No doubt you recall the earthquake that struck Indonesia in 2004, triggering a tsunami that killed over 230,000 people. It was one of a string of historic quakes to devastate the region over the past two decades.
Government officials promised back then to devise a foolproof warning system to ensure deadly tsunamis would never again wash up on so many people unawares.
Sure enough, another earthquake struck Indonesia on Friday, triggering another tsunami.
The Indonesian government has defended itself against accusations it issued inadequate safety warnings as a powerful earthquake triggered a tsunami.
The 7.5 magnitude earthquake hit Sulawesi island on Friday causing three-meter-high (10 foot) waves to surge over parts of its northwestern shore, with groups of people caught on the coastline, apparently unaware of the danger.
(CNN, October 2, 2018)
Frankly, only the grace of God prevented this tsunami from claiming just as many lives.
The number of people known to have died in Indonesia in Friday’s earthquake and tsunami has risen to 1,347, disaster response officials say. …
Police are guarding shops against looters as people desperately search for food, fuel and water. …
The United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs says there are nearly 200,000 people in urgent need of assistance, about a quarter of them children.
(BBC, October 2, 2018)
As is invariably the case, CNN is reporting that the death toll is bound to rise … significantly. To appreciate what this portends, recall that President Trump gave his administration’s response to Hurricane Maria last year an “A”. He based that perverse pat on the back on initial reports that only 16 people died in Puerto Rico, which took the most direct hit. But we now know that nearly 3000 people ended up dying there.
That said, iPINIONS made this point about disaster and poverty years ago, and it bears repeating here.
Natural disasters are a reminder of “there but for the grace of God.” But there’s no denying that living in a relatively rich country vastly improves one’s odds of surviving and recovering. It’s cruel enough that an accident of birth can consign someone to chronic poverty; it seems doubly unfair that the wrath of Mother Nature falls so disproportionately on the poor.
Of course, the Trump administration’s salutary neglect of Puerto Ricans upended this assertion in tragic fashion. Truth be told, post-Katrina, nobody thought any hurricane relief-and-recovery effort could be so haphazard and incompetent.
Meanwhile, most people in the United States seem more concerned about how much beer a Supreme Court nominee drank in high school 36 years ago than they are about how many people are dying from this latest tsunami today. Which makes me wonder if it’s unfortunate or fortunate timing that Anthony Bourdain is featuring the gastronomic wonders of Indonesia on this Sunday’s episode of his hit CNN series, Parts Unknown.
What is clearly unfortunate is that, as with Trump’s norm-busting antics at home, we’re becoming numb to the devastating and lasting effects of natural disasters abroad.
Nonetheless, there are myriad ways you can donate to relief and recovery efforts in Indonesia. I urge you to: Help!
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