[Marxism] Re: Tsunami death toll reaches Hiroshima death toll

[l.willms@xxxxxxxxxxx (Lueko Willms)]

.    On  31.12.04
  wrote  kaliyuga@xxxxxxxxxxxxx (viveka)
     on  /ALIST/MARXMAIL
     in  001a01c4ef80$99899700$762664d8@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
  about  Re: [Marxism] Tsunami death toll reaches Hiroshima death toll


k> Indeed the number of "human" deaths is staggering.

   The latest estimates are 150'000 dead; this is even more than the  
number of poeple who died immediately from the blast of the atomic  
bomb on Hiroshima.

k> Yet, there is this from Reuters today:
k>
k> "Sri Lankan wildlife officials have said the giant waves that killed
k> over 24,000 people along the Indian Ocean island's coast seemingly
k> missed wild beasts, with no dead animals found.
k>
k> "No elephants are dead, NOT EVEN A DEAD HARE OR RABBIT.  I think
k> animals can sense disaster. They have a sixth sense. They know when
k> things are happening," H.D. Ratnayake, deputy director of Sri Lanka's
k> Wildlife Department, said Wednesday.

   Without taking into account the superiority of several senses of  
various animals, animals are also more fearful and prefer to run away,  
more than us humans.

   Quite many people have pointed to the sophisticated equipment  
installed as part of the tsunami warning system for the Pacific Ocean,  
and that such is lacking in the Indian Ocean.

   While I agree that such devices should be installed there too, I  
see the main problem in the actual consciousness of the danger. The  
animals probably sensed the danger from the earthquake or the sounds  
which the approaching tsunami is generating, but many people saw the  
first signs of the tsunami rather as a interesting spectacle.

   I remember the German tourist who told an a TV reporter  
interviewing her, that the see receded for about 10 minutes before  
coming back in force. Other tourists even tried to take pictures at  
the beach promenade instead of running away as fast as possible. The  
unusual retreat of the sea is a typical sign for a tsunami and should  
have been the signal to get out of harms way.

   A different reaction was possible even without a sophisticated  
tsunami warning system, as a report by CNN reporter Atika Shubert from  
the island Simeulue, an island off the west coast of Sumatra, only 40  
km away from the epicentre of the December 26 earthquake showed. The  
islanders have apparently preserved the memory of the big 1883 (or  
1888?) earthquake which also generated a big tsunami, and take to the  
hills every time they sense an earthquake. www.simeulue.com

   This conscience got lost, if it ever has taken deep roots, on the  
other shores of the Indian Ocean, and the governments, who should have  
known better, did not know what to do, and quickly, in that situation.

   A factor might also have been the mistrust of the ruling class vis  
à vis the general population, fearing to generate a panic reaction  
with an unprepared warning over the radio, and also a complete  
evacuation of the areas closest to the sea would be hampered by the  
mistrust of quite a number of people who would fear to leave their  
homes open to looters.

   As I said, the social cohesion and mutual trust, as a society  
emerging from a socialist revolution would generate, are the main  
factors in confronting natural calamities of the order of this  
earthquake and tsunami. And a huge amount of human solidarity is being  
generated by the disaster, in all classes of people.

   BTW, Wikipedia has an good article on this quake:
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake

   And another BTW: a friend of mine is or was spending the winter  
months in Khao Lak, where disaster struck thousands of tourists.


Yours,
Lüko Willms                                     http://www.mlwerke.de
/--------- L.WILLMS@xxxxxxxxxxx -- Alle Rechte vorbehalten --

"Ohne Pressefreiheit, Vereins- und Versammlungsrecht ist keine
Arbeiterbewegung möglich"        - Friedrich Engels      (Februar 1865)

_______________________________________________
Marxism mailing list
Marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism