The 8.7 magnitude quake which struck the sea-bed just off Sumatra yesterday is understood to have left over two thousand dead and thousands more injured and homeless.

Many will say that this latest tragedy has continued to compound the difficulties that the people of this region, some of who are very poor, are having to deal with after the 26 December tsunami that killed 175,000 people in 12 countries, with at least 106,000 more listed as missing. Yet, the world can take solace in the fact that the early warning system that was promised after the tsunami disaster was effective and worked, although no killer wave materialised.

While this quake measured 8.7 on the Richter scale, it has been established that it was only half as powerful as the one on 26 December, for reasons connected with the movement of tectonic plates as well as the length of the fault line it affected.

Yesterday’s quake struck at 11:09 pm (Asian time), and lasted more than two minutes. Geologists said the tremor, which some are describing as an aftershock, struck 110 miles off the epicentre of the 26 December quake, along the same fault line.

The quake understandably caused widespread panic, with many people fleeing their houses as the earth shook violently. In many of the affected countries, such as Thailand, Sri Lanka and the island of Sumatra, people waited for the ground to stop shaking and then immediately headed for higher ground in the hope of avoiding the tsunami, which thankfully did not appear.

Overloaded motorbikes, cars and trucks, some with people hanging on the outside, poured out of the city, causing a midnight traffic jam. Several injuries were reported from vehicle accidents. The world waited on tenterhooks for three hours, the normal time window for a tsunami to materialise after a submarine quake, but it did not do so.

One positive that can be drawn from this event was the way in which the word was spread through both official and unofficial channels to allow for evacuation against the threat of another Tsunami.

The threat of the tsunami was dealt with in as efficient a manner as was possible, with warnings being relayed to the area from various geological and seismological agencies. But another issue which must be highlighted is the way the international media continued to spread the word.

The local authorities then dealt with the matter as they saw fit, telling people to evacuate and head for higher ground in the hope that the early warnings would save lives. This being said, the alert system should be extended to cover other manifestations of natural disasters such as floods, landslides and other foreseeable catastrophes.

As it turned out, there was a tsunami, but it was only a very small one, which experts said would hardly even be noticeable if one was sitting on a beach, gazing out to sea. Gauges deployed around the Indian Ocean to measure tsunami activity recorded four-inch and nine-inch waves in the Cocos Islands, a six-inch wave in the Maldives and a 12-inch wave in Sri Lanka.

The media also played its part, both Sky News (based in the UK) and CNN (based in the US) were immediately on the ball and were informing people that a quake had struck and that there was the possibility of another tsunami.

Immediately, the media machines and grapevines kicked into motion, with video phone reports and telephone links streaming in to give the latest information.

This had the knock-on effect of this information being passed on to thousands of people in Asia who were tuned in to either of the channels, and countless others.

In fact, Sky carried reports, as did the BBC, of people getting to know of the threat through their television sets and internet terminals.

The world is thankful that it did not have to relive the scenes of last December. Thank God, no tsunamis struck this time. The world can also be satisfied at the outcome of this “dress rehearsal”, but we must not sit back and think that the danger has passed. Disasters such as these can strike at any time and the world must continue to be vigilant. Mankind might be powerless in the face of the forces of nature, but it is not powerless when it comes to giving early warnings to save lives.