Terrible Earthquake, Thousands killed,,,,,,,,,

mahmud

It is very sad. Let's pray for their souls.

beach

lose,

it's happy to know that.Hope everyone will hear from their loved ones soon.

Matty Gee,

There is a pretty good cyclone warning system working here in the costal belt. Mostly to advice the fishing communities on going for fishing etc.



Even in case of cyclones people get enough prior natural warnings like heavy rain, strong wind, rough weather etc. In case of tsunami nothing was there to stimulate the natural instinct of people to be cautious. It all happened in seconds.

The weather was so perfect and sunny on Sunday. Even if there were a warning on TV or radio I for one would not have evacuated myself immediately. I would have thought to wait and see. The fact was that tsunami struck like an explosion rather than a slow catching fire. We were watching TV news about the devastation the tsunami was creating at Chennai when our beach looked perfectly calm. It’s common for us. When cyclone hit the east cost, the west coast areas are unaffected, or maximum affected with some heavy rain. No one really knew what a tsunami is. We were not experienced to imagine that it’s a wave that propagate and hit us too soon. In an hour or so the panic news spread the tsunami reached us too.

Aryan

Tragic as it is, warning systems are expensive.

The question is simply a matter of economics. If it's cheaper to have a warning system in relation to other priorities, or an earthquake every 40-150 years.

That's how GOI usually reasons and I think they have handled the situation quite well in accordance with their limited resources.

It's rather lame to see a non-Indian person who has no clue about things in India make accusations, without looking at himself first.

ansimn

The way how our Indian govt behaves in this Tsunami disaster issue really makes a common man Bewildered. I feel home comes first, then u can do social service outside.If Indian govt can help the distressed people in Tamilnadu n other parts of india,then wat's the necessity for them to help the neighbhouring country, Is it a way to show our generousity,Isn't itwe r being made as fools. There r reports from nagapattinam(the worst affected part in tamilnadu) that there's no one to help them, dead bodies being washed by the sea on the shore side starts rotting, no officials r able to help them. Something should be done, before this one turns into another form of disaster known as Epidemic. To the worst India 's refused neighbouring countries help replying them that they r self sufficient

ansimn

Hi Friends,
The following site gives all the updates abt the disasters done by the nature. It also gives directions for people who wanna help for the victims
http://tsunamihelp.blogspot.com

beach

ansimn,
It’s the aid to the government that was refused politely. As I understand what is more required is helping hand in the way of work than some tons of food material etc. It’s much easier to mobilise such things within the country than flown in from thousands of kilometers away. There is already news from the TN costal area that trucks are standing in queue with not enough people to download and distribute.

Government would not refuse help interms of additional healthcare team etc as the massive vaccination going on is reported as the biggest challenge faced by the medics at the sites.

Also it’s right from the Indian government to send helicopters and supply ships to Srilanka and Malidives . I don’t think it was done at the cost of aid work in TN. For the level of calamity at their places India did the right thing as we are geographically closer to them.

The main problem with us is with the management. No one knew what to do. Who has to do what …It was never the problem of supply of items or fund, but sending the right thing to the right place in time and co coordinating things has gone out of gear.

ansimn

Hi Beach,
I agree with u. Also am sure help is not done to the neighbouring countries at the cost of aid of tamilnadu. But my anguish is y they didnt act promptly reg relief measures in the affected parts within India. U might have seen in news channels like NDTV where there reports like not even a single official met these affected people, esp those who r in the remote area. Am sure NGO's wud have reached the affected place, but wat's happening is even they dont have any idea abt the remote villages which r badly affected, since they cudnt get any help from local officials. So they r forced to help the people withing the vicinity of the town. Hope u agree with me. Isnt the govt of india or tamilnadu shld have acted promptly to help the victims

sadhuji

very correct interpretation - every one first weighs the amount of political coverage and leverage that he is likely to get - then only he joins the help brigade. strange but true.

ansimn

It pretty sad that politics also got invloved in this relief measures. In bewteen Y'day there was an alert from the govt abt a fresh Tsunami attack. Finally it's found out as a false news. Coz of these relief workers, officials n people fled out of the coastal areas which lead into chaos, no need to mention that relief work wud have been suffered v much. It'll be good if the concerned officials pass out only the genuine news ....

Tomi

I have been depressed for the last few days since I found out, belatedly, about this terrible disaster. This tragedy touches me personally because I have been to so many of the towns affected, both in India and in Thailand. I just returned home and looked up the two villages that are most dear to my heart, Poompuhar in Tamil Nadu, and Koh Libong, in Trang province, Thailand. From the little I can find it looks like they were both very hard hit. I met so many of the locals there, sat on the beach with them, took pictures of them, wrote them. The Poompuhar fishermen fed me and showed me how to mend nets; the Koh Libong folks gave me free rides in their long boats. I have no idea if any of them are dead, and I remember many of them vividly. In Poompuhar the shacks are practically at sea level. And it's not just the casualties, but the livelihood of those who survived, which is most likely all gone for the foreseeable future.

Thanks to all Indiamikers for the news and their help. If anybody knows any more about Poompuhar, I'd appreciate hearing any news. Also, are there any targeted charities? I haven't started researching that yet. As much as I am relieved that Mamallapuram, Rameswaram, and Kanniyakumari's monuments are intact, I worry more about the small fishing villages that are likely to get less aid, because they are mush less significant for tourism.

Ansimn, I agree that it is sad that politics get involved, but there is something to be gained by it: the pressure to help that governments feel from public opinion. Our country (the US) is getting more involved little by little in the rescue effort because of pressure from its citizens and world opinion.

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sshekhar

I saw some posts earlier regarding the warning system. I do agree with Matty in that we should have had an early warning system. It is not necessary that we learn from our disasters. We could try and learn from others as well. Read this article in New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/31/in... tner=homepage

See how people who could have warned us did not have a telephone number to contact these moronic Indian government agencies. I mean forget about Tsunami, there should be a general disaster contact entity which can atleast tell local authorities what to do incase of any kind of disaster. If it saves even one life, it is worth it.

If these SOBs can spend money for Sukhois and weapons, the least they could do is hire 100 people who can just be contacted by anyone from around the world and they could relay messages to local entities. We definitely do not have a shortage of people and governemnt officials who sit on their ass to do nothing.

Furthermore, we know we are on the "ring of fire" (Andaman sure as hell is). What else do we need to know to build a general warning management system to alert people during earthquakes, tsunami, and volcanic activity. I am not even talking about a tsunami detection system. Let others detect if we can't, but atleast provide them with some way of warning us.

No matter what people say, this was a genocide on part of these governments (even though unintentional). I think it also comes from the fact that our government does not value human life.

snowcrab

I spent 6 months in India last year, my first trip. I can't believe how profoundly this catastrophe has affected me (as has the Iraq war). I was pretty focused on stuff close to home before that trip. Since seeing how people live, in rural India mostly, I feel that for most of the survivors of this ordeal just getting enough of the basics for survival right now is and for the next couple of weeks is so absolutely critical. After that, they can start putting their homes and businesses back together.

I was just so impressed by the enthusiasm and energy and joyousness that the poor people I met in India brought to their tasks, but they have to survive on absolutely nothing but what the rest of the world can offer to buy that precious time. I hope we can do enough in time. Hearing about distribution log jams is so disturbing.

All in all, though reading what the Indian Government has said and done in the crisis is very heartening. There is a tone of genuine rationality in what I have read that impresses me. I think it's time for India to take it's place amongst the "powers that be" on the world stage. I suspect that undeniably tragic as this event is there is a window of opportunity here for some radical geo-political power shifts mirroring metaphorically, the crustal shift that created the tsumai. And I'm going to be watching India pretty closely, as I suspect will many others.

Great site.
Keeps me focussed on my plans for getting back again, soon.

snowcrab

A friend sent me this article, it's a Yahoo news site, and I can't get at the originating url, and India Mike has guidelines about posting whole news articles but if anyone is interested and has a Yahoo membership, it's a pretty stark accusation of higher caste behavior in this emergency.

KESHVANPALAYAM, India (AFP) - India's untouchables, reeling from the tsunami disaster, are being forced out of relief camps by higher caste survivors and being denied aid supplies, activists charged.

sudheer poppa

I am seeing many news articles and stories about untouchables and caste system coming into play, stuff like that. Atleast to the extent I know of it, there is certainly no caste system coming into play in the relief camps I visited. There is a lot of tension as I explained in this thread (Click here) and at some places the tension just explodes in one way or another. Caste/politics/community/village and many such segragations could be tender spots through with such tension gets released. But western media (and some Indian ones as well) has been quick to pick up these exceptions by generalising and sensationalising the same.

After all, aint this the biggest news after US elections but for the stretched coverage on Iraq.

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