For World Tsunami Awareness Day today on 5th November, the UN has stated on its website that up to half of the world’s population will be living in coastal areas exposed to flooding, storms, and tsunamis by 2030.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that countries ned to step up understanding of and risk prevention mechanisms related to tsunamis. He said: “Rising sea levels caused by the climate emergency will further exacerbate the destructive power of tsunamis”, and, “We must limit warming to 1.5 degrees over pre-industrial averages and invest at scale in the resilience of coastal communities.”
Mortality Due To Tsunamis
Tsunamis are one of the deadliest natural disasters. The UN has stated on its website that over the past 100 years, 58 tsunamis have killed over 260,000 people worldwide.
The worst tsunami disaster on record was the 2004 Indian ocean tsunami which included the Indian islands of Andaman and Nicobar. It is known as Boxing Day Tsunami and the Sumatra–Andaman earthquake. Other countries affected were Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Myanmar, and Somalia.
Tsunami waves of upto 30 m (100 ft) left an estimated death toll of 227,898 across 14 countries during this disaster.
Sendai Seven Campaign
The UN promoted the Sendai Seven Campaign on Tsunami Awareness Day. The Campaign is an advocacy initiative launched in 2016 that focuses on international disaster mitigation. Its aim is to implement the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. Under this framework, there are seven targets spread over the years 2016 to 2022. The seven objectives of the Sendai Framework are given below, as taken from the official website of the program:
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