Indians ask, ‘Why weren’t we warned?’ 03-01-2005
NEW DELHI: For two and a half hours the tsunami sped towards the Indian coast, yet nobody was warned.
The waves struck Indonesia, Thailand and then submerged an air force base on the Indian island of Car Nicobar, 1,200 km from the mainland.
Finally, minutes before the deadly waters struck, the sea began to rapidly recede from India’s eastern shore. In some places, children scurried onto the beach to pick up shells. Faxes were sent between government departments, but still no warning was given to the public. Finally the tsunami struck, with devastating effect.
“At every stage, there was a shrinking window of opportunity to warn people. But nothing happened,” said Barun Mitra of Liberty Institute, a New Delhi-based think-tank. “A country that hopes to run the call centres of the world could not call its own people.”
The Indian Express Newspaper says the top brass of the Indian Air Force knew their Nicobar air base had been submerged a full hour before the waves struck the mainland coast. The Indian Meteorological Department knew of the earthquake within minutes. Its first fax went out two and half hours later, and was sent to the home of the previous government’s science and technology minister, rather than his successor, the paper said.
“My dear, it was a Sunday. Time was taken by the officer to get ready and get into the car - but there was no delay.” Reuters
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_2-1-2005_pg4_16
I thought, i’ll just back up my wild claims, but as it turns out, I might not be the only one thinking on these lines… as you can see from this report.