THERE was a time when some two thousand lives lost in an earthquake on some far-flung islands in the Indian Ocean would have been considered an outright tragedy. But last December’s devastating tsunami meant that news of this latest devastation on the island Nias was greeted almost with relief because the immense earthquake, 8.7 on the Richter scale, 800 miles off the Indonesian coast had not triggered another catastrophic tidal wave. Nevertheless our hearts must go out to the 700,000 inhabitants of the Nias islands who have sustained terrible casualties and destruction.

Thanks to December’s tsunami, there is now a far better appreciation of the terrible consequences of these appalling events. The stricken islanders are also likely to benefit from the widespread presence of relief agencies, who will hopefully be able to readjust part of their ongoing tsunami relief effort to cater for these latest earthquake victims. It is also notable that even though the formal cross-border early warning system linked to subsea sensors has yet to be fully established, it is clear that there was a highly effective dissemination of the news that another underwater quake had happened. Though there was understandable panic in some of the coastal regions most stricken last December, by and large the authorities appear to have acted with commendable speed and efficiency in evacuating exposed areas of coast.

This latest natural disaster however should add further weight to the argument advanced after December’s events that ad hoc and piecemeal responses to these terrible events are inherently dangerous and inadequate. The need for a permanent emergency body with trained first response personnel and specialized equipment on standby 24/7 for deployment wherever in the world they are required, must be accepted.

The United Nations is the obvious body to maintain and run this force. Besides having its own men, transport and equipment, it would train constantly with emergency services in countries around the world, particularly those which are most at risk from flood and earthquake. The UN regularly supplies peacekeeping forces in areas of conflict. It seems only right that it should equip itself to provide first-response assistance for countries stricken by natural disasters. The very existence of such a force would encourage individual governments to develop their own second line of assistance, once the initial help had gone in. The Asian tsunami showed how a third response is then necessary in providing the money and materiel to help communities rebuild. But the first response, when perhaps organized help could have the greatest and most immediate effect, is still dependent on the jumbled and uncoordinated efforts of any state that thinks it can help out.

Natural disasters remind us that the world in which we live is both small and fragile. Most countries now take for granted their efficient, well-trained and highly competent fire and ambulance services. Surely the time has now come when we should be creating the same facilities on a worldwide basis.