Michigan Tech Lode January 12, 2005
Crisis in Southeast Asia
By Peter van der Hagen - Assistant News Editor
"Seeing the [death toll] increase to about 80,000 I was stunned," recalls MTU student Tushar Maurya of New Dehli, India.
"It was really quite tragic to see the survivor stories - how their whole family was swept away by the tsunami."
At 6:54 a.m. local time on Dec. 26, an earthquake of magnitude nine occurred off the West coast of Sumatra, as recorded by GlobalSecurity.org. The shifting of the plates triggered multiple tsunamis hitting surrounding coastlines within minutes.
Over a period of 20 minutes, people near the coast, tourists and locals alike, would have to survive one of mother nature's most brutalizing forces. Ray Gebbes, a survivor quoted by CNN, said "The entire process took about 20 minutes, but the first few waves -- taking about five to 10 minutes -- caused the worst damage."
Maurya remembered certain seismic observation centers, but didn't think there was any effective tsunami warning system in place. Further, Maurya believed that "to derive an evacuation plan would be immensely difficult for the government Especially for the people living in isolated areas, and to ensure that each and every single soul is evacuated."
Quickly, the death toll rose from somewhere over 13,000 victims on Dec. 27, to the latest reports of well over 150,000 people. The governments have stated that accurate estimates of the number killed by the waves will never be calculated as the population of many small islands ravaged had never been counted.
Questions regarding warning systems and the preparedness of the countries caused major changes. Among all the Asian countries hit, not one made a warning.
Thailand quickly fired its chief meteorologist after rumor that a warning was not issued to protect tourism in the area. Australia and Japan made commitments to help build a proper warning system in India.
Relief efforts were established immediately to aid the countries affected by the natural disaster. Ex-presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton took control of the American effort, asking for donations from the American public. Between his two successors, President George W. Bush himself gave $10,000 of his own money to the effort. The presidents agreed such a compassionate gesture would lead to a better image of the United States in the international community. While receiving much criticism for being cheap in these donations, the United States has handed over $350 million, a few spots behind Australia's $818 million.
Efforts on smaller levels are becoming evident as well. Rob Collier, President of the Michigan Council of Foundation has set up a system to act as a "conduit for information" on giving to the fund. When asked whether the United States had or had not pledged enough, Collier responded that "[T]he Uniteed States has been certainly generous. Clearly, based on what I've heard there is going to be a need for a long-term United States support for rebuilding."
Collier believes that there are two issues for the response. The immediate need being food and shelter, with a second issue dealing with the long-term rebuilding of the nations themselves. Maurya responded that some order must be restored as the government in distress is promoting anarchy. "[T]he people are vulnerable to various crimes of theft which might be done by a person as it might be need based like stealing food supplies."
While survivors have still been found up to two weeks following the disaster, the death toll has climbed to a height causing the international community to throw aside differences and collaborate to help. Around the world, prayers are with those affected while many hope for the hasty improvement of the catastrophe.
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