The Tsunami Disaster

tempest in a teapot,

......... look, let`s be honest here ..... 10-15000 poor fishermen and their families dying in india is really no big deal ........ most of these people were a burden on god`s earth in any case and i am sure the people who really matter, the resort owners and larger fishing/shipping companies had insurance ........ the only people we have to worry about are the foreign tourists who were out there trying to get a decent tan ............ as general westmoreland so aptly said many many years ago : life in asia is cheap ............. in pakistan we loose a hundred people every day in road accidents and random shootings at mosques and imambaras - you don`t hear us creating a fuss, do you ?

............. and now that a few days have passed, it is not a humanitarian issue any more .......... now it is all about gaining political advantage and looking good

He is a leftist.

There are thousands of problems in india. However our biggest problem is our world famous writers (like Udaya Kumars and Disouzas) who start solving problems before even anlayzing them.

If ``world famous Udayakumar`` have to focus, I would suggest he should focus on a disaster mitigation plan for cyclones, floods and dry spells which appear quite predictably on yearly basis, and kill thousands. But, no, these are not fashionable issues. This is because, cyclone, floods and dry spells happen regularly in india and also in Africa and our ``world famous`` writes won`t get the attention they seek.

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temporal,
someone your tongue in cheek didn`t look like an nnocent tongue in cheek. I will also ...khair... aap malik hain yahan ke.. and can define humor for us mortals

Ref friend #5

[BTW, world famous Udaya Kumar ji, what is your alternative for energy? Would you prefer candle light? Or would you set an example by setting up a windmill in your backyard?]

Candle light? Are you talking paraffin wax here which means we will be drilling for oil in off-shore and other environmentally fragile areas or are we going to hunt sperm whales to get at the waxy oil like they used to do in 18th and 19th centuries?

Udayakumar aka Masanamuthu would not be setting up a windmill for his energy like the farmers of the American Midwest and the West used to do. He would expect that the windmills would be set up by yhe government that he despises so much. And the government of Tamil Nadu actually has inaugurated a windmill farm in his area so he can get his electricity while b!tching and moaning about the government.

This particular Masanamuthu is clever: he won`t be responding to any interacts. he just means to throw a grenade in a crowd and run away.

I know Udayakumar is too busy to respond here and therefore, this is addressed not to him but to the rest of the lowly beings here. Indian nuclear program is infested with safety problems - that much is certain. However, in this particular case the plant was to shut down automatically if it sensed seismic movement of certain threshold. Looks like that part worked quite well. Also, there was no thermal runoff. That too is good news. Everything worked as it was designed to. Kudos to DAE!
This article is just an opportunistic, cheap-shot criticism of the ``elites`` for everything from earthquakes to asteroid strikes. Such bellyaching is easy to do and even Udayakumar can pull it off.

[The Kanyakumarians who have always looked up to the sea as a source of food and nurturance, spirituality and sacredness, entertainment and enjoyment, had a rude awakening on the black Sunday. With the beautiful frontyard to our peninsular home....]

Hello, let us no wax too poetic here. The truth is the Masanamuthus think of the beach as their public latrine with an ample supply of water to wash their bottoms. If there is the least bit of cleanliness, ascribe it to the Malayalees who are settled in Kanyakumari district.

Those who don`t believe me just compare Chennai to Trivandrum or Trichy to Cochin/Ernakulam.

Who is this dimwit Udayakumar ?

sadhna:

re: ``ps``

am disapointed a tad... i mean yes there is a dearth of sense of humour on hamdim`s wrong side of the border...but...honestly i thought without using icons i had made it abundantly clear this was tongue in cheek...khair...(sigh)... abdul qadeer whatever... you are the super sage;)

lve

t

You can not blame the Indian government or elites for a 8.9 earthquake that moved 600 miles of continental plate, not for not expecting a once-in-a-century-or-more tsunami.

You can, however blame the Indian government and Tamil Nadu government for how they handled the aftermath. And you must certainly also question the priorities of development of the Indian and Tamil Nadu governments. And the DAE will have to review the safety arrangements of its nuclear plants in view of tsunami threat, agreed.

And yes, unlike the elites of TN, the elites in Kerala fought long and hard against not only nuclear power plants but also thermal power plants and even the Silent Valley hydroelectric plant.

As a consequence the Kerala elite were the sole enjoyers of the pleasures of being elite, and the non-elite trying to make a honest living from small businesses like flour mills, small industry had to suffer under years of 60% -80% HT power cuts or virtual lock out, forget about profits.

So the question here I have is, what is your view of how development must take place? No nuclear power plants? No power plants at all?


PS : #2 is supposed to be a `balanced` Paki, can you believe it? If there is any set of people who loudly profess their intention to cleanse the Earth of some of us, those are Abdul Qadeer Khan`s business associates. Forget about the Indian elite ever even mentioning that profitable business.

How does chowk make someone a featured columnist ? Mr. Udayakumar`s writing is mediocre, hasn`t done the relevant research, and does not seem to have the domain expertise. 0 for 3. Monday morning quarterbacking does not a columnist make.

The content in this piece is abysmal, given the importance of the event. The only saving grace is that chowk has been known to accept lower quality content.

I agree with Sridhar that earthquakes are far more important. Imagine the scale of the disaster if Delhi were near the epicenter of an 8+ temblor. The tsunami`s impact on India, by comparison, is a walk in the park. Things would have been a lot worse had Sri Lanka not existed (buffered impact on some southern zones) and if the quake had occurred in the evening (marina beach in madras would have had thousands of casualties).

Our dear world famous Udayakumar ji

It is nice tot know that we have as our national President, A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, the notorious father of our nuclear bomb. If he is notorious than I wish all of us can get that notoroiety.

I agree that DAE people were inapt. that should have taken care of ``Tsunami`` danger even if probablility was one in a million. However, you are barking at wrong group. We have a meteorology department that should be sacked. That department does nothing but calls some taxi drivers and paan shop owners to get their opinion on ``kaal kaisa hoga`` and give that as weather forcast.

BTW, world famous Udaya Kumar ji, what is your alternative for energy? Would you prefer candle light? Or would you set an example by setting up a windmill in your backyard?

udayakumar

the teaser asks: If the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) officials are unable to protect their own men and machines from a natural disaster, how on the Earth are they going to protect us, evacuate us, rehabilitate us and safeguard our safety and security from possible attacks and accidents on a nuclear power plant?

can i take an uninformed shot at this?...

maybe they believe in cleansing the earth of some of us this way?

re: this article
I agree with the general pitch of this article: much more could have been done in the 2 hours that remained between Tsunami striking Indonesia and Tamil Nadu coast. But then it is a futile discussion. There was no system in place. The satellites that India regularly sends to space (for whatever Godforsaken reason) could not alert the governments concerned.
Author made a profound statement when he said:

``The Indian elites have always shown interest in those development projects and defence deals where they could steal huge amounts of public money and have largely ignored the small steps that could make the life of ordinary citizens safe and secure. The Indian establishment and its head priests have been preoccupied with nuclear bombs, huge dams, ballistic missiles, mission to the Moon, and a permanent seat at the UN Security Council. A simple safety procedure such as joining the international tsunami warning system to save the ordinary Indians` lives from an impending disaster is too small a thing for them to worry about.``
I liken India`s attempts at world power stature to an old man trying to run a marathon. He just can`t run. The elite forget that once lives of ordinary Indians are made better, such a stature would automatically be bestowed upon the nation. The GOI does not have to fight for recognition. It will happen.
I however do not concur that India should have had the Tsunami warning system in place. Tsunami of this magnitude is a rare occurance and no Tsunami has hit the Indian coast until now. So, there was no precedence.
Much more improtant are the earthquakes. Gujarat earthquake killed more than 20000 people. Does the govt have a plan in place if an earthquake were to strike again? I am sure it does not.
Most of the people who were affected by Tsunami were fishermen and poor people. Why did the Tsunami not wash away the corrupt ruling elite of Tamil Nadu while they were taking a walk by the beach side? I just do not find any justice in God`s dispensation anymore.
Sridhar



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