The Hindu : Opinion / Editorials : DEATH FROM THE SEA

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Dec 27, 2004

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DEATH FROM THE SEA

CUTTING A SWATHE of death and destruction across the coastal areas of half a dozen littoral countries of the Indian Ocean, the titanic tsunami rising from the fifth largest earthquake since the beginning of the 20th century — and the biggest in 40 years — has plunged the whole region in shock and grief. India and Sri Lanka are the most grievously hit, with south India and Tamil Nadu in particular suffering the highest death toll of all. The Hindu joins the country in mourning the death of the thousands of people who have fallen victim to nature's fury. It expresses solidarity with the hundreds of thousands of people who have lost their relatives or been rendered homeless and destitute. The Governments of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Kerala, and Pondicherry, the Central Government, and civil society must do everything in their power to heal wounds, provide relief and rehabilitation on a huge scale, and help reconstruct the lives, livelihood, and assets of the mostly poor people who, on account of the vulnerability of their lives, were the tsunami's principal victims. This is not to underestimate the trauma inflicted by the killer waves on Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and other South East Asian nations close to the epicentre of the quake off Sumatra Island. The epic devastation of the Bhuj and Latur earthquakes on land remain etched in the country's collective consciousness. But nature's ferocity in the form of the tsunami is such a rare phenomenon in the South Asian region that unsuspecting people were completely unprepared for it. The tsunami is a giant sea wave that results from displacements caused by large earthquakes, major submarine slides, or exploding volcanic islands — a phenomenon usually associated with the Pacific. India has experienced it at least twice in the past, in 1881 and 1941.

The element of surprise in the tsunami's strike on a holiday morning explains, in part, the calamitous effects in the cities, towns, and villages that were engulfed by the sea. Fishermen who put out to sea in their catamarans and other boats, and their families in coastal hamlets, account for a huge part of the still unknown death toll. Other victims were on the beaches for their normal routine or swim or were tourists trapped by happenstance in the death zone. A couple of hours earlier, many had been frightened out of bed by tremors from the primary undersea earthquake, which measured 8.9 on the Richter scale (at the epicentre off the West Coast of Northern Sumatra, 2,028 km South East of Chennai). Even for a nation with a recorded toll of over a hundred thousand fatalities in earthquakes in the past two centuries and a long history of cyclonic havoc, the tsunami of 2004 will go down as an unprecedented display of nature's cruelty. The 2001 earthquake in Bhuj challenged the capacity of the Indian republic to handle emergencies on a gigantic scale. Given the country's geological history and also the surprise factor, it must be prepared to do so again.

The emergency in the tsunami-hit parts of peninsular India calls for a well-coordinated relief, rehabilitation, and reconstruction effort. People belonging to all sections of society must respond to the challenge and contribute generously in various ways. The developmental experience available from the Latur and Bhuj rehabilitation programme can be drawn upon. Caring relief apart, a massive re-housing programme is a top priority. Task forces working with a timeframe and in a non-bureaucratic way can, in partnership with citizen sector organisations, ensure both efficiency and accountability. The loss of livelihood must be specially addressed and women and children provided safe shelter and sustenance. Looking beyond the tsunami tragedy, the country has to prepare for earthquakes with a greater measure of mission and scientific clarity. A close hard look at seismic zoning maps for various cities and the implementation of codes for quake-resistant buildings should not be delayed any longer. Meteorologists and experts will feel helpless in the realisation that their formidable scientific capabilities could not generate so much as a hint that a killer wave might follow the first and strongest of the 14 earthquakes in the region. The death toll is the more poignant for the fact that the tsunami took more than two hours to reach the Indian coast — enough time to clear the most vulnerable areas, the beaches in particular, if only a warning had come.

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