Heightened awareness allows effective evacuations following Sumatra earthquake

In the case of last night’s earthquake, tsunami alerts were given after 40 minutes of the quake by the Japan Meteorology Agency to 6 Indian Ocean countries including India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. Tourists were evacuated from risk prone areas in Thailand, while people left their homes in Sri Lanka and India and moved to safer ground. The high level of awareness, since the 26 December, allowed people to react swiftly and in an informed manner.