Gilbert Lawrence: We feel Samir's pain and frustrations, and those of others.
In the USA we are very pro-active and perhaps over-so. We spend a lot of time, money, resources and patience in PREVENTION AND MAINTAINANCE. Now that we know how to spell tsunami (I first did it because of spell check), we will be more familiar with disasters from the oceans. The challenge now is how the government AND THE PEOPLE will prepare for this catastrophe along with earthquakes, tornadoes and flooding. Lest we only blame the authorities, the PEOPLE AND COMMUNITIES have to practice some drills for emergency preparedness. To speak for myself, I did not take them seriously. Maybe now it will be different. Does Samir (and others) have stored-away a two-week supply of emergency canned food, water, flash-light etc.? Let's learn from mistakes. Let's not exacerbate the blame-game as there is perhaps enough to go around. Pointing fingers at others is our tradition. Regards, Samir Kelekar: The real reason for not seeing this tragedy is much deeper than what it appears. It is now clear that the Indian govt. knew of the earthquake in Car Nicobar one hour before the waves hit Tamil Nadu. However, given the state of things in India, one could bet one's life that nothing would be done. To top it all, the head of NIO does not even know that a tsunami is possible in the Indian ocean. What could one say for the caliber of people at NIO? Basically, it is our tradition to put down dissent, put down merit. We will come up with crude reasons such as so and so's action is due to communal reasons, vested interests and what not, but we will not respond positively to an intelligent suggestion. ....We cannot be pioneers or creative, because there is not just apathy but outright disgust, and opposition in this country to creative brains.
