Pal News Press

January 19, 2005

Hitting close to home

By Darleene Barrientos, News-Press and Leader

NORTHEAST GLENDALE — Ocean floor earthquakes and tsunamis leaped out of textbooks and into real life for Glendale Community College oceanography professor Poorna Pal.

Pal was in India when disaster struck Asia, but he was far from the areas directly hit by the tsunami, caused by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake on the ocean floor, off the coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra on Dec. 26. The tsunami destroyed coastal resorts and villages in Indonesia, Thailand, India, Sri Lanka and as far away as Somalia on East Africa's coast. The death toll from the tsunami ranges between 175,000 and 250,000, with some experts saying the exact number might never be known.

Pal was visiting family in Pune, about 140 miles away from Bombay on India's western coast the day the earthquake and the tsunami hit.

"All the newspapers, television — it was all about it," Pal said. "The destruction and damage was something that was completely unanticipated. Because of that, people were confused. Nobody knew what was happening."

Poorna Pal, Oceanography professor at Glendale College points to Sumatra and hopes for ways to prevent disaster in the future. (TAMMY ABBOTT/NP)

Pune was about 700 to 800 miles away from the areas hardest hit, but people still felt affected, Pal said.

"The damage was so substantial and horrifying that people were naturally depressed and worried, trying to figure out what we could do, if we could do more," he said.

Ray Glienna, chairman of the physical sciences department, knew Pal was in India and worried about him until he reached him by phone on the first day back from the winter holiday.

"I thought he was in the Bengali region, but he was in Bombay," Glienna said. "That was lucky for him."

The destruction and devastation caused by the tsunami prove that more study is needed in the Indian Ocean region, Pal said. The Indian Ocean and the Caribbean waters should have a tsunami-tracking device similar to the one in the Pacific Ocean's Ring of Fire region, along with more earthquake study and monitoring.

"We have to have better monitoring of earthquakes all over the world, particularly at the ocean bottom," Pal said. "[If there is an earthquake] on land, we get instant news, but when it happens in the ocean, it's in remote areas, and people don't come to know about it easily."

If there had been better monitoring, India, Sri Lanka and Africa could have evacuated coasts in time to avoid the full force of the tsunami, he said.

"These are the lessons we could draw from this," Pal said. "Then all the lives lost would have not have been in vain."

• DARLEENE BARRIENTOS covers education. She may be reached at (818) 637-3215 or by e-mail at darleene.barrientos@latimes.com.