Bangkok. Five years on from the tsunami that battered Asia’s shores, experts fear a new generation of coastal dwellers will be  ill-prepared to face another giant wave as memories fade.

While sound alert systems have now been developed in many countries to forewarn governments of impending danger, getting that message out to seaside communities, and to children in particular, remains a challenge, they say.

The tidal wave that swept in on December 26, 2004 killed around 220,000 people and still haunts the beaches and coastal villages of the 12 countries devastated by the worst natural catastrophe to hit the region in decades.

But experts and officials fear that as time goes  on and fear of the sea recedes, so too will the memory of what to do if another similar disaster strikes.

“Five years on, tsunami awareness is still very high. I would not be able  to tell [if it will remain so] five or ten years from now,” said Sanny Ramos Jegillos, regional crisis prevention director for the United Nations  Development Program.
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