Comment: A decade after the 2004 Tsunami – recalling the turning point for disaster management

There is debate among language scholars on the two Chinese language characters for the word crisis; one represents danger and the other possibility or opportunity. This has led to the often quoted cliché that “In every crisis, there is opportunity” when in fact these two characters define a crisis: the opportunity or the possibility of danger.

Recalling that late morning of 26 December 2004, when the Asian tsunami hit some countries of WHO’s South-East Asia Region, I remember receiving phone calls from our country offices in the Region describing the emergency as water entering the office compound in Maldives to waves rising as high as 40 meters lashing Sumatra, Indonesia, Andaman, sea coast area of Thailand, Myanmar, the eastern shoreline of Sri Lanka and South India.