Facing the inevitable
The nightmare, even if forewarned, could not be avoided. Sidr, like its earlier versions, chose its favourite killing grounds in our southern coastal areas early last week. When it struck, the cyclone wreaked havoc with the lives and properties of some of the poorest lot of the country.
Only after pushing them further into destitution was the fury of Sidr dissipated. By then, its victims were shattered, under the open sky without food, shelter, clothing, and even drinking water. This is yet another human tragedy in this disaster-prone country, without an accompaniment of deus ex machina. We have, therefore, to alleviate the immediate sufferings of the victims of Sidr.
In routine manner, relief work of sorts is already being undertaken by the concerned agencies of the establishment amid insufficiency of relief goods. There is lack of coordination and painfully slow pace, obviously because of the damaged communication network. At non-governmental level, the relief initiatives are few and far between. Even the non-governmental organisations seem to be lukewarm.
The alacrity in relief work usually found with a political government was perhaps missing. The bureaucratic channel of functioning is rather cumbersome, even if there may not be any dearth of sincerity. The political outfits of the country, which are endowed with expertise in such activity, may feel handicapped by the restrictions inherent in the state of emergency.
Although the authorities do not agree with such an excuse or argument, in my opinion, it is not entirely without some merit. Because relief work does involve a measure of organisation, resource mobilisation, and grass-root contacts. Such operation by political parties might be circumscribed by the emergency, although traditionally they are effective in it.
Nevertheless, other accounts suggest that the current government's handling of the situation is an improvement over that of the political governments.
There are prognoses of more frequent and more severe disasters in the future. The greenhouse effect of climate change has started playing up, and nature's behaviour will be profoundly erratic in this disaster prone country. It will manifest itself in the form of long summers, skewed rainfall, droughts, and clogged-up rivers, resulting in floods and erosion. Whether we like it or not, the price of the developed countries' profligate lifestyle and so-called advancement will be exacted from us. In doing so, they will be burning more and more fossil fuel -- thus further polluting this earth.
We are supplicating for help from the donor countries who will surely oblige us by providing some scraps, while we should have demanded reparations from them for their being at least partly responsible for the disasters caused to countries like Bangladesh. Moreover, asking for relief from the international community -- a euphemism for a handful of donor countries -- is really no answer to our problem.
Instead, we should be able to exploit the people's spirit and instinct for survival. As the climatic trend goes, natural calamities will be a permanent feature of our life, and we have to live with them -- as we did also in the past -- by devising an enduring strategy for combating them. Nations face comparable or similar problems by adapting appropriate strategies for survival.
When Calais, the last British foothold in the continent, was lost to France in 1558 the Britons were shocked and demoralised at the disaster. There was national mourning in Britain, and the reigning Queen Mary died broken-hearted. The nation suddenly found itself isolated and vulnerable, like a sitting duck, to its powerful continental neighbours; its back was against the wall of the sea, with nowhere to advance or retreat.
After a period of remorse for the loss, the Britons accepted the reality and woke up to a new realisation that their salvation and survival perhaps lay in the sea itself. Henceforth, they started reorienting their outlook on national power projection. They embarked on an ambitions project for developing themselves as a sea-power. Thus, the nation was salvaged from one of the worst jolts in its history.
Not only that, Britain became a formidable maritime power in the world, it also smashed the powerful Spanish Armada within thirty years, thus becoming an unrivalled sea power. From then on, Pax Britannica ruled the waves of the seas.
Can we, likewise, change our outlook and reorient the strategy in face of the coming challenges? So far, much has been done in minimising damages during natural calamities through early warnings and construction of shelters. These arrangements, being inadequate, need to be augmented. A really strong local government can take care of the immediate post-calamity situation. The existing chain of shelters have to be expanded also to cater for the safety of domestic animals and essential belongings.
In the meantime, let's tighten our belts and lend a helping hand to the affected people, enabling them to stand on their own feet.
Brig ( retd) Hafiz is former DG of BIISS.
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