The Hindu : Opinion / Editorials : Once again, in Indonesia

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Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Opinion

Opinion - Editorials

Once again, in Indonesia

"All things have second birth; The earthquake is not satisfied at once," wrote William Wordsworth in The Prelude. Nobody understands this better than the people of Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago. Located on the `Ring of Fire' — an arc of volcanoes and fault lines that encircles the Pacific basin - temblors are born here with catastrophic frequency. The magnitude 6.3 earthquake in the heart of densely populated Java, which has killed more than 5000 people and injured thousands of others, is the country's worst disaster since the 2004 tsunami. As in any natural disaster of this scale, the first priorities are to bury the dead, treat the injured, and provide shelter to the homeless. UNICEF has estimated that the heaving earth could have displaced up to 200,000 people from their homes, a crisis made worse by torrential rain. A calamity of this magnitude must evoke a global response that delivers relief swiftly and rehabilitation effectively. Despite pledges for millions of dollars, emergency aid has seemed slow in coming. As Indonesia struggles to cope with the enormity of the human calamity, there are worries that the worst may not be over. Activity at Mount Merapi volcano, which has been spewing smoke and lava for weeks, has increased sharply after the earthquake, raising fears of a major eruption.

Earthquakes and active volcanoes are common in Indonesia, which is located in one of the most seismically active regions in the world — a place where a number of tectonic plates jostle with one another. The monster earthquake that triggered the tsunami of December 2004 occurred off the coast of Sumatra in northern Indonesia. Since then, there have been more than a dozen earthquakes exceeding magnitude 6 in and around the archipelago. The most recent one appears to have occurred at the fault where the tectonic plate bearing Australia slips under the tectonic plate carrying Eurasia. It is a sad fact that despite tremendous technological advances in the field of seismology, earthquake prediction has proved elusive. As earthquake-prone Japan has demonstrated, the key in such a situation is preparedness. This means constructing buildings that incorporate earthquake resistant features (in terms of material used and design) and ensuring that important infrastructure projects such as power plants and bridges can withstand the strongest temblors. The havoc wrought in Java - where bridges have been destroyed and thousands of homes reduced to rubble — suggests that this is a lesson Indonesia must take to heart. So for that matter must India. It was only seven months ago that a powerful earthquake devastated parts of Kashmir. Experts believe the `strain' accumulated by plate movements along some sections of the Himalayas could result in a great earthquake in this region. Humankind obviously cannot prevent this from happening; but it can — and must — act in advance to mitigate the impact.

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