Did the squatters "deserve" what they got from the Tsumani?

Extracts from comments by "Suchetha" (a resident of Sri Lanka) on the Slashdot discussion forums here and here:

the most affected are the squatters living in improvised huts near the beach. call me cold hearted, but they went there, they grabbed the land, refused all attempts to base them elsewhere.

. the government has been trying to get rid of the squatters who live along the coastline for almost three decades. these attempts have been unsuccessful for many reasons. primarily the squats are a haven for the goons and thugs the parliamentarians use. the squatters have resisted every attempt to move them. the government has provided them with land in the central areas, many of them sold teh land and came back. the government then provided them with an apartment complex in the city. they sold THOSE and came back. there was a time when the squatters have taken over a road reservation. the government gave them land AND money. for every squatter that left, two took their place. hey .. free money.. encroachers have also taken over private and government lands by force (a'la mugabe's kenya). they have also taken over forest preserves, destroying what little forest cover we have. they are egged on by various "human rights" NGO's who claim that they have a right to live where they please.

Quite a few people have responded to Suchetha and criticized her (??) "cold-hearted" comments.

Jason Overdorf, a freelance journalist, adds more on this topic in his blog

In Chennai, where I did my reporting, the people who were affected almost all lived in illegal squatter colonies on the beach. In 1991, the government passed a law called the coastal regulation zone notification which mandated that nobody should build anything permanent within 500 meters of the highest high tide line. But because none of the poor can afford to rent apartments or buy land away from the coast, slums made of thatch huts mushroomed on the beaches anyway. In part this is because the fishermen like it that way: they want to be near their boats and they sell their catch on the beach itself. But it’s also because the government has failed to solve the problem of the shortage of affordable housing (and to enforce its zoning laws).

Says T. Mohan, an environmental activist for Coastal Action Network who works with fishing communities:“Subsistence fishing communities live on the coast. They're used to taking that risk [of natural disaster]. But we're pushing them closer and closer to the coast because of urbanization and the rising cost of land. There are also large numbers ofslums that have grown up along the coast because of administrative failureto build safe & affordable housing for people [other than fishermen] who don't need to live near the coast. They ought not to have been there." That might be true, but as the characters below (in Overdorf's article) illustrate, they plan to go right back to the sites of their destroyed huts.

Another awesome Tsunami picture

Saw this great picture and caption on the New York Times web site.


Picture: Agence France-Presse

Tourists try to rush to safety before the tsunami hit the Hat Rai Lay Beach in Thailand. The water had receded before the deadly wave struck.

Picture of just after Tsunami Indian Ocean

I saw the following interesting satellite image showing a beach in the southwestern coast of Sri Lanka at 10:20 a.m. (shortly after the moment of Tsunami impact). Source: DigitalGlobe

GREAT NEWS: Indian government develops ability to predict earthquakes and Tsunamis

In less than a week's time since a big earthquake-created Tsunami wave hit coastal India, the Indian government has developed a first-of-its-kind technology to predict Tsunamis triggered off by yet-to-happen earthquakes anywhere on planet.

OK. Enough. I'm not in the mood for more sarcasm. The facts are bad enough.

Yesterday, some mahanubhavulu ("great person") in the Union Home Ministry put out a warning that another Tsunami was set to hit southern coastline. While no Tsunami arrived (naturally), the idiot announcement triggered off widespread panic among people and tremendous loss in business productivity.

In Chennai, offices near the beach were closed down since mid-morning and roads leading to the marina were blocked off by the police. With wild rumours floating across the city - about how waters had invaded Dr.Radhakrishnan Road, Mandavelli, etc. - even well-educated people living 3-4 kilometers away from the beach moved in with their relatives in "safer" areas of the city!

It is quite well known that aftershocks follow most major earthquakes and can occur up to a week after the main one strikes. But the main point is that these aftershocks are very rarely anywhere near as powerful as the original. (The aftershocks felt in Andaman & Nicobar islands since the big one on Sunday have been on the 5-7 range.) So, it was quite safe to assume that Thursday's "officially predicted" (ordered??) Tsunami could at worst cause as much damage as the big one. And hence, there was no need for people in Mylapore to move to T.Nagar.

Will the government employee(s) who caused so much damage will lose even lose a day's salary as penalty? The chances of a earthquake or Tsunami hitting us again are much higher than that.

Rajendran shoots the Tsunami. Well, almost.

Rajendran (of AdeventNet and formerly Xerago/3rd Agenda) had gone to Mahabalipuram on a weekend trip on Dec 25-26.

Yup. He was on the beach on the "fateful" Dec. 26 morning.



The same spot slightly later:



Thankfully, Raj and his team called off their trip just before the big one struck.

Click Here and use the following login (Username = arctrek ; Password = arctrek ) to see his very interesting set of photographs (including the above two) from his trip.

Raj has also blogged about the trip here