Tunnel vision as policy

Tunnel vision as policy

Thursday, December 30, 2004

Tunnel vision as policy

Moral of the tsunami story: self-reliance can be the perfect recipe
for self-destruction

Wiser in hindsight as always, India is now considering measures to
protect itself against the kind of natural disaster that rocked the
nation on Sunday. The tsunami brought with it the realisation that it
does not pay to be isolated from scientific collaboration on an
international scale, given the indubitable fact that had we been
linked to systems like the Pacific Tsunami Warning System, we may have
been able to save thousands of lives. Escaping a tsunami is, after
all, a fairly simple exercise which involves running away for a
kilometre or so from the shoreline when it hits. Therefore monitoring
its progress and warning vulnerable communities becomes absolutely
crucial.

But for this to happen India needs, first of all, to discard one of
its most valued mantras which has become a national ideology:
self-reliance. Self-reliance can sometimes be the perfect recipe for
self-destruction, as the recent tragedy demonstrated. We are
justifiably proud of our pool of scientific talent but if it should
result in a fortress mentality, or cause us to reject the option of
benefitting from enormous advances in the technology and methods of
weather prediction, it does not help us. Tunnel vision cannot be
policy, especially in an area like weather forecasting, where
developments taking place hundreds of kilometres away crucially
impinge on national welfare and well-being. At least twice in the last
two decades, India has been the victim of its own ignorance. In 1987,
we were clueless about the El Nino phenomenon and paid a heavy price
because we were unprepared for the unprecedented drought that
descended upon us. While the US had intimation of a major El Nino
visitation at least six months in advance, we were left staring
blankly at the cruel blue skies which signified a failed monsoon. On
Sunday, we had to learn that lesson all over again.

It is time, then, to seriously consider a tsunami alert system for the
Indian Ocean that is linked with the one that is already in operation
for the Pacific Ocean. Such systems read and put out relevant data
which monitors around the world — from undersea gauges to satellite
transmitters — pick up. Indeed the tragedy behind the present tragedy,
as this newspaper has reported, was that 26 countries were alerted
within 15 minutes of Sunday\'s disturbances on the Pacific Ocean floor
but India was not on that list. In our moment of grief and shock, let
us seize the moment and work towards instituting such a monitoring
system which will help not just India but all the nations in the
region.

Sunday, we had to learn that lesson all over again.
It is time, then, to seriously consider a tsunami alert system for the
Indian Ocean that is linked with the one that is already in operation
for the Pacific Ocean. Such systems read and put out relevant data
which monitors around the world — from undersea gauges to satellite
transmitters — pick up. Indeed the tragedy behind the present tragedy,
as this newspaper has reported, was that 26 countries were alerted
within 15 minutes of Sunday's disturbances on the Pacific Ocean floor
but India was not on that list. In our moment of grief and shock, let
us seize the moment and work towards instituting such a monitoring
system which will help not just India but all the nations in the
region.

URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=61729