The Day of Disaster – Tsunami
Days of disaster seem a common feature these days with terrorism being so widespread and yet, natural disasters are by far so devastating that rebuilding and resuming normalcy is a Herculean effort. The one day that shook us all was 26 Dec 2004 when the tsunami struck and caused havoc along the coasts of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand and Maldives.
The Sumatra- Andaman underwater earthquake which triggered the tsunami, at nearly an hour after midnight U’I’C, caused widespread destruction along fourteen countries killing nearly 2,30,000 people and leaving nearly ten million people homeless or displaced. In India, Tamil Nadu was the worst affected. I had been on Marina beach a month before this unfortunate day and I was shocked at the state to which beach had been reduced to in a day. When I think back of the news channels covering reports on this disaster, I can still hear the wails of people who had lost their families and were sorry to have survived when their homes and families had been washed away. While we were glued to the television praying that this crisis would come to an end, the people on whom this misfortune fell were in a most sorry state.
Humanity, however, is seen in tunes of crisis like these. Humanitarian organizations in different parts of the world as well as in the countries affected joined hands to help the people survive and begin a new life again.