Tsunami

Dost Mittar #3 Glad you appreciated the description of the tsunami phenomenon. And the basic point was indeed, as you say, on how oblivious we are to the insignificance of political and other issues in the larger scheme of things - a glimpse of which has been provided by this tsunami. And a glimpse of which is provided every time someone we know dies.

smartsyco #2 You are right about the similarity between the movie ``Day after tomorrow`` where a giant wave was created by another kind of a natural phenomenon: the smashing into earth of an asteroid. And indeed, asteroids are just another example of the fragile existence of life on earth that I mention in the article.

labyrinth #4 With all due respect to the maulvi, Allah did create all of us as equal. It is our own attitudes that create inequality - this tsunami provides a powerful reminder, since the powerful former German chancellor Helmut Kohl (who was vacationing in Sri Lanka) was equal to the poorest villager as far as the tsunami was concerned. The tsunami lends weight to the Quranic emphasis on the equality of all individuals before God, regardless of race, religion or status in that we humans have accorded that individual.

more important than praying -- is contributing -- Oxfam and Care -- two genuine organizations where our contributions will get to the bereaved -- the rising death toll will reach almost 100,000 -- our callous crude President is having his vacation and wont cut it short and come back to the Capital -- to directly reassure the South Asian nations --

a paltry sum of 15 million with another promise of 20 million from the richest and the most powerful country of the world has been promised -- a drop in the bucket -- for this humongous catastrophe of Himalayan proportions that descended upon the people of 7 countries....

the astounding development is that we in the West KNEW exactly -- the moments after -- the time, the location and the scale of -- when and where the earthquake occurred -- and we knew from our science of ocean earthquakes and our past experiences that after the earthquake a Psunami will follow like a night following the day -- but the West sat on the information and did not bother to WARN the coastal countries...

the wave took 1- 2 hours to hit Sri Lanka and India -- the warning could have saved thousands of lives -- but nothing was done -- now that may be called CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE that amounts to committing Genocide against the Asians by default....

Succubus #6 In response to your question, tsunamis (before this one) have not occurred over the past century almost in the Indian Ocean region. They have been associated with the Pacific Ocean (which has the vast Ring of Fire of tectonic activity stretching from the south pacific to japan, hawaii. alaska (which had the large major tsunami back in 1961 I think), the west coast of the US and of latin america). While earthquakes cannot be predicted with great certainty, tsunamis can be detected through sensors placed under the ocean that detect the high speed underwater waves generated by the tsunami I mention in the article. This gives a few hours for people to evacuate the shorelines.

more important than praying -- is contributing -- Oxfam and Care -- two genuine organizations where our contributions will get to the bereaved -- the rising death toll will reach almost 100,000 -- our callous crude President is having his vacation and wont cut it short and come back to the Capital -- to directly reassure the South Asian nations --

a paltry sum of 15 million with another promise of 20 million from the richest and the most powerful country of the world has been promised -- a drop in the bucket -- for this humongous catastrophe of Himalayan proportions that descended upon the people of 7 countries....

the astounding development is that we in the West KNEW exactly -- the moments after -- the time, the location and the scale of -- when and where the earthquake occurred -- and we knew from our science of ocean earthquakes and our past experiences that after the earthquake a tsunami will follow like a night following the day -- but the West sat on the information and did not bother to WARN the coastal countries...

the wave took 1- 2 hours to hit Sri Lanka and India -- the warning could have saved thousands of lives -- but nothing was done -- now that amounts to an inexcusable CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE on the part of the West......for which they must bear the brunt of relief expenses -- that will run not -- in`millions` -- but in BILLIONS....

kaurasach #8 You make two important points, namely (1) that the tsunami did not distinguish on the basis of race, religion or wealth; and (2) ``Man thinks its the chosen one...a delusion``.

And indeed these points are important to remember. I have already discussed (1) in an earlier response below. On (2), mankind is indeed not the ``chosen species`` (ashraf-ul-makhlookaat) as we like to think. I recall a Quranic phrase which says that God placed man on earth, and can replace him with another species. We take our fragile existence too much for granted.

temporal #8 That is indeed a beautiful poem that you have written in your I-log. It captures the point I was trying to make in a very eloquent manner. Indeed, a few short years from now we will all be gone from earth. ``ik nai haqiqat lai gi janam``, as you put it. Let us do whatever little we can to make that ``nai haqiqiat`` a little bit better for future generations - even if it as little as spreading a bit of goodwill around. Glad to see you were inspired into writing the poem by the tsunami just as I was inspired to stay up late last night putting together this article.

friend: thanks for contributing your thoughtful views. :-)

jang #10 galle in sri lanka did seem to have suffered greatly. There was an entire train with a thousand passengers where over 800 of them seem to have lost their lives due to the flood. Being at a place where tragedy strikes does make such events very real indeed. Another place badly hit was the island of Phuket off the coast of Thailand. I spent a couple of nights there many years ago, and have always remembered the dreamlike vision of waving palm trees and the ocean beyond that that one could see from the upper floor hotel room I occupied. The locals were a gentle, friendly people - and the place was on its way to becoming a popular vacation resort.

A very good article on a very human tragedy.

I am afraid that not much will happen from this brief moment of compassion. We are all shocked by the event but for the wrong reason. What we are seeing and hearing is not sorrow expressed about the loss of life, but an admission towards humanity`s own fraility. It is just that this particular event coincided with the end of the year, when everyone is overcome with the commerical sentiments of Christmas and ``joy to the world``. We are all saddened by the event, because of it was of such a huge magnitude that it lucidily framed the insignificance of humanity`s power in comparsion to the forces of nature.

Listen to the words of the arrogant and the foolish! The talk in the aftermath of this disaster is that an early warning system would have prevented this nightmare and we are still clinging to the false believe in the supremacy of our technological powress. We still, mistakenly, think we can alter the future and we can prevent incidents like this by deploying senors to forewarn us of an impending peril. We are still fascinated with our ageless battle to defeat death and we still salivate to proclaim our immortality as a victory over nature. We have still not learned humility in the face of nature and instead of hubris, we strut on the stage littered with dead and broken bodies, like a pharoah, craving adulation to the myth of our own invincibility.

The world will band about and offer offers of aid but in the end, nothing will materialize. Last year, around this time, there was an earthquake in Bam, Iran and nearly 30,000 people died. Before that, there was major earthquake in Turkey and an entire city was flattened. For the victims of Bam, aid was offered and a year later, who remembers Bam? Who remembers the dead from yesterday, while the media curlishly relishes new headlines with more grim statistics tomorrow. This too will fade from the TV screens and disappear from the newspapers and from memories. The only people who will carry the memory will be the ones forgotten by the world and only they will have courage to rebuild their lives with their own tears and not with the kindness and compassion of the words of the world`s good intentions.

I can cry for the dead and the suffering or I can cry for the nature of humanity, which will not change from its own selfish egocentric values. I do not know for whom and what reason I should cry for, but I do know that I must cry for I am afraid of human nature and that is enough to me cry.

Ciao

friend:

#12 was not called for...least of all from you!

i remember driving from colombo to Yala across from Galle in Srilanka..apparently the whole thing is wiped out! folks on that coast are the nicest people i ever met. the bay of bengal always scared me..when you look out from mahabalipuram, it always looks angry. i will not look at any beach the same as before.

We are collecting funds to distribute to the disaster victims through the aid agencies. Our karachi-based charity organization KKF (www.kkfonline.org) regularly provides relief.

Please send your check or money orders to and write your SS# or National ID number on the check:

In Pakistan
ST-7, Block-14, Federal B Area, Karachi, Pakistan
Phone: ++92 21 6333811 – Fax: ++92 21 6323839

Account Title: KKF
Account No: 3650-0
Bank: Allied Bank of Pakistan Ltd.,
(Address: Dastagir Colony Branch, Federal B Area, Karachi)


In the UK
Account Title: MQF
Account Number: 3932079
Sort Code: 30-98-07
Bank: Lloyds TSB
(Address: 105 Station Road, Edgware, Middlesex, HA8 7JL)

In the US and Canada
Account Title: Khidmat-e-Khalq Committee
Account Number: 004125586890
Bank: Bank of America
(Address: 443 School Street, Woodbridge, NJ 07095)


Please indicate on check or money order South Asia Disaster Relief
A tax reciept will be mailed back to you as well.

Kind Regards
Shabber Abbas
shabber_abbas@hotmail.com

Ahmek,
You forgot to write that India lost of its claim to superiority in technology by 8000 bodies.. !!

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