BACKGROUND Describing adverse health effects and identifying vulnerable populations during and after a disaster are important aspects of any disaster relief operation. This study aimed to describe the mortality and related risk factors which affected the displaced population over a period of two and a half months after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami in an eastern coastal district of Sri Lanka. ...

Within the German-Indonesian Tsunami Early Warning System project GITEWS (Rudloff et al., 2009), a feasibility study on a future tsunami detection system from space has been carried out. The Global Navigation Satellite System Reflectometry (GNSS-R) is an innovative way of using reflected GNSS signals for remote sensing, e.g. sea surface altimetry. In contrast to conventional satellite radar alt...

In this study, we perform experiments with a coupled atmosphere-ocean general circulation model (CGCM) to examine ENSO’s influence on the interannual sea-surface temperature (SST) variability of the tropical Indian Ocean. The control experiment includes both the Indian and Pacific Oceans in the ocean model component of the CGCM (the Indo-Pacific Run). The anomaly experiment excludes ENSO’s infl...

Understanding the frequency of high energy storm and tsunami events is crucial for apprehending vulnerability coastal communities. Identifying dating sedimentary evidence deposited by such can assist in planning installation suitable protection measurements. The Andaman Sea coast Thailand particularly vulnerable to as illustrated 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. Here, three shore-perpendicular transe...

The vegetation response to environment is very sensitive and not only affects the ecological balance and climate but has also been found to be effective barrier against natural disasters. This paper shows how differences between the visible red and near-infrared (NIR) bands of a LANDSAT image can be used to identify areas containing significant vegetation. It uses a LANDSAT Thematic Mapper imag...

Disaster recovery after the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004 led to a number of challenges and raised issues concerning land rights and housing reconstruction in the affected countries. This paper discusses the resistance to relocation of fishing communities in Chennai, India. Qualitative research methods were used to describe complexities in the debate between the state and the community regarding...

In the Asia/Pacific region there is evidence of prominent increases in the intensity and/or frequency of many extreme events such as heat waves, tropical cyclones, prolonged dry spells, intense rainfall, tornadoes, snow avalanches, thunderstorms, and severe dust storms in the region. Furthermore, the region is highly subject to natural hazards, such as the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, the 2005 Pa...

The events of September 11, 2001, the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, and Hurricane Katrina in 2005 awakened American policymakers to the importance of the need for emergency management. This paper explains how a cloud computing environment can support social networks and logistical coordination on a global scale during crises. Basic cloud computing functionality is covered to show how social net...