Watching Japan struggle to cope with the aftermath of an immensely powerful earthquake and the devastating tsunami it unleashed is a sobering reminder of how helpless humans can be against the awesome forces of nature. No country has been more conscious of the dangers of earthquakes and tsunamis than Japan. Utmost precautions were taken against these twin dangers as the island nation rebuilt from the ashes of its defeat in the Second World War and laid out a path to prosperity.
Without these precautions, the consequences would have been more catastrophic. Nevertheless, even in this well-prepared, wealthy, industrialised nation, it was not easy for people in the worst-hit areas to secure the bare necessities of life — food, drinking water, and shelter. The task of rebuilding communities and livelihoods that lies ahead is a daunting one even for the world's third largest economy.
It puts into perspective another earthquake and another tsunami that happened a few years ago. On December 26, 2004, a 1,200-km stretch of a fault near the Indonesian island of Sumatra suddenly sprang to life, producing one of the worst quakes to be experienced since the turn of the 20th century. As in Japan, what caused most destruction and deaths was the gigantic tsunami that followed the quakes; it claimed lives as far away as Somalia. It is believed that close to a quarter of a million people lost their lives in nearly a dozen countries and some 1.7 million were left homeless.
Lack of warning system
Unlike in Japan, a tsunami was far from the consciousness of the people and the governments in countries ringing the Indian Ocean. The lack of a tsunami warning system meant that a great many lives were unnecessarily lost. Aceh at the northern end of Sumatra was perhaps too close for any warning system to be effective. However, the waves reached Thailand only after two hours and it took an hour and a half more for that enormous wall of water to sweep across the Bay of Bengal and strike India and Sri Lanka.
Despite the lack of preparedness, once tragedy struck, the public and governments in the affected countries swiftly rallied together. With many foreign tourists killed while on vacation, the calamity struck a deep chord across the world. The result was a massive global aid effort, with U.N. organisations, military personnel, and voluntary groups pitching in.
In this book, over two dozen scholars from various countries, look at the destruction wrought by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and the changes in the terrain and vegetation that followed. More importantly, it provides an assessment of what went right — and what didn't — with the mammoth aid and reconstruction efforts.
“Political neglect of the Acehnese in Indonesia and the Tamils in Sri Lanka, social marginalisation of coastal fishing communities in the Indian Ocean countries, and the difficulties that powerless individuals face in accessing resources have contributed to their vulnerability to the tsunami hazards,” says Pradyumna P. Karan, a co-editor of the volume, in the introductory chapter. The sheer scale of the cataclysm, however, helped build bridges between groups — or served to push them further apart. The book narrates how at Velankanni in southern Tamil Nadu, where many perished when the waves struck as pilgrims attended Mass at a well-known church, volunteers from a Hindu mutt 150 km away and a group of Muslim youth from a distant village rushed to help the victims.
Ceasefire
In Aceh, where an insurgency had led the Indonesian government to declare martial law, the calamity paved the way for a ceasefire and, subsequently, a peace deal. In Sri Lanka, on the other hand, the tragedy fanned the flames of discord between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the government, and contributed to the breakdown of a fragile ceasefire and resumption of fighting.
NGO's role
Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) played a huge part in the recovery process. Local, national, and international NGOs came together in an unprecedented effort. They brought in expertise as well as resources, helped provide a range of services and reached groups that might otherwise have been left out. But there was also duplication of effort and unsuitable forms of aid being given (such as temporary shelters of metal that became unbearably hot when summer set in). A chapter on Sri Lanka notes that lack of experience and pressure for quick results compromised the efficiency and quality of some NGO programmes. Learning from experience has been fundamental to Japan's success despite being located in a seismic hotspot. India and the other countries affected by the 2004 tsunami must do the same.
