Unnatural disasters
Women reach out for packets of rice from a relief van in a village near Cuddalore, 185km south-west of Chennai.
Photograph: Dibyangshu Sarkar/AFP/Getty; Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/gall/0,8542,1380675,00.html
As a kid I always struggled conceptually with the notion of ‘natural disaster’. What’s ‘natural’ about a disaster? Is it a term made up by insurance companies? Certainly the events of the last few days have been very unnatural, so much so that I’ve had difficulty getting my head around it all. Spending Christmas in Malacca with my family meant I was close to the epicentre of the earthquake, and not far south of the tidal waves, and yet I was completely oblivious to it all until a mate from Australia called me on my mobile to see if I was ok. It seems that the island of Sumatra acted as a shield. Back in Singapore this week, I’ve been taking big gulps of carbon monoxide fumes on Shenton Way with glee and life doesn’t seem quite as mundane as it did before Christmas. I’ve also been reading about the personal grief and the eyewitness accounts of individuals at The Guardian weblog. It is very humbling.
Singapore is safe – shielded as it is by the big land mass of Sumatra and Peninsular Malaysia. It is lucky in its natural location, but could have been affected very seriously if the epicentre of the quake was on the other side of the Sumatra island. One just needs to see the devastation caused by the Tsunami on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands – one of the islands got split into two pieces and some islands have shrunk!
Please visit: http://www.hindu.com/2004/12/31/stories/2004123107700100.htm
Well, I am not able to desist from commenting on the aid situation and “stinginess” of the rich nations. This story has been covered widely in the press – and the NY Times has an editorial on this issue – please see: http://nytimes.com/2004/12/30/opinion/30thu2.html?hp
When rich countries are able to spend US$200B in an unnecessary war, in the name of tackling terrorism, why do they find it difficult to move swiftly when 12 poor countries get hit by a human catastrophe of gigantic proportions? We have Mr Tony Blair, enjoying his Christmas vacation, still in Egypt, and unlike many other elected officials has not rushed back to London. He will break any vacation or retreat, though, for a war effort. Similarly, President Bush is still at his Crawford Texas ranch, when his Secretary of State Colin Powell went public with an initial laughable contribution of US$15M.
Leaders of the G-7 countries have not shown their leadership mettle and generosity as well as their seeming ability in executing disaster relief efforts. Where is the “Coalition of the Willing” in this case?
Economic prosperity is the solution – the poor nations which have more than 70% of the world’s population have to direct their efforts on economic development. The old models of economic theory based on socialist patterns of 5-year plans which have delivered meagre growth rates to populous nations such as India and Indonesia, should be aggressively replaced by market economics, privatisation, and literacy.
Look at the death toll from earthquakes in rich countries – in San Francisco, less than 100 people died in 1993 when a major earthquake hit.
Let us hope 2005 would bring relief to the suffering people around the region. In a small way, I contributed clothes to the relief effort at the Singapore Polytechnic Convention Centre on Dover Road yesterday, and I hope to make monetary contribution to the Singapore Red Cross today.
Let us show that we all can do something to help alleviate the sufferings of the survivors of the Tsunami as quickly as possible.