January 07, 2005
Out of Sorts!!
Very appropriate article in The Times of India on Disaster Tourism.
Though volunteers are always welcome in any disaster relief operations, but as a newcomer they should have been prepared for these kind of activities before reaching Ground Zero. Probably they should get hooked on to some reputed NGOs like Indian Red Cross or Aid-India for the relief operations.
Well co-ordinated efforts will always yield better results than doing something in isolation.
Posted by Vasanth at 02:07 PM | Comments (0)
January 05, 2005
Tsunami Syndrome
Is there some sort of tsunami syndrome developing amongst we people? The day started off like any other normal day. After watching fresh set of images of the tsunami tragedy that were shown on the television, I as usual came to the office in the morning and settled down with the normal routine. At around 11 am, one of my colleagues told me that a fresh tsunami has hit the entire coast line of Tamil Nadu and sea water has entered Marina beach and Mylapore.
Ohh god!!! Only now everything seems to have settled down and one more tsunami!! Frantic calls made to everyone you could think of (including me, ofcourse), to get an update on the situation. I was so paranoid that I even went to the 12th floor of my office building to look around the city. There were already quite a few curious onlookers on the terrace just to see if water has indeed come in. But I could see only this.
Finally, it turned out that a warning has been issued by the government and people within a range of 2 Kms from the sea have been asked to move to the higher ground. There was news of evacuation of the Port at Chennai. Immediately, most of the offices on the beach road and all adjoining roads were also evacuated. Even some of the staff at offices as far as Guindy have been asked to go home!!! At around 1.45 PM, there were rumours that there is an earthquake warning and it can strike anytime. To the best of my knowledge, we still don't have any technology to predict earthquakes!!! The relief operations at most of the places along the coastline were called off due to the fresh tsunami warnings affecting millions of people.
Are we guys getting paranoid about earthquakes and tsunamis? Though we cannot be lagging in terms of warnings and getting people to safer places, we need to strike a balance between taking precautions and false alarms. We are already panic stricken and a slightest news that there a tsunami approaching will send shock waves which could lead to commotion and stampede.
Guys please restrain yourself from spreading rumours. It's not going to help anybody!!!
Posted by Vasanth at 06:46 PM | Comments (0)
January 03, 2005
This Was Called Marina!!
On 1st at around 5.00 PM, I set my foot on the Marina and this is what I saw...
Side facing the Anna Samathi, fully deserted... 
I could see only this tractor on the entire sterch 
Side facing the Lighthouse
Broken pavements on the inside road.. 
Few brave guys. Only 3 I could see,ofcourse that includes me also!!
Posted by Vasanth at 10:55 AM | Comments (3)
December 30, 2004
Double Standards??
It was heartening to see how the hospitality industry shows solidarity with the people who have been affected by the tsunami tragedy when I saw this article "Chennai hotels to greet New Year on a low key" in the Economic Times. As per the article, many hotels in the city are either cancelling the New Year's Bash or making it a low key affair without much decibels and glitter. One hotel went on to say "We don't want to make it a big affair when the sentiments are bad. We might entertain only those who walk in. we have switched off decorative lamps,. We have pulled out advertisements. We are putting up condolence messages on the hoardings". But I felt really disgusted when I saw this advertisement in the same paper.
Posted by Vasanth at 01:03 PM | Comments (0)
December 29, 2004
Bloggers Might!!
As days go by, the numbers swell by 1000s. Aftershocks still batters the Andaman & Nicobar Islands and the rain god is not considerate enough to the people of Nagapatinam which are hampering the relief efforts. Above all, there is a real danger of diseases spreading in the affected areas. But it is heartening to see how the Blogger community has responded to this tragedy. Right from offering information on this tragedy to helping in the relief efforts, bloggers are doing a commendable job. A worthy article in the Times of India says it all. The media cannot always cover all the events because of it's resource constrains, but the blogspere has the reach and also the ability and ofcourse, the willingness to do it. Some of the blogs which I really liked were:
Rupya Ganesh has setup a payment system for collecting money for the relief efforts through the internet which has really helped people who live aboard.
Kiruba Sankaran Offered quick information in his blog of the agencies which are undertaking relief efforts in the affected areas.
Guru As usual, wrote in his classy style, everything as it happened.
Kudos to all the above and also innumerable bloggers who have done an admirable job in this need of the hour.
Posted by Vasanth at 05:03 PM | Comments (1)
December 28, 2004
Help Help Help
Here is some useful information for all those people who want to help the tsunami victims: Kirupa
Posted by Vasanth at 01:15 PM | Comments (0)
The Day of Mourning
Tamil Nadu would not have seen such devastation in its living memory. No words can describe such a colossal damage to the coastal belt of Tamil Nadu and the Andaman Islands. Entire communities have been wiped out in some areas. Worst of all, nobody can reach some parts of Car Nicobar Islands with habitants of around 20,000 people even two days after the event.
Blame game has already started and many in the news media are blaming the government for not acting beforehand. Media should restrain itself from all this and help the rescue (I am still hopeful that there could be survivors) and rehabilitation efforts by the government and the NGOs. Let's do whatever in our power to help those people and make them lead a normal life. I am saying this with a heavy heart because I know how difficult it is to come to terms with such a disaster.
We may not realise the magnitude (this is what started everything; Magnitude 9) of the sufferings of people since we have not lost anything. Till now only the fishermen go into the sea and catch fishes. But today it's the sea which has come inside the land and caught the fishermen!!!
Had roles changed overnight??
Posted by Vasanth at 10:15 AM | Comments (2)
December 26, 2004
When The Earth Shakes!!!
My deepest condolences to all those families who have lost their loved ones to the killer waves.
It all started with a earthquake off the coast of Northern Sumatra Island of Indonesia measuring a magnitude of 8.9 on the Richter Scale, the 5th largest ever recorded. It was followed by 9 after shocks measuring 5.7 to 7.3 mostly in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. This triggered off huge Tsunamis as high as 10 meters which swept across Indian Ocean spanning an area of 2000 kilometres.
Posted by Vasanth at 03:24 PM | Comments (1)