Volume 6, No. 2, February 2005

The toll keeps rising even as we go to the press. At the latest count, those killed and missing is now over 2 lakh twenty thousand, spread across 12 countries and two continents, with an estimated 5 million families displaced.

The worst hit was Indonesia, as the earthquake stuck on the morning of Dec.26th barely 100 kms from its coast. It measured a massive nine of the Richter scale. The next worst affected was Sri Lanka, a good 2,000 kms away from the epicenter. The Aceh province of Indonesia, which has witnessed a national liberation movement since the late 1970s, bore the brunt of both the earthquake and the tsunami waves. Of the 1.7 lakh killed in that country, over one lakh were in Aceh alone. Over the last two days the toll in Indonesia rose by 50,000. And, till now the figures of Aceh interiors have not even come in. The capital of Aceh, Banda, has lost half its population. Due to the armed struggle the province is fully under military rule of the Indonesian Army, and the bulk of the ‘aid’ being administered is also militarised.

About 40,000 have been killed in Sri Lanka and about one million houses destroyed. It faced a destruction of property amounting to $1.3 billion. A large percentage of these have been in the Tamil Tiger controlled areas. Here too the military of various countries is playing a major role in the name of ‘aid’.

India witnessed over 20,000 dead (official figure is only 15,000, but 10,000 are expected dead in the Andamans and Nicobar islands alone), most of whom were in the state of Tamilnadu. The worst hit was in the district of Nagapattnam where roughly 7,000 were killed. Kerala, Pondicherry, and Andhra Pradesh also witnessed a number of deaths and destruction of property. Thailand lost over 5,000 people, some of whom were western tourists. The figures of western tourists killed are being suppressed so as not to affect the tourist and tourist-related industries.

The earthquake was of such intensity that the energy produced was two million times more than that produced by the bomb dropped at Hiroshima. But as it is spread over a vast area and not radio active the devastation is not as bad. Of course if the earthquake had taken place on the land the destruction would have been 10-fold. Yet this quake was a 1000 time stronger than the one that took place in 1995 in Kobe, Japan which took nearly 6,000 lives and caused destruction worth $200 billion. The tsunami was so powerful that the waves traveled as far as 4,830 kms, up to the coast of East Africa.

Tsunamis are huge waves generated by seismic activity. The present earthquake created a fissure about 1000 kms in length. This first sucked in the water causing the water from the coastal areas to suddenly recede (an indication of an impending tsunami). Then, about half an hour later the waves were generated, which, at the deep-sea level, traveled at the speed of a plane from 500-700 kms/hour. As the waves approached the shallow waters near the coast, they crashed into each other becoming a huge wall of water, up to 10 meters high, traveling now at a speed of 40-50 kms/hour. It is this that smashed into the coast creating devastation all around. The waves took about two hours time before it reached India and Sri Lanka and traveled as far as the coast of Africa, killing people even in far-away Somalia and even Tanzania. In fact Somalia witnessed the fourth highest number of deaths at 300 killed.

In this article let us now look at the various man-made factors that were the major cause of the deaths and losses. Then we shall look into the high level of military involvement, particularly by the US and India and the using of this calamity for geo-political purposes. Finally we will suggest what steps need to be taken.

In this we can quantify environmental, the warning system mechanisms, delayed and tardy relief, and the poverty of the masses in the affected areas, as the four major causes for the massive loss of life and property.

Nature’s natural barriers against tidal waves and storms have to a great extent got eroded due to environmental destruction. If these had been there they act as a sort of wall to keep back the gushing storms, or, at least break their intensity. These are primarily the coral reefs, the sand dunes and beaches and the mangrove swamps. All these have been badly eroded by the greed of big capital.

An important function of coral reefs along wave-swept shores is preventing coastal erosion and storm damage. Coral reefs break the waves off the coast. This is particularly important for the low-lying coastal plains, where barrier reefs protect the coast from the ravages of tropical storms and tidal waves. The same is true for mangroves and beaches. To take just one example, the Maldives, which comprise 1,190 tiny islands, with land not more than one meter above sea level, saw only 85 deaths, partly because the coral reefs absorbed the bulk of the impact.

Another cause for the big damage is the destruction of the beeches and the sand dunes. Much of the sand has been removed by the rapacious construction companies in league with the governments. Also the hotel industry that has its eye on the coast is another major cause for this destruction.

And widespread shrimp farming, and reclamation for urban ‘development’ have taken their toll on the mangroves. Studies conducted by the US-based Earth Institute point out that mangrove forests once covered three-fourths of the coastlines of tropical and sub-tropical countries, but only half of that area remains intact today. So, for example, areas like Pichavaram and Muthupet in Tamilnadu, which have dense mangroves, suffered fewer casualties and loss of property. In India even the limited regulations like the Coastal Regulatory Zone (CRZ) are routinely flouted by the hotel business and builders lobby where sea-coasts are premium property.

So, one major factor for the destruction and death has been the environmental degradation of the coasts due to the rapacious greed and profiteering of the capitalist system, hand-in-glove with the governments at the various levels. In fact in the last 40 years the number of natural disasters has increased three-fold. Damage is estimated at $10 billion, with the bulk affected being the poor. In the last decade of globalization the number of deaths through ‘natural’ disasters has increased by 50%. Also global warming is raising sea levels due to the melting of sea ice — 10% has already melted; this is the size of a country like Spain. This rise in sea levels makes low-lying areas more prone to the smallest disturbance in the seas. So, for example, in Bangladesh 70 million people live at one meter above sea level. So also is the situation of the entire Maldives.

Ironically, after systematic destruction of the coastline, M.S. Swaminathan, Chairman of the National Commission of Farmers, now talks of re-building bio-shields along the coastline and "village knowledge centres". Before talking in the abstract, this imperialist stooge should first confront the building, hotel and shrimp industries and all the political cronies associated with them, and make them pay for the damage and the costs of reconstruction.

While the Pacific region has a tsunami warning system the Indian Ocean region has none. But the Honolulu-based warning system of the US had picked up the signals but put forward the lame excuse that they did not know who and how to inform the various govern-ments. In this day of hi-tech such facile excuses seem ridiculous. The real reason at best is mere callousness for deaths in backward countries with concern only for the developed countries. In fact, the Guardian reported that the US immediately informed its Naval Base in the Indian Ocean — Diego Garcia — but similar information was not passed on to other countries. So, there was no damage at all on that island of Diego Garcia but there was a heavy toll even in places more distant.

Secondly, it took two hours for the tsunami waves to travel to India, Sri Lanka and other such places. But in this entire period not a single warning was sent to the areas likely to be affected. This again shows the callousness of the imperialists who have everything monitored and also the local ruling classes. In situations that serve their interests these butcherers are able to move with lightening speed, but here, as the affected were mostly the poor, they really could not care.

In fact the IAF (Indian Air Force) and IMD (Indian Meteorological Department) had definite information by 7.30 am of the earthquake’s occurance and intensity. That was about 90 minutes before the tidal wave struck the mainland. But the IAF did not alert its own Nicobar Island base in time. And the IMD faxed information to former Science and Technology Minister Murli Manohar Joshi, who lost that office seven months ago. Neither Joshi nor anyone else in the government sounded an alarm. No warning was issued that could have saved thousands of lives. This amounts to criminal negligence. No doubt Joshi would have acted promptly if a mandir had been even touched, but what could he care about the lives of poor fisher folk.

The maximum destruction was done in the first few hours. But the DMC (Disaster Management Cell) of the government began to act only well after the tsunami strike ended — as happened with the Orissa and Gujarat episodes too. Four days later, the DMC in fact added to the panic by issuing a false alert. The government crisis management agency was slow to respond to the situation thereby allowing for the number of deaths to multiply. The government’s prime interest was its naval base on the Andaman & Nicobar and the atomic energy plant at Kallpakkam, where 45 were killed, including 16 scientists.

In fact the 108 Mountain Brigade at Port Blair was mobilised only 48 hours after the tsunami struck. By then the bulk of those affected would have been killed. On the other hand the Air Force was at the Car Nicobar naval base just a few hours after the tsunami struck. In Aceh in Indonesia, thousands perished because the government took three full days to lift the military emergency status that prevented international aid workers from entering the province. In the meanwhile access to aid was in the control of the military; the people had to produce identity cards to receive the aid — many did not have it and others lost it in the chaos of the tsunami. They died.

The initial reactions of the governments around the world were pathetic in their response to relief work. In fact it was the people around the world who first responded, giving extensive help to the affected.

India’s 20 seismic stations would have known of the earthquake within five minutes of it happening. But for a full two hours nothing was done. This is even though the country now has a ministry of Disaster Management and relief which has an emergency operating centre. The Indian rulers in fact refused to declare it a National Calamity as that would require giving substantial aid to the affected. Most of the help that people got in the crucial first few days after the disaster were from people in the locality. While the Indian rulers go regularly with the begging bowl to the imperialists the Prime Minister announced that they will not take any funds from abroad. In other words they have no problem in taking funds for business but for the badly affected people (most of whom are poor) they make a show of great ‘patriotism’ saying they would not take funds. The horrifying conditions in the relief camps is an example of the type of relief doled out by the government.

While there is much propagation of the amount of money sent to other countries, within India nothing was mentioned of the funds given by the government. In fact it took till Jan. 19th — a full 25 days — before the government announced relief of a measly Rs.2,731 crores; or $600 million or just over half what the Prime minister’s Relief Fund has received in doanations from the people!!!! While, on the one hand the government is seeking to profit from the relief received, on the other hand, the masses of the country have witnessed an unprecedented outpouring of generosity — from rickshaw pullers to middle-classes. Even locally, reports have come in of total indifference of the local authorities. The situation was so bad in some of the worse affected areas that senior officials were transferred out to save them from the wrath of the people. For example, collectors of Kanyakumari and Nagapattinam were conspicuous by their absence when relief and rescue works were taken up after the tsunami struck the coastal areas in the state last month and were transferred. These were the two districts that were worst hit.

In Indonesia too, the worst affected by the tsunami, the people of Aceh, the government was more interested to utilize the calamity to neutralize the Aceh rebels. So, aid was slow in coming. For example, in the town of Meulaboh, two weeks after the earthquake struck, corpses were still strewn all over the streets. Everywhere there was horrific distress. Meulaboh was once a thriving town. Now at one of the refugee camps, which housed 20,000, rations were doled out by the army at 4 ounces per person. while fetid water stood in pools all over. The first relief by the military reached this town three days after the earthquake, though its plight was known from the beginning. It is just two hours from the nearest airport and the road is drivable from the major city of Medan. Such is the callousness shown in Indonesia as well. (See Box)

The response of western governments was even worse, where the amounts of relief announced initially were pitiable. Even later, it was mostly the masses around the world who liberally donated to the relief effort. It was only after a lot of criticisms around the world that the governments began to increase the figures of their donations. President Bush, when informed of the tsunami, continued his holidaying at his ranch and announced a paltry $15 million in aid. Tony Blair continued holidaying at a luxury resort not even cutting short his holiday. The British government raised its aid to £15 million after much criticism. In both countries individual donations exceeded the government figures. France also trebled its figure of donations only after public criticism. It was only after much criticism from all over that the these governments announced large ‘aid’ figures, which, as past history has shown, will never get spent. It was more for public consumption.

In any earlier tsunami that hit the developed countries, like Japan, the death toll was not even a fraction of the number killed this time. In fact the major deaths (except for Aceh) were of fishermen and those living within 500 metres of the coast. Poverty leads to huge numbers of people living in low-lying areas who had to face the full force of the waves. Thus the average natural disaster kills 63 people in Japan; in Peru the average toll is 2,900 — 46 times higher. When hurricane Elena hit the US in 1985 only five people died, but when a cyclone slammed Bangladesh in 1991 five lakhs perished. Earthquakes killing more than 10,000 people have only occurred in the third world.

In the present calamity the killer was not the earthquake but the waves. This killed the most vulnerable and exposed. Not only were the bulk poor, but two-thirds of those killed were women and children who had less defence against the force of the waves. Most of those killed were fishermen. Most of them lost their boats and nets, destroying their only source of livelihood. In Shi Lanka alone 20,000 fishing boats were lost.

Though these poverty stricken masses lost all their limited belongings, relief was exceedingly slow in reaching them. Dumped into unhygienic relief camps, thousand more would be dying of disease, hunger, trauma and other sociological factors. Thousands of children have been orphaned. And in this situation the treacherous capitalist sharks can be more ruthless than the real ones. The international fishing industry is seeking to crush the small fishermen and push their trawlers into the region. The 5-star hotel industry is on the prowl for young girls and children to promote sex-tourism. And the Finance Minister, who is himself from Tamilnadu, could spare not a moment for the affected and callously stated that the tsunami will not affect the economy — after all, it is only the poor who have died.

The nature of the relief distribution has been a gigantic scandal; made all the more gruesome as it was loot taken for a devastated population. The extent of the corruption has been on a scale not seen before. Corruption in aid distribution is common, what was astounding this time was the magnitude of it. It has been estimated that a minimum of 30% of the $1 billion aid will get stolen. As it is, in Tamilnadu the immediate rehabilitation package was a measly Rs.5,000 for those who lost everything. In Andhra Pradesh Rs.1,500 was given for someone whose house was fully destroyed, and Rs.750 for that partially damaged. Such pitiable amounts are a joke, it would not be enough to give even the minimum of shelter. The Rs.1 lakh promised by the government for the relatives of the deceased is nowhere to be seen. Religious institutions entered the fray with their own biases. For example the Hare Krishna group gave excellent food for 5 days. But when the people asked for boats and nets to re-build their lives they said that their ideology did not encourage the killing of fish. Such an approach would thrill the big-business trawler fishing industries. Besides, at the camp it was the powerful who grabbed the bulk of the rations while the weak would get the remains. Not only that, dalits were segregated from the main camps, with full connivance of the government.[See box on page 6]

While the Indian government, to show off its big-power designs in the region, was quick in sending ‘aid’ to the neighbouring countries, it was slow to give aid to those affected within India.

Never before has ‘aid’ taken on such a militarized form as during this tsunami tragedy — particularly by the US imperialists and the Indian expansionists. Also the Sri Lankan government and the government of Indonesia have sought to use their militaries for giving ‘aid’ in order to subvert the three-decades long national liberation movements of the Tamil and Aceh people. Unfortunately it was these two peoples who were worst hit by the tsunami. Utilising their misery these reactionaries moved fast to make ‘aid’ as a weapon of infiltration, destabalisation and capitulation. The US led this gang by setting up a so-called "CORE GROUP" of four countries (US, Australia, Japan and India) for a concerted geo-political intervention in the region, with specific focus on Aceh in Indonesia and the North and East Sri Lanka. This "CORE GROUP", though it was forced to wind up within a week of its formation due to a massive public outcry, it sought to by-pass the UN, which would, under normal circumstances, be the chief coordinator of the aid to the 12 affected countries. It was another sought of "coalition of the willing" for Asia.

But, at each step of this crude military intervention in the region, in the name of aid, the "CORE GROUP" has had to face opposition. This "CORE GROUP" was even opposed by servile countries like Britain (let alone France, Germany and others) but the Indian rulers, in their desperation to become a junior partner to US hegemony in the Indian Ocean, signed up immediately after a call to the Indian PM from big boss Bush. The other two, Australia and Japan (which have 134 US bases on its soil), are already part of the US’s military alliance, even in the war in Iraq!!! India was the new comer.

First take the US. Though it was exceedingly slow to announce relief to the affected it was fast to move its military forces into the region. It first announced a measly $15 million; after massive criticism it raised the figure to $35 million; when this too was ridiculed around the world (journalists ridiculed that this is the amount spent before breakfast each day in the Iraq war), it announced a figure of $350 million — which, of course will never get spent. In fact, the US record as an aid-giver is poor — it ranks last amongst the world’s 30 wealthiest countries. It allocates only 0.14% of its GDP to aid. The average American spends four times more on soft drinks.

Hardly had the tragedy struck that the US moved into the Indian Ocean 13,000 military personnel, 21 naval ships and 75 airplanes. Together with marines and warships, top US officials, including Secretary of State, Colin Powel and Florida Governor (and Bush’s brother) Jeb Bush, rushed to Aceh. In fact, even the Indonesian Armed forces which are engaged in counter-insurgency operations in Aceh were surprised when the government lifted a ban on the entrance of foreigners and allowed the US armed forces to conduct relief operations. The US aircraft carrier, ASS Abraham Lincoln, was stationed off the coast of Sumatra, near the Aceh province. India too immediately dispatched two warships to Aceh — one with supplies and another converted into a hospital. 220 officers and staff of the Indian Navy have been stationed there. The Australian military, which has always played a major role in all counter-insurgency operations in Indonesia, is also prowling around Aceh. Military intervention in Aceh was being coordinated between the three countries through tele-conferencing. Foreign intervention must have gone so out of hand that even the servile Indonesian government was forced to declare that all foreign troops should leave Aceh by end March.

In Sri Lanka, particularly in are as under LTTE control, both the US and Indian forces moved in, in a big way. The US dispatched to Sri Lanka 1,500 marines, a mini-aircraft carrier with some 20 helicopters and two positioning ships. India sent 11 naval ships with seven helicopters, many offshore patrol vessels, six Mi-17 & one IL aircraft, and 1,000 military personnel to Sri Lanka. As the tsunami destroyed much of the sophisticated Sea-Tigers of the LTTE, the reactionaries have sought to use this to their advantage. The LTTE have strongly opposed the Sri Lankan military using ‘aid’ as a cover to re-enter Jaffna and other LTTE-controlled areas. But, here too the US involvement was so crude that by mid-January it was forced to issue a statement that its forces will not stay in Sri Lanka a single day more than necessary.

Together with the US it was the Indian rulers that sought to flex its expansionist muscle under the pretext of aid. The Indian Navy has already been involved in repeated joint exercises with the US off the Malabar Coast and in the Indian Navy escorting US warships through the Malacca straits. On this occasion the India Navy played its biggest ever peace-time role. A United Relief Command was set up at Port Blair coordinating 5 centres — operation Seawaves in the Andamans & Nicobar, Operation Madat in the East Coast of India, Operation Rainbow in Sri Lanka and Operation Gambhir in Indonesia. It used 32 Naval ships, 21 helicopters and 8 Dornier aircrafts. The Prime Minister sought to make a big-power posture by refusing foreign aid (though it was funneled through NGOs and other agencies) and itself sending its military to the region as a show of strength. No doubt all these funds (relief) given to other countries will be recovered from the Indian people by raising taxes on the poor and middle classes and cutting subsidies. Hardly has the tsunami phase passed when the government has produced a report with a proposal for a drastic cut in subsidies — most particularly food subsidies and the defacto doing away with the PDS and minimum support price system.

So we see that, under US auspices, the CORE GROUP, comprising also India has sought to utilize the tragedy for its geo-political designs in general and particularly for counter-insurgency purposes against the Tamil and Aceh national liberation movements. The Indian ruler’s big-nation posturing during the tsunami has been puffed up by the US, who seeks to use them militarily as a bulwark in South and South-East Asia. This has highly dangerous implications, not only for the people of South Asia but also the Indian people. South Asian countries will witness greater and greater domination by the Indian rulers; while the Indian people will see their country pushed more and more into the clutches of the US imperialists and the Indian armed forces used as canon fodder for US designs. The people of the region must demand the retreat of all US and India military forces from the tsunami relief projects and demand only civilian assistance.

From the above it is clear that what has occurred, though it is a natural calamity, it was a man-made disaster. The death and destruction is basically man-made. It is the result of the exploitative capitalist/imperialist system. A people’s oriented development could prevent such major losses from occurring. This ofcourse is only possible through a planned socialist system, where the mass of people are made the centre of all development and not profit.

There are some ecologists/environmentalists who equate capitalism and socialism when it comes to the question of the protection of the environment. In so doing they, in essence, oppose change and act as apologists of the status quo. This is best illustrated by an article in the Statesman (Jan.2. 05) by Jeremy Seabrook. Here he says: It is clear that in their commitment to industrialism, both capitalism and socialism shared the same view of nature — that it should be bent to serve human "progress"…. .. Industrial society declared war on nature: that socialism and capitalism were at war with each other only concealed, at least for a time, their common roots and shared project. Seabrook then talks of some new theory of "ecologism", in essence equating man with all other life forms in nature.

Such arguments of much of the NGO-sponsored environmentalists are flawed in more ways than one. Firstly, capitalism and socialism do not share the same view — the aim of the first is profit; that of the latter is people’s welfare. In both cases a by-product may be industrial development (and development in general), but that is not the driving force of either. It is the ruthless greed of the capitalist that drives the capitalist to destroy the environment for the sake of maximization of profit. As long as this maddening drive is there, at best some changes can be introduced in this system, more likely, the rape of the ecology will continue. But such is not the case with the socialist system. Even if errors took place in their developmental project by not giving sufficient attention to the ecology, as the system is people-oriented, when this was obviously seen to harm the people, it can and will be reversed. In this regard socialist development in the Soviet Union may have had some shortcoming (but then it had many, being the very first experience in human history); but in China, particularly during the Cultural Revolution, enormous efforts were put in for ecological preservation, particularly in their communes. It was the Deng-type revisionists, with their theory of productive forces that saw only industrial development as the motive for growth and negated all also. Mao’s model commune, Tachai, is an example to emulate even today. As this anyhow leads to capitalist restoration, such revisionist formulations when put into practice will surely result in ecological destruction; not genuine socialist practice. Unfortunately, with these ecologists/environmentalists they live in a utopian world, the end result of whose views draw them close to the reactionary camp — as seen by the respect that the Ashish Nandis and Vandana Shivas have amongst the Hindutva crowd. Ecological balance must be maintained, but to equate all life forms with human beings, results, in essence, in the downgrading of human life and, ineffect negation of the crying need for their emancipation.

Besides, tsunamis (the number killed in this tsunami) occur only once in a while; but every 11 days a tsunami is enacted due merely to diarrhea and malaria, and every 21 days due to AIDS. The havoc of a tsunami is only a continuation of the daily devastation caused by excruciating poverty. In a world where the 500 richest people have more money than the total annual earnings of the poorest three billion, such havoc is to be expected. And it is, in the finally analysis, only by removing the root cause of this poverty that such devastation can be reduced during a natural disaster.

Meanwhile, while working for this radical change in the system there is utmost need to lend all help to the affected population. As a press statement issued by the CPI(Maoist) on Jan 2 ,2005 has said (extracts) :

The media has reported that the Central Committee-Provisional of the CPI(Maoist) has donated Rs.10 lakhs (one million) for relief work and the Special Area Committee of Bihar-Jharkhand another Rs.5 lakhs. This is indeed a significant gesture by a party of the poorest of the poor in the country and an example to be emulated by all citizens. Besides this, it is also being reported that aid is being collected throughout the country by revolutionaries and their sympathisers. Revolutionaries have taken up extensive relief work in Kalpakkam and Nagaipattnam. Ateam of doctors have spent a week in Nagaipatnam during the crucial period. In Kerala relief was also conducted. There have also been protests against the lethargic response of the government and corruption in aid distribution. Unlike other aid givers it can be rest assured that aid distributed by the revolutionaries will definitely reach the worst affected as they themselves comprise the most self-sacrificing people of the country. Rather than channel funds into the corrupt clutches of the government, political parties and NGOs it is more reliable to donate it to the revolutionary circles.

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