Tsunami Aid Response the Best Humanity Can Do

Human beings aren’t angels, as any casual reading of history, or even the daily paper, can demonstrate. However, given the moral, economic, political and spiritual limitations of the species, the response to the disaster that befell the nations of the Indian Ocean is admirable. Indeed, there isn’t a great deal more that people can do. The difficult part will be continuing to do all that can be done for as long as needed.

While the initial response of the Bush administration (a $15 million offer and no presidential statement for days) was lacking, US helicopters are delivering water, food and medical attention a mere 10 days after the waves hit. The Secretary of State and the Governor of hurricane ravaged Florida (and brother of the president) are on a diplomatic tour of the region. And the president has asked two of his predecessors, Bush the Elder and Mr. Clinton, to lead America’s efforts. The family symbolism should not be dismissed lightly – in Asia, that carries no small importance. One only wonders where Mr. Carter is in this – certainly, he would have participated. Was he not asked? He should have been as he is America’s most successful ex-President.

Elsewhere, the Australian helicopters have been in the skies over the region beside the Americans’. Japan’s money and military are there. European aid is flowing in. Medicins sans Frontieres even asked people to stop donating to its tsunami fund and give instead to its more needy general emergency fund, which deals with places like Darfur. So, the big problem now is logistical. There’s enough stuff; it just isn’t exactly where it needs to be. There are bottlenecks because planning for this kind of disaster just isn’t done – planning for the unanticipated is oxymoronic. Moreover, the geography of Banda Aceh, a peninsula, creates natural choke points. And when an airstrip is closed because a plane hits a cow, flukes must be shrugged off.

It is troubling that the Indian government is not allowing outside aid to the Andaman and Nicobar islands. While the military bases the Indians have there may have security issues surrounding them, there can be no excuse for denying the aboriginal peoples who dwell there the same kind of help everyone else is getting. The government’s claim that they are trying to protect the indigenous way of life holds no water – dead people have no way of life to protect.

Further along, the lessons of “Live Aid” need recalling. Millions of dollars found their way into Africa to feed the famine victims in the 1980s thanks to Bob Geldof and Co. And in 2004, there is still hunger in the region. When the CNN cameras leave, when the mud dries, when the immediate needs of the people are handled, the world needs to stick around and keep working. So far $2 billion in aid has been pledged and more is likely to be promised. It all needs to be spent -- wisely.

© Copyright 2005 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.

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