1st truly global disaster
2005-01-02 11:55
Paris - Even with the death toll possibly creeping up to the 150 000 mark, Asia's tsunami crisis is far from being the world's deadliest natural disaster.
But it is the world's first truly global catastrophe, with lives shattered and families sundered in dozens of countries on different continents.
The response to it also has been global in a way rarely seen before, with tens of millions of ordinary citizens reaching into their pockets to send aid.
France's President Jacques Chirac said the disaster showed that "regardless of distance, we form the same, single humanity" and Pope John Paul II said the tragedy showed to what extent "we are part of a global community." The disaster has become "a world catastrophe" said Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain.
The tsunamis were triggered by the most powerful earthquake in four decades, but even during that brief moment in the planet's geological history there have been worse disasters in statistical terms - for example, the 1976 Tangshan earthquake that killed an estimated 600 000 Chinese in 1976, or the cyclone-driven floods that killed about half a million people in Bangladesh in 1970.
Earth wobbled on its axis
Though it caused the earth to wobble on its axis and shifted islands by a few metres, the December 26 seaquake was a minor event compared to the legendary annihilation of the volcano-island of Krakatoa in the same region in 1883. The sound of its destruction was heard in Australia and India, giant waves towered 40m above sea level and a vast cloud of ash cooled the world's temperature for several years afterwards.
But populations were smaller back then, however, coastlines were largely unpopulated and the total number of deaths from the eruption was calculated to be no more than about 36 000.
To a greater extent than other disasters, more even than the September 11 terrorist attacks, the south Asian wave disaster was a dramatic example of how the world is turning into a global village.
Modern communication was partly responsible, of course. Survivors used their mobile phones to let friends and relatives know they were safe. They recorded the ocean's surge on their video cameras, providing dramatic footage for the TV journalists who crowded onto the scene.
Blanket news, television and radio coverage meant that few people anywhere in the world could remain aloof from the tragedy, in contrast to the 1976 China earthquake disaster, which largely remained a state secret.
Aid pledges at $2bn
In turn, people around the world donated money faster than aid could be delivered. In some countries, people were able to send a few euros simply by transmitting a short message via their mobile phones.
In total, aid pledges for the tsunami victims reached about $2.0bn on Saturday, according to Jan Egeland, the UN undersecretary general for emergency relief.
In Britain alone, ordinary people dug deep into their pockets to send a phenomenal £60m, far exceeding the 50 million pounds pledged by the British government.
"We have lost much, but gained in strength by the knowledge of solidarity shown by the world," said Sri Lankan President Chanrika Kumaratunga. "The world has responded massively in our hour of tragedy."
The tsunami tragedy was partly a result of modern progress, that saw natural defenses such as forests and mangrove swamps replaced by ocean-front hotels and bungalows, and fishing villages giving way to well populated resorts.
Economic imperative brought flights full of sun-seeking vacationers winging in from as far away as Saint Petersburg even as rescue workers struggled to gather up and bury the dead.
The coastal resorts of Thailand and Sri Lanka have become heavily dependent on the long-range charter traffic from northern Europe, where the pictures of Asian resort beaches in travel agency catalogues seem irresistible on a gloomy winter day.
3 500 Swedes still missing
That explains why it was as much a day of mourning in Sweden on Saturday as in the countries directly in the path of the tsunamis.
With 60 Swedes confirmed dead, and 3 500 others still missing, the catastrophe was "probably the worst of our time and will impact everyday Swedish life for a long time to come," said prime minister Goeran Persson.
The question now is whether the tragedy will act as a spur to increase co-operation in the region so that information about earthquakes and tsunamis can be quickly collected and disseminated. Had such technology been in place, affected regions could have had hours of warning that a tsunami was on the way.
Although the aid response has been quick, Chirac said the disaster should become the spur to organize a "true humanitarian rapid reaction force."
The UN, which is organising a donor conference in Geneva 11, says the disaster will require a huge global response over a long period. Clearly, one concern was that economic dislocation caused by the tragedy could turn to political extremism in a volatile region. But Sri Lanka's Kumaratunga stressed that the disaster could also be an opportunity for healing in her divided nation.
"We have been equally destroyed in the east, west, north and south," she said. "When nature has treated us equally, why can't we treat each other similarly?"