This new year, a wave of tragedy has swept the world in the wake of the tsunami. These death waves have been matched only by the upsurge of goodwill and humanitarian concern it has generated around the world. Unprecedented amounts of relief have poured in for the affected people.
But, if the human tragedy has brought out a humanitarian response in the world’s people, we have also seen that the tsunami wave has failed to wash away the dark stain of discrimination all over the world: witness the racist callousness of imperialist nations, and the denial of relief to entire Dalit settlements in Tamil Nadu.
Many disasters are natural and unpredictable. But often a large part of the havoc they wreak is a product of human callousness. Even as we work to reach out to the tsunami victims, we also need to ask certain uncomfortable questions.
Within minutes of the Indonesia earthquake, US Government Scientists belonging to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the region knew of the possibility of a tsunami in the Indian Ocean. Who did they see fit to inform? Not a single Asian Government, but only a US Naval Base in a tiny island called Diego Garcia! We are forced to wonder – had civilians in parts of the USA been in danger, would the US Government have remained similarly silent? The International Action Centre for tsunami relief, in a statement, observed that “the failure to make any real effort to warn the people of the region, knowing that tens of thousands of lives were at stake, is part of a pattern of imperial contempt and racism that has become the cornerstone of U.S. policies worldwide.”
The U.S. spends an average of $9.5million every hour on the war and occupation of Iraq. In a global sense, the U.S. spends $1 million dollars a minute on wars. These wars, as well as their imperialist economic policies of loot, help create Third World poverty and the inability to deal with natural disasters. But when the tsunami hit, the US offered the paltry aid of 10 million dollars – a mere 1/10th of the amount it is spending on war in Iraq! Later, on being shamed by the world, it announced a larger package of one billion. Even if we trust this promise of $1 billion, that number pales in comparison to the tens of billions being spent in Iraq to keep the world safe for petroleum. The glaring contrast between the US’ lavish spending on imperialist wars and its pitiful token response to the tsunami tragedy has been censured by several commentators.
Even where aid is being promised by the imperialist countries, they are greedily waiting to demand their pound of flesh. An article in the Los Angeles Times on January 3 openly spelled this out. “In a constructive global bargain, the rich nations are promising poor nations more aid, and more favourable trade and debt policies, in return for political and economic change…In responding to a crisis this vast, good intentions aren’t enough. Using our head will be as important as opening our heart.” For the imperialist powers, the tsunami disaster constitutes an ideal opportunity to press ahead with their ambitions for a more interventionist economic and strategic role in Asia, especially South and South-East Asia.
In the first place, India had never chosen to be a part of the Pacific Tsunami Alert scheme, and had never heeded warnings to set up a tsunami wave alert system.
India’s tall boasts of being an IT superpower have been mocked in its tragic inability to warn its people of impending disaster. Crises, like babies, rarely arrive with convenient notice; the test of a nation lies in its ability to respond swiftly. In the face of the early morning disaster warning, the Indian administration’s response resembled a black farce rather than the initiative of a responsible government.
The Indian Air Force knew several hours before the tsunami hit the Indian mainland, that a remote base on Car Nicobar island had been flooded. They alerted the Defence Ministry, but saw no need to warn the civilian administration. The Indian Meteorological Department, apparently blissfully unaware of changes in India’s political weather, sent a fax notifying the home of former Science and Technology Minister Murli Manohar Joshi!
However, reports suggest that the Indian Government did get information of impending disaster at least an hour (some say 90 minutes) before the seven minutes of tsunami-havoc hit Indian shores. Yet, the Indian Govt., unfortunately, made little effort to even try to issue warning of any sort. Even if a warning could have reached some of the coastal regions, many lives could have been saved.
The official excuse being pleaded by the Government is that Indian authorities had no prior experience of tsunamis, and so never expected it to hit India. But the actual reason for inertia and criminal inaction is actually a symptom of a deeper disregard for the poor coastal people: Indian governments have all along failed to set up any mechanism to warn fisherpeople of cyclones or the like. Recent reports suggest that fisherpeople had recently observed deep-sea fish coming to the surface – an indicator of trouble which they indicated to authorities, but which were ignored.
India, by law, has a coastal regulation zone (CRZ), where building activities are supposed to be strictly regulated. In Tamilnadu and elsewhere, a concrete chain of residential colonies, star hotels and entertainment spots, has robbed the land of all coastal protection from the sea. It is mainly the poor who have paid - with their lives - for this crime against the coastline.
Hundreds of fishing villages have been forced to move into unsafe terrain, pushed by resorts, hotels, construction of highways. Mangrove forests that can play the role of a buffer against the fury of the sea, have been destroyed, and sand dunes, another natural barrier, have been plundered by the construction industry.
After the Gujarat quake, it was clear that indiscriminate violations of safety regulations by a corrupt builder lobby had taken thousands of lives that died needlessly. Yet, three years after that quake, the rapacious builder lobby remains unscathed, and continues to play with people’s lives.
In the wake of the latest tragedy, will we learn? Will the poor folk who eke out a living on the coastline from a treacherous sea, get the benefit of disaster-warning technology? Or, will such technology only be put in place with tourists in mind?
—KK
In the Wake of the Tsunami, US Imperialists Look for Greater Military Clout in the Region
In the name of providing relief to the tsunami-affected people, the U.S. undertook its biggest military operation in the region under the Pacific Command since the Vietnam War. Backed by an array of warships, planes and helicopters, more than 13,000 US military personnel have been dispatched to help Indonesia, Thailand and Sri Lanka. |