Inquest opens into British victims of Asian tsunami

A coroner's inquest opened in London on Monday into the deaths of 93 people who were among the 217,000 killed in the Asian tsunami disaster nearly a year ago.

A total of 149 British nationals - or those closely associated with Britain - died when tidal waves triggered by an undersea earthquake struck the coasts of Thailand, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, the Maldives and other countries on December 26.

The inquest, scheduled to last four days at the Olympia Exhibition Centre, west London, involves 93 victims.

Of these, 91 were British. The two others - a German and a Swiss national - were both mistakenly identified as British and repatriated to London. Coroner Alison Thompson said the hearing would not touch the deaths of 52 others "with close links to Britain" nor the six others whose remains have still not been found, she added.

Thompson explained her jurisdiction was limited only to determining and recording essential facts: the identity of each victim, when, how and where they died. Coroners courts in England and Wales have a legal duty to hold inquests into violent, unnatural or unexplained deaths abroad, provided the deceased person's body is repatriated.

The narrow remit of the mass inquest, the largest since the Hillsborough stadium disaster of 1989, in which 96 Liverpool football fans were crushed to death during an FA Cup semi-final match, has upset some families.

Thompson said she was "very aware" of concerns about "other issues", like the absence of early warning systems, the speed of the local response and support from Britain's overseas consular staff but the court could not address them.

A number of relatives, however, raised the issues with witnesses, including Timothy Henstock, a geophysicist and specialist in undersea tremors.

He explained the Indian Ocean area affected was poorly studied and that had an impact on the awareness and assessment of risk. He said the quake was the largest in the world for more than 40 years - estimated at between 9.2 and 9.3 on the Richter scale - and caused by a "slip" of about 10 centimeters on a 1,200-1,300 kilometers by 100-150 kilometers area on the fault line.

Plates shifting to such a degree were the equivalent of 500 years of movement which no-one could have predicted, Henstock told the hearing. Although a "complete reassessment of seismic hazards" in the area was now under way, early warning systems for a similar reoccurrence would require "long-term commitment to the infrastructure", he added. Warning calls between islands - which one woman suggested could have saved "thousands and thousands of lives" - were probably not given because people were initially dealing with the aftermath of the waves, he suggested.

Other relatives questioned apparent mistakes and delays in the identification process and breakdown in communications with families. In one instance, a woman claimed she was told her son's body was being repatriated via a television reporter. AFP