This attitude was displayed for first time during the tsunami last year when India rejected aid from UN and other countries. Though India's stand was appreciated at that point of time, the huge nature of the disaster caused India to rethink about accepting help and finally it obliged. A rather short sighted stand it was in hindsight.
The recent Earthquake in J&K has exposed a lot of holes in the policies and administration. The inefficiency of the government to carry out relief measures quickly and the inability to distribute essential commodities to regions badly affected have been exposed and has put us in bad shape in the world's eye.
In Kashmir the most heard complaint from the quake victims is about the callous attitude shown by the local and central administration. Though the efforts carried out by the army is commendable, it has to be remembered that there are still people out there in difficult terrains at temperatures that are getting from bad to worse.With Winter approaching in a few weeks, there is more fear of people dying out of cold with no shelter to protect them rather than fear of people dying for lack of food. Getting enough to eat is important but there are even more important priorities than that and it is here where the relief has failed.
Whether India has learned the lessons is yet questionable. When India will learn the lessons is another Question to be answered. The Indian Subcontinent has been one of the regions most prone to natural disaster. First it was the Super cyclone in Orrissa in 2000, Then it was the Earthquake in Bhuj, It was Tsunami last year and now it is the Earthquake. With so many natural disasters, India still hasnt developed the skills to manage a disaster effectively.
One thing is to Prevent the impact of disasters through warning systems, another thing is to avoid destruction and chaos after the disaster has occured. India has been failing badly on both and repeatedly. Take for eg Japan, it is known to be the country most prone to earthquakes.But Japanese design standards for buildings make sure that enough proofing is given to buildings to survive an earthquakes, this prevent such massive scale deaths even if the building collapses. There seems to be nothing wrong to me if India goes on to accept aid and help from other country. When you do not have essential skills to manage a situation and where a life can be saved with every second saved, this attitude has only made one wonder what value it places on the life of its citizens.
I will put an counter argument to this in my next blog. Till then let me know what you all think about this stand of India.
3 comments:
i see 2 issues here... one accepting foregin aid... and the other coping and managing disaster relief effectively... the second issue is the most crucial and even if we accept foregin aid if it is not delivered properly it is of no use...
its only in the last 5 years disasters of such magnitude have shaken up in india and it was no one of those common things as in other parts of the world (like japan, where people know that earthquakes are frequent and hence the infrastucture is set up such that there is less damage)... disaster relief is painful with the severe weather like in kashmir... this is not to say that the work is done effectively... there are sloppy-ness and some inefficient politicians who try to make money out of such unfortunate events... but how long would the government take to adapt itself faster to manage disaster relief??... its learning but probably way too slowly...
accepting foreging aid has its own complications... though its all written in paper that some millions of $$$$$s is being donated there are some strings attached to it... if we take money then there would have been an unsaid obligation for which india would have to do something else (not necessarily interms of money/aid)later on OR something like: that money can be used only to buy US relief materials, use US shipping, etc., which is bad coz it takes a long time...
it is not that we are lacking the funds or relief material... money has poured in from donations etc., but its more of a question of whether we are delivering it effectively...
warnings are something that would help prevent these to some extent and all the buildings etc., should be more compliant so that it doesn't get affected so much coz of these disasters... govt. might make rules, but people take the easy and cheaper way out (corruption, bribe, money to politiicians) and don't follow them...
Good argument, i will give my counter views in the next post.
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