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| Friday, 4 February 2005 |
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Boo to you tsunami! by Ravi Perera "No man is an island entire of itself, every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind. And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee." -John Donne Nothing approaching the fury of the angry waves that ran most unexpectedly into the coastal strip of our little island on the day following Christmas has been experienced here in recorded history. In a few terrifying moments the tsunami took thousands of lives while wreaking havoc along the stricken coast. The bountiful sea and the beckoning beaches of the country turned into a chaotic graveyard of death, debris and despair. This grim picture was repeated in many countries bordering the Indian Ocean and was taken to the rest of the world by the electronic media almost as the tragedy was unfolding. Calamities
Nature has regularly displayed her destructive power in other parts of the world too. But the scope and number of nations affected by this tsunami is unrivalled. Sri Lanka has generally been spared the malevolence of nature. Except for the occasional flood we were able to go about our daily work without having to worry about earthquakes or hurricanes. Even the quake that caused the tsunami occurred more than thousand miles away. The movement of earth's massive plates which apparently move only 6 cm per year, which is only twice the rate a persons finger nails grow, would have been the last thing in the minds of the Sri Lankans as they went about their work on that sunny Sunday. But on this day the stresses created by the grinding of two huge plates against each other caused a huge earthquake near the island of Sumatra, as a result of which thousands of lives were tragically lost all across the Indian Ocean. Nature Nature is indifferent as to its victims. This tragedy hit one of the poorest regions of the world. Most of the people hit by the waves were most likely earning less than US$ 02 a day, an often-used definition of poverty. Their basic housing, rudimentary infrastructure, primitive sewage systems, and irregular facilities were all washed away in a few terrible moments. Even major roads like the two-lane Galle road and the old railway line that ran parallel were obliterated in certain places. Aceh province The tsunami turned the Aceh province in Indonesia to a wasteland. The tourist dependent economy of Maldives suffered a massive set back. This was probably for many of the nations affected, their darkest hour. But their desperate plight was played out before the eyes of the world just recovering from Christmas celebrations. And soon it seemed that the entire human race was united in reaching out to their broken and shattered brothers still searching in a daze for their loved ones trapped in the water and under the debris. In England a little boy of twelve who received a long pledged Christmas gift of 15 pounds from his grandfather to buy DVDs walked straight to a tsunami collection centrewith his money. Collection centres In Australia a farmer drove 400 miles to donate his store of rice. In the USA in almost every little town tsunami collection centers sprung up and in many places ran out of space to store the fast in-flowing donations. It was the same incredibly inspiring story in Japan, China, Taiwan, Souh Korea, Germany, France, Sweden, Saudi Arabia, Israel and many other countries. People in less affluent countries gave what they could and sometimes even what they could not really afford to. Papua New Guinea, a third world country, is offering tax concessions to local companies contributing money to the victims of the Asian tsunami. Many people here in Sri Lanka donated a day's wage from their meager earnings. In this most unhappy time in this island country, people all over the world have made us feel very much a part of the continent. The world is saying in unison; no man is an island and any mans death diminishes me... Now as we survey our devastated coastline naturally we think of ways of re-building the future. There are many examples of nations arising out of catastrophes even stronger than before. Japan was utterly destroyed in the last world war. But the industrious Japanese people in the few decades since have made their country the second largest economy in the world. The capable and disciplined Germans achieved an equally impressive revival after the bitter defeat of the war. Today Germany is an immensely rich and powerful country. Korea suffered terribly during the war on that peninsula in the early 1950s. Today South Korea is a developed country although their cousins in North Korea remain in deep poverty. The famous London fire in the 17th century burnt down a good part of the city. Although it was a big disaster at the time, it made it possible for modern London, one of the great cities of the world to come up. Burnt down The fire burnt down most of the grimy wooden buildings of old London, which had sprung up with minimal supervision. The city planners in London were given the opportunity to lay the foundation for a planned city by this fire. These examples tell us that nations, if properly directed, can spring back from both natural and man made disasters reasonably fast. We too not only can recover from the effects of the tsunami but also become stronger. There are many lessons we can learn from nations, which have transformed themselves after under going catastrophic experiences. These nations although situated in different geographical locations and having diverse cultures have followed policies which took their countries forward rapidly. On the other hand, our evolution since independence shows us that it is not easy to achieve a developed country status. Modern societies and economies are very complex and need extremely capable handling, guidance and organization at every level. Incompetence among all its other drawbacks is also wicked when there are victims of disasters waiting desperately for relief. We need to put our best foot forward now. Sudden and violent The tsunami, which struck so suddenly and violently, has graphically displayed to us once again the poverty and the vulnerability of our nation. This is a condition that should not be allowed to continue. It is time for all to come together and work towards transforming this nation. There are reasons to be optimistic about the future. Most of our industries on the coastal belt have faced this disaster bravely and are doing every thing in their power to get back to normalacy. Tourist hotels Some of the tourist hotels along the stricken coast have already started operating although on a small scale. The fishermen who were so badly devastated are now starting to go back to the sea. Our health services acquitted itself quite well during the crisis. Many other services have been restored with reasonable efficiency. And above all we now have a lot of international good will and pledges of support, which if properly utilized, can give us a tremendous boost. The tsunami has done its nasty work. It killed thousands and made destitute thousands more. The toll in property and infrastructure is mind-boggling. But we will not let this disaster destroy our spirit. Nor should we allow it to diminish our future prospects. We will say, boo to this Tsunami! |
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There have been many such calamities in recent times. Some of them had
resulted in greater loss of lives. It is reported that in 1976 an
earthquake in Tangshan in northern China resulted in the death of 750,000
people. That country was then not open to the media as now and the event
did not reach the rest of the world as such.
