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Monday, January 24, 2005

The weeks after tsunami

I do not think, anything else consumed more of my time during the 4
weeks after the tsunami,watching the information explosion that
follows such an event in the current world -helicopter journalism at
its best impinging on to your living room through television sets and
net users being bombarded by disturbing
pieces of information trickling form various sources . Though Numbers
do little to
communicate the extent of the tragedy and the gravity of the
situation, as of January 14 2005, the UN Office for the Coordination
of Humanitarian Affairs reported 157,464 persons dead, 27,303 persons
missing, and 1,167,006 persons displaced in South Asia, South East
Asia, and East Africa . As against the gradual rise of numbers on the
boxing day, now the people dead is well above 200,000 and bound to
rise further, while the entire photo journalism has shifted to the
feast of the new year termed "first free elections in Iraq" ( so now
we know, elections if held
under foreign occupation is called free as spelt out by the new
messiah of the world from Capitol, few days ago ).

Coming back to Tsunami, who are the real culprits? the mother nature alone ?
In that case , countries like Maldives who were pleading to big
powers for efforts to reduce sequlae to global warming will have
something else to say. In this tsunami, Maldives were shielded to a
great extent by Srilanka. But those archipelago is even otherwise
facing a threat of submersion in near future,due to rise in sea levels
as a consequence to global warming.With the latest decision of
Australia and Saudi Arabia to consider The Kyoto Protocol, United
States remains the lone big country
which refuse to sign the Kyoto protocol ( An international treaty on
global warming by nations to reduce their emissions of carbon dioxide
and five other greenhouse gases, which will come into force on
February 16, 2005). . The formal name of the proposed agreement is the
Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change. While, United States , the largest emitter of greenhouse
gases, does not intend to ratify the protocol, it is interesting to
note that Indonesia, the largest sufferer of tsunami is a signatory,
who has not ratified
it along with countries like Egypt, Kazakhstan, Philippines, Saint
Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and the Solomon Islands. It
seems the island nations who are at risk of natural calamities more
than others , also are quite mindless in thinking.

Now,the whole world is lamenting why there is no tsunami warning
system in Indian Ocean where as one effectively functions in pacific
for many years. I read somewhere that 30 million $ is the expenditure
for establishing one with sensors at
several places at the bottom of indian Ocean. If that was the case,
countries like India with a large spending on various counts and even
poorer countries like Srilanka which has a disproportionate military
spending due to its long standing conflict with Tamils of the north
will have to answer the questions. India's missile platforms and
rocket launching stations are all along the eastern coast. Does a
tsunami warning system cost more than a missile ? The only logical
conclusion is that ruling politicians and technocrats are never
concerned about the underprivilegd people like those living along sea
costs.

Secondly, in spite of the high tech Tsunami Warning System ( TWS ),
what is the guarantee that all the member states going to be part of
the system will get the benefit in times of need.For eg. Indonesia and
Thailand are members of the Pacific TWS with 26 member nations. What
sort of warning did they receive and how far they did benefit?

Listen to Edward Cranswick ( e_cranswick@yahoo.com ), a scientist who
has experience of investigating earthquakes for the US government for
almost 22 years and doing research on seismological techniques to
monitor underground nuclear explosions, who shares the following
speculations in world wide web :

" Using seismological data alone, any tsunami expert would know that
a magnitude 8+ submarine mega thrust event like the 2004 Sumatra
Earthquake would have a good possibility of generating a tsunami. The
US has a very large military base on the island of Diego Garcia in the
middle of the Indian Ocean, and they have been aware of tsunami hazard
to the island due to the proximity of the southwestern Pacific
archipelago. The US Navy and CIA have many sea-bottom sensors in the
Indian Ocean for detecting submarines, undersea nuclear explosions,
earthquakes and tsunamis. Surely the US military/CIA knew the tsunami
was in progress but they did not relay this information to the
countries at risk because the info was "CLASSIFIED".New York Times
reported on , 28 Dec 2004- "One of the few places in the Indian Ocean
that got the message of the quake was Diego Garcia,a speck of an
island with a United States Navy base,
because the Pacific warning center's contact list includes the
Navy.Finding the appropriate people in Sri Lanka or India was harder".

The justification for not warning the countries that have been so
devastated by the tsunami is that the Us authorities did not know who
to call in these countries -- how do they expect to fight the "War on
Terrorism" or shoot down a nuke ICBM -- are they really that
incompetent? Is this the same kind of lapse that occurred on 9/11 in
the two hours between the time when the first plane crashed into the
World Trade Center and the time when fourth plane "crashed" in
Pennsylvania? A monumental international blame-game and cover-up
exercise is developing with respect to the failure to issue tsunami
warnings. There is a good possibility that the US military/CIA let
tens of thousands drown rather than "compromise" the sources of their
intelligence".

AND remember, the most benevolent American contribution of 350 million
$ to the tsunami disaster is hardly half a week's their expenditure in
Iraq , till date. Let tsunamis come and go.. only the fittest should
survive on this earth!

Best thing for all poor nations on this earth would be to go back to
Early warning systems of stone age. Ranjit Devraj of - Inter Press
Service (IPS) reports : "Stone-age tribes living on India's remote
Andaman and Nicobar Islands not only survived the devastating December
26 tsunami...but may actually have a few lessons in reading natural
early-warning systems for their less perceptive Asian neighbors, say
scientists. The Onges, Jarawas, Sentinalese and Great Andamanese who
live in the archipelago escaped unscathed because they took to the
forests and higher ground well in time. 'These tribes live close to
nature and are known to heed biological warning signs like changes in
the cries of birds and the behavior
patterns of land and marine animals'."

A word about the Helicopter Journalism: Danny Schechter of Mediachannel.org
makes the following observation. In his analysis piece, Schechter
critiques "helicopter journalism", as "distanced 'outside-in'
reporting that accesses few if any sources in the country itself, does
not speak the language, and does
not explain much about what is going on. It's like the modern day war
correspondent who flies into a conflict zone for an afternoon and gets most of
his information from a taxi driver and faxes or videophones his
findings.The regular scenario which television viewers of west were
seeing viewing - that of active white men and women helping out the
victims, while the helpless and hapless brownies look on, is far from
truth, I can vouch from my own observations in situations of natural
disasters in India. It is the unskilled and untrained poor villagers
who
perform unbelievable rescue operations well before the televsion crews
reach the spot. They are the real unsung heroes of tragedies!

Where is the future ? May not be in stone age technologies, but the principle of
"small is beautiful" will work better than the advanced multi country
platform like TWS. Text messaging technology was a valuable
communication tool in the
aftermath of the tsunami disaster in Asia. The messages can get
through even when the cell phone signal is too weak to sustain a
spoken conversation. Now some are studying how the technology behind
SMS [Short Message Service] could be better used during an
emergency....The idea is to use open-source software - software can be
used by anyone without commercial restraint - and a far-flung network
of talent to create a system that links those in need with those who
can help.( http://www.comminit.com/trends/ctrends2005/trends-220.html)

Also is mentioned a low profile organisation from another poor country.
The Kathmanmdu based National Society for Earthquake Technology (NSET)
is a non-government, non-profit organisation using communication in an
effort to help Nepalese communities become earthquake-safe. NSET uses
low-tech innovations, interpersonal channels, and the media to
mobilise community members of all ages to be aware of their
vulnerabilities to earthquakes, and to develop and implement organised
approaches to manage and minimise earthquake risks within the
buildings in which they live, learn, and work. Participation is at the
forefront in such activities as the shake table demonstration, Earthquake
Safety Day (ESD) activities, and the Environmental Mapping Programme.
(http://www.comminit.com/experiences/pds2005/experienc)

Let us await the next major natural disaster and the next round of activities !

Monday, January 24, 2005