Tsunami tragedy: Divine fury or human folly?

In the wake of one of the greatest natural calamities in living memory, one hears voices from different religious communities proclaiming to the world that the Indian Ocean tsunami was 'punishment from God' meted out to the human family for all our 'sins and vices.'

A rabbi from Israel, according to a news agency report a few days after the Dec 26 catastrophe, made this observation. So have certain Christian evangelists in the United States and various Muslim theologians from Morocco to Malaysia.

According to a Muslim theologian in Malaysia, the tsunami is 'a lesson' and 'a reminder' to humankind that we should not 'violate Allah's commandments'. Some Hindu priests in India have also concluded that the gigantic waves which killed at least 150,000 people in a number of countries were proof of God's wrath.

Even a Buddhist priest in Sri Lanka was quoted in the media as saying that the disaster had struck because people 'were not living according to the laws of Buddha'.

Sins and vices

From ancient times, people have sought to explain grave natural disasters as violent expressions of the anger and fury of gods and deities. The Egyptians of antiquity for instance tried to appease their vengeful gods through human sacrifices. In the sacred texts of revealed religions such as Christianity and Islam too, there are references to God causing floods and earthquakes to happen as a form of punishment for some community or other that had deviated from God's teachings.

It is significant however that in both the Bible and the Quran, it is only after certain vices had spread within a community for a considerable period of time and concerted attempts to reform the community through Prophets and Prophecy had failed that God finally punishes the community in question.

Following the logic of the scriptures, one is justified in asking: what were the collective sins of the people of Aceh in Indonesia or of the tsunami ravaged communities in Sri Lanka and in Tamil Nadu, India - the three worst affected areas - that they deserved to be wiped out by 'God's wrath'?

Though the tsunami killed people at all levels of society, the majority of its victims were the poor. These were people who struggled to make ends meet day in and day out and had very little in life. Many of them were also, by the conventional criteria that religious elites employ, pious people who would not fail to attend mosque or temple or church when the occasion arose.

As a case in point, the people of Aceh are widely regarded as devout Muslims. And Aceh itself has a long and illustrious tradition as a centre of Islamic learning and scholarship. What is even more telling - if one persists with the argument about the people's sins - is that about 40 percent of those who died in Acheh were children.

Indeed, if we took into account the tsunami victims from all the other affected places - Phuket in Thailand, Penang and Kuala Muda in Malaysia, Burma, Bangladesh, Maldives, Andamans and Nicobar in India, Tanzania, Kenya and Somalia in Africa - at least one third of the dead were children. One is compelled to raise that question again: what abominable vices did these children commit?

No, the tsunami was not God's punishment. The victims were no more and no less sinful or sinless than those who were not touched by the tsunami. It is not only wrong but utterly immoral to even suggest that the tens of thousands who perished were being punished by God.

This is the sort of simplistic, superficial interpretation of natural and social phenomena that is typical of certain religious leaders and lay people who have an archaic and atavistic understanding of religion.

There is another way of looking at the tsunami tragedy which is more rational, logical and humane. It also makes much more sense from a religious perspective, if we equate the essence of religion with its underlying principles and values.

Knowledge of nature

Most religions emphasise the importance of acquiring knowledge about the workings of nature. This is certainly true of various branches of Hindu philosophy just as it is true of Buddhism. In the Quran, the human being is encouraged to understand nature - the handiwork of God - not only because it is a huge depository of knowledge but also because it offers intimate glimpses of the mysteries of creation.

Our knowledge of earth movements, earthquakes and tsunami waves is still somewhat limited. We have not accumulated sufficient geological evidence, for instance, to estimate how frequently tsunamis occur, in the wake of undersea earthquakes or landslides. Similarly, while we have some understanding of the speed of tsunamis, we know very little about how they crash ashore.

It is not just knowledge about nature that we should seek. In Islam, as in Buddhism and Taoism, there is a profound appreciation of the relationship between the natural world, the animal kingdom and the human family. This inter-connectedness between all living things - one of the most fundamental insights of religious philosophy - is relevant to our understanding of the tsunami tragedy.

For reports from Sri Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia seem to suggest that animals guided by their 'sixth sense' may have known that the tsunami was coming and had moved to higher ground. At the Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, home to hundreds of elephants, crocodiles, wild boar, water buffaloes and monkeys, rescue operations found human bodies floating in the flooded park but no animal carcasses.

If we had some understanding of these early warning signals from the animal kingdom - as indigenous communities in Car Nicobar and Thailand apparently had and therefore took appropriate measures - we could have perhaps saved tens of thousands of human lives.

This is precisely what the Chinese government did in 1975. Before a huge earthquake measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale hit the city of Haicheng, the inhabitants were evacuated, largely because of the changed behaviour of various types of animals. As a result, some 90,000 people were saved though the city itself was destroyed.

By the same token, mangrove forests and other coastal vegetation, it is said, can 'soften the impact of tsunamis'. According to media reports from Aceh, '... Simeuleu Island, only 40 km from the epicentre of the Dec 26 quake, was saved by the wild belt of mangroves' just as ... five villages 100km to the south east of Banda Aceh in Julok were saved by the extensive mangroves in that area'.

What this shows is that if our concept and practice of knowledge was based upon this principle of interconnectedness between nature, animals and human beings, we could have developed seismology, geology and other sciences which are relevant to our understanding of earthquakes and tsunamis in a more holistic and integrated manner.

After all, as we have noted, this is how religion conceives knowledge. If we have failed to do this, it is because we have become unthinking, uncritical devotees of a compartmentalised, fragmented, technologically driven, quantifiable notion of knowledge which is paraded in the name of 'modern science.'

Complacency cost lives

To put it in a nutshell, we must be honest enough to admit that our inability to nurture a religiously inspired understanding of science and knowledge which is wholistic and integrated, is one of the indirect causes of the tsunami tragedy.

The other indirect cause is the way in which our governments approach matters of vital importance to the people's well-being. Governments along the Indian Ocean rim should have established an early warning system for tsunamis in the region decades ago. They were reluctant to do so until the recent catastrophe because the Indian Ocean, unlike the Pacific, is not tsunami prone. This is not a convincing argument at all.

As geologist, Brian Atwater of the US Geological Survey put it, 'Sumatra (where Aceh is) has an ample history of great earthquakes, which makes the lack of a tsunami warning system in the Indian Ocean all the more tragic. Everyone knows Sumatra was a loaded gun.'

Installing an early warning system would have been well within the means of the Indian Ocean states. The actual equipment for measuring water pressure variations - a tsunameter - would have cost only US$250,000. A few tsunameters would have done the job. Of course, a system for alerting critical agencies and disseminating information among the people about the imminent tsunami onslaught would also have to be put in place.

If ruling elites in the region have failed to attend to this, it is partly because of a certain complacency at their level which often inhibits early and effective action especially in matters pertaining to the public weal. While some of the governments are proactive and forward looking, there are others which are lackadaisical and plagued by bureaucratic inertia.

Needless to say, these are attitudes which are inimical to the public good. They violate a basic principle of ethical governance embodied in all our religions - the principle that a ruler should accord the highest priority to any move or measure that protects the lives of his people.

Complacency may have cost lives in the tsunami tragedy in yet another sense. There is now some evidence to suggest that the first person in the world to know that the Dec 26 tsunami was coming, geophysicist, Dr Stuart Weinstein of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawaii, tried desperately 'to flash warnings around the world'.

But his frustration reached fever pitch as his phone calls went without answer - and the few who did respond failed to understand what he was saying or grasp the magnitude of the danger their countries were facing. Apparently, Weinstiein made attempts to contact officials in Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Australia. Partly because it was the day after Christmas, communication was difficult. Nonetheless, one would expect at least a skeletal staff to be working at meteorological stations and critical government agencies in the Indian Ocean region on Boxing Day.

Debasement of the human being

Perhaps it was more than complacency in at least one tsunami hit nation. Apparently, some officials at the Thai Weather Bureau had an inkling of the imminent tsunami onslaught but did not want to alert the public because they were afraid that if it did not materialise, they would be condemned for scaring away tourists. This had happened to a senior Weather Bureau official before.

It shows how the tourist dollar has become so overwhelmingly important in Thailand - so important that the human being is readily sacrificed at its altar. This diminution and even debasement of the human being is contrary to the way in which most religions envision human dignity.

The debasement of the human being is self-evident in yet another instance, this time involving yet another country. In the state of Tamil Nadu in India, some of the poorest of the poor who live in makeshift huts and hovels close to the beaches were swallowed up by the tsunami waves.

For years, neither the state nor the federal government had given any attention to their housing needs. Like other marginalised sections of society, they were left to fend for themselves. It is only after the catastrophe that government leaders are talking about prohibiting people from putting up temporary structures on beach fronts. But it is doubtful if this is an indication of a change in the mindset of the ruling elites - a change which will result in the material and social transformation of some of the most deprived and despised castes and classes in Indian society who have suffered so much from the tsunami catastrophe.

From our analysis it is obvious that our inability to develop and apply knowledge in a wholistic manner, our failure to install an early warning system, our complacency, our inefficiency and indeed, our neglect of the poor have all contributed , if obliquely, to the tsunami tragedy. It bears repeating: the tsunami tragedy is not God's fury; it is our folly. More than that, it is the sort of human folly which repudiates certain underlying philosophical values and principles in religion.

This does not mean of course that if we had done everything right there would not have been the tsunami or the earthquake. All that we are saying is that we could have minimised the colossal loss of human lives and perhaps reduced the massive damage to property. For we know that earthquakes occur all the while and once in a long while they generate tsunamis. According to a Malaysian geologist, Professor Ibrahim Komoo, 'half a million earthquakes occur in a year'. He adds, 'no place on earth is safe or free of natural disasters'.

In other words, natural calamities are as much a part of our existence as human tragedies. They happen. We learn to live with them. And to accept them. For those of us who believe in a divine power, natural calamities like human tragedies are moments for reflection and introspection. It is in that sense that the tsunami catastrophe of Dec 26 is significant.

Seven reflections

Apart from the reflections we have already presented in this analysis, particularly the importance of understanding the workings of nature in the context of a more integrated concept of knowledge, there are perhaps seven other points that are worth pondering upon.

One, the tsunami tragedy is a grim reminder of the fragility of human life. As with every other natural calamity before this, we realise once again that the human species is utterly vulnerable.

Two, our fragility and vulnerability should make us humble. The tragedy should persuade us to cultivate positive values. It should enhance our sense of justice; deepen our compassion for all that lives. The tsunami which has revealed to all of us how transient life is, should strengthen our desire to do good. For that is the real reason why we are here on earth.

Three, in this regard, human beings everywhere have demonstrated that they are capable of reaching out to the other by contributing their time, their energy and their money towards all the magnificent efforts at the local, national and global levels to bring relief to millions of tsunami victims who have lost their loved ones, their homes, their livelihoods, their everything.

There has never been a humanitarian endeavour of this sort in history which has witnessed such widespread participation by the ordinary citizens of the world in the noble cause of helping fellow human beings who are in dire need.

Four, in the process of helping fellow human beings, individuals and groups in different parts of the world have penetrated ethnic, linguistic, cultural, religious and national barriers as never before. The tsunami tragedy has brought to the surface a feeling that we are one. This is one of those rare occasions when our common humanity overwhelms our specific identities. Of course we know that this sentiment is ephemeral but while it lasts it gives us hope. For it shows that in spite of everything, the human being is capable of transcending his religious or cultural self and discovering that one identity that is perennial - his human identity.

Five, at the same time the tsunami tragedy has, as expected, also revealed the ugly side of the human being. There are reports from many of the affected areas of individuals stealing aid items meant for the victims; of officials siphoning off cash assistance offered to bereaved families; of unscrupulous people attempting to sell off orphaned children; of religious zealots trying to convert orphans to their faith.

Then there are politicians seeking mileage from media events connected with the aftermath of the tragedy just as there are governments that are consciously exploiting relief operations in order to refurbish their public image. Neither should one forget those rich kingdoms that have been niggardly in their financial contributions to the tsunami victims.

Six, the ugly acts of some in contrast to the beautiful deeds of the many encapsulates the eternal struggle within the human soul to overcome what is base and reach out to the sublime. The tsunami tragedy has made us more conscious of this. Distinguishing between right and wrong, differentiating between good and evil is a challenge that faces not just individuals, but also communities and nations.

Against the backdrop of the Dec 26 catastrophe, it has become even more imperative for the human family as a whole to choose to live in accordance with the values of universal justice, global love and international solidarity.

Seven, for those of us who believe in God and whose belief is reflected in a commitment to universal justice and an inclusive humanity, the tsunami tragedy has helped to strengthen rather than weaken our faith.

In the midst of all the pain and suffering, we rejoice, together with millions of Buddhists, Christians, Hindus and Muslims at the sight of a statue of the Buddha or of a church or of a temple or of a mosque still standing upright on a desolate landscape when every other structure had been destroyed and devastated by the ferocity of the tsunami waves. These places of worship have become symbolic testimonies to the enduring power of faith.

But there is an even more potent expression of the power of faith. It is in the miraculous way in which some babies had survived the tsunami - babies in almost every affected area, from almost every religious community. It is as if a Divine Arm had cradled each and every one of them and delivered them to the Bosom of Life.

Through these miracle babies, God has once again asserted an eternal truth: that God is, and has always been, the God of the whole of humankind, of all the universes. God is not the prized possession of any particular religion or community.

God has done something else through these miracle babies. God is telling us that in spite of all our follies, God has not lost hope in the human race. Indeed, God has renewed God's faith in humanity. And that should inspire us to continue to struggle for a just and compassionate world.