Tsunami Devastation Challenges International Community, White House

It was the most powerful earthquake in 40 years, and its location, under the ocean off the coast of Indonesia, set off 40-foot tall tsunami waves that moved as quickly as 500 kilometers per hour. Monday morning’s papers screamed with headlines like “Tidal Wave of Death,” and the body count in the articles below were already thousands off by the time the ink dried. Guesses place the dead at 21,000, with millions homeless. Add in the contamination of the drinking water, and things will get worse before they get better. Time for multi-lateral action and American leadership.

When a disaster like this hits, with so many dead in so many different countries, and with the infrastructure shattered, time is of the essence. India, for example, had six warships steaming for Sri Lanka in a matter of hours. Helicopters drop food and water where the victims may find them. And no matter what happens, more people are going to die.

The devastation offers President Bush a chance to fix his administration’s image in the eyes of the world – to a degree. Thus far, the White House has said the right things. Trent Duffy, the deputy press secretary there, said in a Sunday statement, “The United States stands ready to offer all appropriate assistance to those nations most affected. The State Department has said, “The United States will be very responsive." And the president, on his way to yet another vacation in Crawford, Texas, sent his condolences concerning the "terrible loss of life and suffering."

This would be a good time for the president to put his religion into action. One cannot doubt his sincerity. Yet, “What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?” (James 2:14-16, King James Version).

Quite literally, brothers and sisters are naked and without a crust. Some say that the US can’t even get armored Humvees to its troops in Iraq a year and a half after major combat operations ended. Others will say, let the Europeans do it, or the Chinese, the UN. Why must America always step in? The answer is simple. Because it can.

Unlike the earthquake that leveled the city of Bam, Iran, last year, this time the governments and the populations in need do not loath America. No one in Thailand has ever screamed “Death to America.” So, here is the acid test, and even the president’s detractors want him to succeed.

© Copyright 2004 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.

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