Editorial

Rising From The Ashes

Never in the history of our land did our nation weep as it did last week. When nature chose her day to strike us low, she chose carefully: the day that combined Unduvap Poya with Christmas. The thought must have crossed the minds of many whose families were lost and homes destroyed in this catastrophe that if there is a higher hand that guides our destinies, it certainly is very displeased with the goings on in paradise isle. It is almost as if we are under a curse.

In its hour of grief, in its time of trial, Sri Lanka responded magnificently. The genuine outpouring of goodwill - clothes, food, money - seemed to know no end. Even as the blow struck, our nation's President holidayed in London, ignoring dire warnings of the imminent catastrophe that had been printed in banner headlines in her own newspaper, the Daily News (which went on to gloat about its prophetic prowess). Her ministers, ever ready to globe trot, were globe trotting. Her brother, the tourism minister - one of the worst affected industries in the devastation - continued to holiday in Los Angeles. It was more than a day after the tragedy that the President clocked in, poised to take control - and credit.

Mahinda Rajapakse, his own home at the centre of the disaster in Tangalle, rose to the occasion and took charge, even taking calls requesting support from Ranil Wickremesinghe, who was himself touring the stricken areas and working in consultation with the Prime Minister. By all counts it seems that more than 25,000 people lost their lives in Sri Lanka on Unduvap Poya Day with over a million more displaced. Never has our nation seen such tragedy. Many of those killed were children, who went to their deaths shocked, bewildered and unknowing. A disproportionate number were women, many of them clutching infants. For those hours, terror of truly biblical proportions reigned.

There is no one in this land who did not lose someone they knew, someone they loved. And even as the waters receded and the nation took stock of its dreadful predicament, the people of Sri Lanka went to the aid of the afflicted. The need of the hour was to identify and bury the dead, provide succour to the living and treat the wounded. Unasked by anyone, the private and NGO sectors, and ordinary citizens, stepped into the breach: and how! The flow of humanitarian aid and volunteers began by Sunday afternoon, well before the nation - and especially the government - realised the awful scale of the catastrophe.

Even as Sri Lanka shone in her hour of grief, there were, of course, the usual irritants that so bedevil our nation. Ever ready to cash in her political capital, President Kumaratunga wanted it widely known that the relief effort was of her making or at least, that was the impression her state media sought tirelessly to convey. The only thing she was widely expected to do and did not, was blame the tsunami on Ranil Wickremesinghe and the UNP.

The quality of media reporting too, could have been better. Television is all well and good, but surely the dead deserve more respect than to be paraded before the cameras, half naked, mouths agape? How terrible it must have been for people to see their loved ones thus. In sharp contrast was the LTTE's video release, which portrayed the full pathos of the tragedy without demeaning the dead. In as much as the relief efforts such as that of Sirasa are to be lauded, there is every danger of the various yathras being reduced to mere publicity stunts. The jingoists - JVP, JHU and all - have now joined the fray, and the emphasis turned from humanitarianism to scoring political brownie points.

But despite these minor irritants, our nation did its best, and our people proved they were not the lotus eaters they have been painted to be. But even while recrimination is futile, the government needs to ask itself some pertinent questions. The Daily News itself has been crowing about how it foretold this calamity. What then, did the government do about these warnings? What of the subject of disaster management which is gazetted under Chandrika Kumaratunga? We are yet to hear from them as to why they did not at least log into the www.usgs.gov website and monitor the daily second-by-second updates of tectonic movements in the Andaman Sea.

A lot has been made of the Hawaiian geologist who "saw" the quake happen on his computer screen 110 minutes before the Tsunami hit the east coast and failed to warn us. But Kumaratunga's disaster committee, the Meteorological Department and the Geological Survey and Mines Bureau had access to exactly the same information at the same time: yet, we find it easier to blame the Hawaiian geologist than wonder why our own agencies charged with this duty so spectacularly failed. Above all, given that the Daily News was so sure that disaster would strike, why did the President choose to go gallivanting overseas?

Sadly, up to the time of writing, the government agencies responsible for disaster relief have been precious little use, and it is the people themselves who are helping the afflicted. Rupavahini's appeal for bottled water clearly showed how out of step with reality the government is. Unlike is the case with cyclones or even earthquakes, the Tsunami's damage is entirely along the coast. Just a few metres inland of the narrow disaster zone are intact schools, temples, electricity, toilets and wells. Rather than taking bottled water from Colombo, what would be most efficient is sending some bowsers or even trucks with buckets in them, to shuttle water from unaffected neighbouring areas. Better still, rather than seeking to shelter the homeless in the resource-less disaster areas, the disaster planners (where are they?) would have done well to have moved people to refuges just a little further inland.

Well, from our point of view, that is all, as it were, water under the bridge. We need now to find the resolve to look ahead and seek opportunities from this disaster. For one thing, the international donor community has once more focused its attention on Sri Lanka. Even President Bush, who has consistently snubbed Kumaratunga and gone to some pains to keep her out of the White House, called up to condole and offer assistance. One can but hope that as she did the last time around, she will not throw this chance away by playing politics.

Over the past three decades, tourism has burgeoned on the coastline between Colombo and Kirinda, and human settlement on Sri Lanka's southwest littoral has been massive, unplanned and indiscriminate. Some of the best tourism beaches in the country were littered with shanties and slums. Now, at great cost to life and human suffering, there is once more an opportunity to do it right.  What is needed is the political will: the rest, in terms of investment and enterprise, will follow. The government would also do well not to wallow too long in self pity.

What the people need right now are not platitudes, but jobs and the wherewithal to rebuild their homes and their lives. This cannot be done through handouts from the world, or even the near bankrupt central government. The private sector can help, but to do so, government would do well to offer realistic incentives: accelerated completion of the southern highway, planned development of the coastal zone, and tax incentives to generate economic activity.

This year, 2005, must be dedicated to rehabilitation and reconstruction, not just of the people whose lives have been affected by this calamity, but also the tens of thousands who have for decades been refugees in the north and east. There is no doubt the people of Sri Lanka are ready and willing to put their shoulder to the wheel. It remains in question, however, whether the ambitions of our political masters are congruent with the people's wishes. Kumaratunga has been planning a referendum - billed to cost the nation Rs. 750 million - to rescue her own political future, this year. Will she now desist, allowing that money to be spent on the people to whom it belongs? It is anyone's guess as to what she will do, and readers of The Sunday Leader are well equipped indeed, to make that guess.