Aftermath

Nikk/ amrita,

Thanks for the update.

My background is from Pakistan and i know that in the 3rd world countries the govt. talk crap. I have some respect for the Indian govt but they still have the same way of thinking.
The Bhopal thingie really was sad.... the MP of that area after seeing the cameras gave one of the people who had suffered the most a job in his ministery...... this is so sad...... only after the camera appeared.......

doublc - anytime! Bhopal is something else. I wish I could tell you that the doc had it all wrong - it probably didnt and I can say that without ever having seen it. All I can say is that in the short term the poor will get the aid they need. In the long term, I dont know if they will get the aid that they deserve. Although, in Gujarat after the earthquake they did get enough funding for a number of them to get their lives back in some kind of working order.

Oh, and after I wrote my last post, I came across one talk show on the BBC wherein the rep of some NGO (Oxfam, RC, etc) was talking of 25,000 dead in the islands. The official estimate is 900. So now, I dont know what`s up with that. There is no reason for the rep to lie (he was basing his report on the eyewitness account of someone he knew who was on the ground as well as some internal govt memos he said he had seen) and I dont know what the govt is thinking. I hope it isnt only to keep the UN out.

Finally, the poor always suffer. And you dont need me to tell you that.

Ref nikki7777 #11

[...The govt. has done a fairly good job this time.I wouldn`t say so if it wasn`t.Tamilnadu is my native land and i have relatives and friends there.]

But none of them is living in the fishing villages, I bet. (Grin)

Amrita,

Thanks for the update. All i wanted to know if the poor are suffering or not. I saw a doc. on Bhopal a few weeks back and it was sad to see that the poor are still suffering.

MBZ,

I don`t quite follow your posts.

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India has rejected government to government aid but has set no limit on private aid such as that offered by NGOs. Of course there are tales of wrongdoing - not just in India but in all the other affected countries, all featuring prominently on the corruption index. However, in India the majority of aid seems to be getting through to the people. For one thing the localities affected are politically important. For another there has been a strong media presence in those places. As for the islands, the aftershocks have not stopped as of yet (5.1 just yesterday) and most people have been evacuated. Those left behind are people who have nowhere to go and camps have been set up and are visited by film crews every day. Believe me, if the lapse in aid were phenomenal, all of them would have been yelling themselves hoarse in a bid to capture some airtime. As for the Canadian health minister - I have no idea.

And yes, Banda Aceh does have a terrible time of it, doesnt it? Both man made and natural. But no one and nothing deserves what happened there. 100,000 people in less than 10 minutes.

7 Nikki:

This is what i was afraid of: (Source: Toronto Star. http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1105614487280&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968705899037&DPL=IvsNDS%2f7ChAX&tacodalogin=yes)

Read below:

Aid shipment `hijacked,` Red Cross says
Supplies disappear from dock in Andaman and Nicobar islands



PORT BLAIR, India (AP) — Red Cross officials in India`s remote Andaman islands accused the government today of ``hijacking`` their relief materials as squabbles over aid continued in the archipelago devastated by the tsunami.

A Rotary Club official also said the group had been given the cold shoulder by government officials when they offered to build hundreds of homes for tsunami victims.

In the weeks since the waves battered the Andaman and Nicobar islands, Indian and international relief agencies have complained that the government of the federally run territory doesn`t appear to want them to travel to the faraway islands, where survivors say relief has come very late.

Today, the Indian Red Cross Society said relief supplies it had in Port Blair, the territory`s capital, had disappeared from the docks and were later found to have been taken by government workers.

``They hijacked our relief material. They robbed it,`` said Basudev Dass, joint secretary of the Indian Cross Society. ``They want to take all the relief material and distribute it. We are very clear that we will go and distribute it to the real beneficiaries.``

Lt.-Gov. Ram Kapse, the territory`s head of government and the head of the Red Cross Society in the Andamans, declined to comment on his organization`s complaint.

Dass said 12,000 litres of mineral water intended for tsunami victims had been used as bath water by a district official. Residents say the official, who has been recalled to Port Blair, was attacked by local villagers. Officials confirmed he was assaulted, but said he was called back because he was ``suffering from fatigue.``

The aid standoff appears rooted with officials who want to control the distribution of relief supplies, rather than allowing aid agencies to deal directly with survivors, many of whom are taking refuge in relief camps on several islands.

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India has refused any help from the outside world. This no doubt shows that India is self sufficient in looking after itself or is it?
Being an outsider i would like to know:

If the 140,000 people that are in the relief centers (Source: BBC) are getting any help from the government?
Have the 8800 dead (Source: BBC) been buried yet?
Do people have access to fresh water?

In simple words..... are they taking care of their own people?

Our Minister of Health Ujjal Dosanjh visited India and was not met by any Indian politician. Canadian businessmen in India were the ones that greeted him and showed him around.
Can someone from India please tell me if these victims are being looked after and the government is really being honest in not requiring outside help?

Very nice write up.
I heard a woman from Aceh - who had held onto the trunk of a coconut tree and was rescued 100 miles into the ocean after 5 days - say she thought she was going all the way to india. She didn`t think she was going to die. Such is the hardiness in some people. We also have the ugliness of casteism, opportunism of ``anti-social elements`` and politicians (local as well as international) and the mixed blessing of international aid agencies who scratch your back if you scratch theirs. The most amazing thing amidst all this is how, except for a few nutcases, people everywhere have lent their sympathy.