Vasu Reddy from Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com
With the Tsunami news from the last week of 2004, my entire thought process of writing and planning for 2005 was completely disrupted. I am not claiming that the process of ending one year and going to the next one is dramatic. It is simply nice to have the easy weeks from the beginning of Thanksgiving to end the year with about six weeks of nothing, except eat a lot and look nice in bright colors.
2004 was a dramatic year in all aspects. Bush won again along with all the other stuff that happened in 2004. Congress party came back to power in India in 2004. The big Tsunami closed 2004. Many things happened that I wanted to write about but the loss of over 200,000 people dead and may be 100 million people or more with no homes and disruption to their entire being was too much for me to handle. I am happy to go into 2005 with the blessings I have, but the year began with so much news of death and destruction it is really incredible to handle any other news.
I requested my publishers to give me a couple of weeks off from writing and thought I can regroup my ideas on weekly columns that or of interest to my folks and my community. After more than two weeks of writing inactivity I thought about how best to get back to normalcy, but still pay respects to the victims of Tsunami and also praise the actions of all that are contributing to the efforts to help the folks effected by the massive devastation.
When I see the pictures of devastation on CNN or other channels it is truly incredible that the world is so fragile. Great walls of seawater simply erasing the man made obstacles and obliterating all forms of life and property in its way. People, vehicles, homes, hotels, trees, bridges, and anything else that was in the way was wiped out in the matter of seconds and all that was left behind was dead folks and garbage. How do you explain what happened? There is no plausible explanation to this, except that the Mother Nature has its own way of doing things, and no matter how we now reflect on what happened with the Tsunami, it was hard to defend from.
Having a home in Florida made me experience and prepare for hurricanes and the devastation they cause. Two positive things about Florida and hurricanes are that they have great weather predictors on the path of the hurricanes days in advance and they have great evacuation mechanism for people to move away from the path of destruction. Every year there are many evacuations and there is little loss of life. The evacuation systems and hurricane paths are well monitored and people listen to the authorities when the warnings are issued, thereby saving the precious life that is god given to humans. Granted there is loss of property and material stuff, which is mostly insured and is replaced quite efficiently in the USA. Hurricanes come and go and until the next big hurricane comes the last big one will be talked about and how many billions it cost in damages. One thing for sure is that no hurricane in recent memory killed people beyond what you can count. Even one single life lost is unfathomable for the family and friends who lose a person, and imagine this happening to hundreds of thousands.
Tsunami cannot be predicted as hurricane paths are. Even if the big Tsunami at the end of 2004 could have been predicted there is little chance of evacuating the people and saving the lives that were lost. As I write this column, the reports indicate more than 200,000 people died. Coming from Asia and one of the countries that were hit by the devastation, it is likely to be 10 times that (people can debate with me on this, but keep the debate private please). The reported numbers are always nonsense, as no one knows who is living where in the third world, and no actual census data is available. The tourist spots and vacation homes are tracked well, but how about the hutments of India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and other countries. Many millions of people live right off the ocean and have no way of protection against something like a Tsunami.
How do we protect people and property from such major disasters?
It is unlikely that the world can predict and design the mechanism to provide protection for such major natural disasters. Tsunami is not a predictable happening. Where and when it might happen is unpredictable, and unmanageable. Governments such as India or Sri Lanka will not be able to afford a huge wall around their coasts to protect from a future Tsunami. Even if a wall was built around the coastline it will cause more damage in destroying the natural and commercial aspects of the existing populations. Protections from a tsunami or a volcano is practical impossibility and perhaps the best measures are trying to move populations away from the most dangerous areas that might be effected by these natural disasters. The world always will have bigger and greater disasters as the population grows and people keep thinking that the bad stuff only happens to someone else. As long as Mother Nature has her way natural disasters will happen. So next time a Tsunami of this magnitude happens the world hopefully will have been better adjusted to the natural causes of destruction.
Relief work of unprecedented proportions
People involved in the relief efforts are from all parts of the world. Bush promised a partly 15 million initially and got a lot of flack for making such a small pledge. But America made up very quickly when the extent of the damage was truly understood. No bigger heart as a country is there in this world than America, so whatever initial critic said, Americans contributed with generosity and continue to do so every day. Japanese, Germans, British, Australians, Indians and every country that I did not mention fell the devastation and are contributing and praying for the people who were in the way of the Tsunami.
Individuals and children generously are giving whatever that can afford to help with the relief efforts. I heard that the little four-year-old boy giving fifty Rupees instead of one Rupee like rest of his class I was touched. Giving always keeps you in the right perspective. People do respond with kindness when they hear of disasters.
The local Telugu Association in Chicago cancelled their New Year eve show in respect to the Tsunami victims, and many such shows of support in toning down the celebrations was respectful. Much of the celebrations that the world planned for the New Year eve were toned downed, even when people were far away from the disaster, marking respect for the people who are suffering.
Why did we not face such major catastrophes like this before, and what can we do about such natural calamities in the future?
When the news of 20 or 30 thousand people perishing with the Tsunami the calamity was big enough, but as the days go on and you hear or 200 thousand or more, it becomes unimaginable. Not much can be done to reshape the world overnight or predict natural disasters. I am not asking us to expect such calamities to happen every other day or year, as this Tsunami was probably the biggest destroyer. It is likely that the same type of natural disaster happened before, but when we did not have the global populations at these levels and poverty levels at the current standards.
If we can’t stop Mother Nature from destruction of things in its path, we can anticipate the next major natural disaster and at least try to save the lives of people. Once again this week may not be a great time to preach on over population, family planning, poverty, hunger, housing, adequate education, jobs and all the prevailing ills of the under developed world where 1/7 of the global population lives in.
May be prayer for all those who suffer because of the 2004 Tsunami, and prayers for less destruction if this happens in the future. Truly the poor always get hit harder as they don’t have insurance, protection or savings to rebuild. They simply have to forget about what they had and look forward to a brighter tomorrow, while being unable to replace their loved ones and meager possessions.
Looking forward to rest of 2005
2005 is here, and I am looking forward to the remaining 50 weeks of it. I love to speculate on peace and prosperity and good things to come. Everyday is a blessing for those of us who are optimistic. I wish for no more tsunamis in 2005 or beyond 2005, and I wish every one of us could find comfort in things we already have. Welcome to the remaining days of 2005 and give generously.
