Remembering the Tsunami
Tomorrow is the one year anniversary of the
tsunami that struck the Indian Ocean last year. India suffered great losses,
mostly in Tamil Nadu and the Andaman Islands (though the population there is
much less than mainland India). But Kerala, even though it's on the western side
of the subcontinent, also experienced damage and loss of life.
As far north as Kochi there was damage to beaches
and some structures. In Kerala, the greatest impact was felt in Kollam, where
131 people were killed. There is a four-day long observance going in right now.
Today's paper had some of the stories of survivors. There's no need to go into
detail, as we can all recall how horrifying the whole even was. What has been
interesting is reading in the papers about some of the controversies over the
rehabilitation schemes the government put into place. Maybe controversy is too
strong a word. A UN official who has overseen government, private and civil
society responses was quoted in the paper the other day as saying that the
government of India's response was a model for other nations.
But the schemes (scheme is a word
common for government "projects" or "plans") put into place create winners and
losers. Depending on whether one qualifies as "tsunami-affected" or not, he or
she could be out of the running for the money and houses the government has made
available. In particular, if a family member died during the tsunami, but the
government did not recognize the death as related to the tsunami, then family
members get nothing. Currently the health commissioner in Kollam is trying to
get the government to recognize two more deaths, from a year ago, as
tsunami-related.
This is an interesting
concept, but not a new one. In some of the research I've done we looked at the
struggles of American veterans to get their health problems recognized as
related to military service. In Vietnam, people are trying to sue Dow Chemical
to get compensation for health problems related to Agent Orange, which Dow
manufactured, along with other companies, during the Vietnam War. In the
Ukraine, people fight to have their diseases recognized by the government as
related to the radiation released during the Chernobyl disaster. Victims of the
Bhopal disaster are yet another case inpoint. Just north of here, in a part of
Kerala called Kasarogod, people have been contaminated by a pesticide called
endosulfan. The government of Kerala finally agreed to provide health services
to those who were affected, but I am sure many will have to fight to prove their
conditions are related to exposure.
The only difference between the
examples I just gave and the tsunami is that one is considered an act of nature
and the others were caused by humans.
Posted: Sat
- December
24, 2005 at 11:24 PM