Early Warning Systems Defined - Reducing Disaster: Early Warning Systems for Climate Change - page 99

5.3 EWS for DRR and Sustainable Development

Concerted, long-term effort is needed to ensure that EWS not only address known,
perhaps imminent threats, but also are available to address unusual hazard occurrences
and to contribute to vulnerability reduction—continually. From the beginning, EWS
should be planned as integrated components of communities, rather than as top-
down and external impositions relying on technology which is divorced from a
community's day-to-day activities and needs. In particular, the EWS should be
made relevant to daily livelihoods and needs, while recognising how different sec-
tors within a community communicate and trust, or do not trust, certain information
types from certain sources. That can be done by including education, awareness,
and continual data collection within an EWS so that it becomes familiar to and
accepted by the community.
Sometimes, the EWS is embedded directly in knowledge indigenous to a com-
munity, as shown by an example from Gaillard et al. ( 2008 ). Simeulue is an island
off the west coast of Aceh, Indonesia, which was the worst-hit location during the 26
December 2004 earthquake and Indian Ocean tsunami. Simeulue's indigenous peo-
ple had experienced a devastating tsunami on 4 January 1907, resulting in stories
being passed down of what to do when the earth shakes as well the coining of a new
word Smong which refers to three stages. The fi rst stage is ground shaking, as hap-
pens during a strong, nearby earthquake. Then, the sea would quickly draw back
from the shoreline as the second stage. The third stage is that a powerful, large wave
would strike, inundating the coastline. Consequently, Simeulue's indigenous people
know that following ground shaking, particularly if the sea recedes, they need to seek
higher ground. They did so on 26 December 2004, resulting in only a handful of
casualties on the island, mainly due to the earthquake. Smong , the new word and the
knowledge embedded in the community leading to appropriate action, is the EWS.
Naturally, any EWS has limits. Regarding Smong , not all tsunamis result in the
sea retreating before the waves strike. As well, sea behaviour might not be visible at
night. Nonetheless, Simeulue represents an indigenous and embedded EWS, with
the system needing nothing more than collective, credible, community knowledge.

Box 5.6 An Indigenous EWS

Mercer and Kelman ( 2010 ) describe an indigenous warning system for Baliau
community on Papua New Guinea's Manam Island. The villagers know that
the volcano is active and they monitor it by virtue of living beside it. As with
most people in PNG, they have strong oral traditions and they have passed
down through generations many stories relating the meanings and interpreta-
tions of the volcano's behaviour. In 2004, the volcano erupted necessitating an
evacuation. Baliau villagers state that they knew that the eruption would hap-
pen due to (Mercer and Kelman 2010 , p. 417):
warning signs including blue smoke rings, grass dying around the top of the volcano,
a continuous low tide and a very hot dry season.