difficult for India to do it alone,” admitted Murty, of the University of Winnipeg.

“They should get together with Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Thailand and come under the umbrella of the UN to set up this round-the clock warning system.”

India's Minister of State for Science and Technology announced Monday, December 27, that the government had now decided to install a sea floor pressure recording system in the Indian Ocean to send warnings in the event of a tsunami building up.

New Delhi would also join the network of 26 countries which warn each other of any changes in the sea pressure and the possibility of the onset of high tidal waves due to earthquakes, he said, according to AFP.

Australia has now proposed an Indian Ocean tsunami monitoring network to mirror the Honolulu-based system already covering the Pacific.