IAC: U.S. Criminal Negligence on a Global Scale (Tsunami+corporate greed)

[Tinoire]

55,000 Dead: The Role of U.S. Criminal Negligence on a Global Scale
Casualties of a policy of war, negligence, and corporate greed


Statement from the International Action Center

December 28, 2004--While earthquakes and tsunamis are natural disasters, the decision to spend billions of dollars on wars of conquest while ignoring simple measures that can save human lives is not.

At least 55,000 people were killed by the tsunami that devastated coastlines from Indonesia to Somalia. Almost a third of the dead are children. Thousands are still missing and millions are homeless in 11 countries. Hundreds of thousands have lost everything, and millions face a bleak future because of polluted drinking water, a lack of sanitation and no health services, according to UN undersecretary Jan Egeland, who is in charge of emergency relief coordination.

Egeland said, "We cannot fathom the cost of these poor societies and the nameless fishermen and fishing villages and so on that have just been wiped out. Hundreds of thousands of livelihoods have gone."

No money for early warning system

Much of this death and destruction could have been prevented with a simple and inexpensive system of buoys. Officials in Thailand and Indonesia have said that an immediate public warning could have saved lives, but that they could not know of the danger because there is no international system in place to track tsunamis in the Indian Ocean.

Such a system is not difficult or expensive to install. In fact, the detector buoys that monitor tsunamis have been available for decades and the U.S. has had a monitoring system in place for more than half a century. More than 50 seismometers are scattered across the Northwest to detect and measure earthquakes that might spawn tsunamis. In the middle of the Pacific are six buoys equipped with sensors called "tsunameters" that measure small changes in water pressure and programmed to automatically alert the country's two tsunami-warning centers in Hawaii and Alaska.

Dr. Eddie Bernard, director of the NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle, says just a few buoys could do the job. Scientists wanted to place two more tsunami meters in the Indian Ocean, including one near Indonesia, but the plan had not been funded, said Bernard. The tsunameters each cost only $250,000.

A mere half million dollars could have provided an early warning system that could have saved thousands of lives. This should be compared to the $1,500,000,000 the U.S. spends every day to fund the Pentagon war machine. This means that for what the U.S. is spending for less than one second of bombing and destruction it could construct a system that could have prevented thousands of needless deaths. Lack of funding for an inexpensive, low-tech early warning system is simply criminal negligence.

Indian Minister of State for Science and Technology Kapil Sibal said, “If the country had such an alert system in place, we could have warned the coastal areas of the imminent danger and avoided the loss of life.” But there is no room in the Bush budget for such life-saving measures; the U.S. government's priorities are corporate profit and endless war.

At a meeting of the UN Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission in June, experts concluded that the "Indian Ocean has a significant threat from both local and distant tsunamis" and should have a warning network. But no action was agreed upon. Geologist Brian Atwater of the U.S. Geological Survey said, "Sumatra 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 knew Sumatra was a loaded gun."

U.S. government failed to warn region

Although the local governments had no real warning, the U.S. government did, and it failed to pass along the information. Within minutes of the massive 9.0 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Indonesia, U.S. scientists working with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) suspected that a deadly wave was spreading through the Indian Ocean. They did not call anyone in the governments in the area. Jeff LaDouce, an official in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said that they e-mailed Indonesian officials, but said that he wasn’t aware what happened after they sent the e-mails.

In this day of instant communications, controlled in a large part by the U.S., it is possible to communicate within minutes to every part of the globe. It is beyond belief that the officials at the NOAA could not find any method to directly and immediately contact civilian authorities in the area. Their decision not to do so may have cost thousands of lives.

Even a few minutes warning would have given the inhabitants a chance to seek higher ground. The NOAA had several hours notice before the first waves hit shore. Tim Walsh, geologic-hazards program manager for the Washington State Department of Natural Resources, said, "Fifty feet of elevation would be enough to escape the worst of the waves. In most places, 25 feet would be sufficient. If you go uphill or inland, the effect of the tsunami will be diminished." But the inhabitants of the area weren't given the warning - as a result, television and radio alerts were not issued in Thailand until nearly an hour after the waves had hit and thousands were already dead.

The failure to make any real effort to warn the people of the region, knowing that tens of thousands of lives were at stake, is part of a pattern of imperial contempt and racism that has become the cornerstone of U.S. policies worldwide.

The NOAA immediately warned the U.S. Naval Station at Diego Garcia, which suffered very little damage from the tsunami. It is telling that the NOAA was able to get the warning to the US Navy base in the area, but wouldn't pick up the phone and call the civil authorities in the region to warn them. They made sure that a US military base was notified and did almost nothing to issue a warning to the civilian inhabitants who were in the direct path of the wave--a warning that might have saved thousands of lives. This is criminal negligence.

Disease may kill tens of thousands more

The 55,000 deaths directly resulting from the tsunami are just the beginning of the tragedy. Disease could claim as many victims as have been killed in the weekend's earthquake-sparked tsunami, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Medical experts warn that malaria, cholera and dengue fever are expected to pose serious health threats to survivors in the area, where waves spoiled drinking-water supplies, polluted streets and homes with raw sewage, swept away medical clinics, ruined food stocks and left acres of stagnant ponds where malaria-carrying mosquitoes can breed.

"The biggest threat to survivors is from the spread of infection through contamination of drinking water and putrefying bodies left by the receding waters," said Jamie McGoldrick, a senior U.N. health official.

"Within a few days, we fear, there is going to be outbreaks of disease," Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla said. "Cholera is going to be a problem. This is going to be the most important thing in a few days."

The response of the U.S. government to this emergency is to offer a paltry $15 million "aid package." To put this in perspective, this is one tenth of one percent of what Washington has spent thus far on the war against the people of Iraq.

Money for human needs, not for war

The U.S. and British governments owe billions of dollars in reparations to the countries of this region and to all other formerly colonized countries. The poverty and lack of infrastructure that contribute to and exacerbate the scope of this disaster are the direct result of colonial rule and neo-colonial policies. Although economic and political policies cannot control the weather, they can determine how a nation is impacted by natural disasters.

We must hold the U.S. government accountable for their role in tens, perhaps hundreds, of thousands of deaths. We must demand that it stop spending $1.5 billion each day for war and occupation and instead provide health care for the victims of this tragedy, build an early warning system, and rebuild the homes and infrastructure destroyed by the tsunami.

Sara Flounders
Dustin Langley
for the International Action Center

http://www.iacenter.org/tsunami.htm

Not sure how I feel about this. Everything is not the US' fault but there are some very valid and disturbing points raised.

[Eloriel]

1. It's unconscionable to me that NOAA didn't try to reach anyone in

Asia. It stuns me, saddens me, outrages me.

[Tinoire]

6. I'm outraged too. E-mails. They sent a couple warnings via e-mail

Of course there's nothing "outrageous" about that...

Honey. Pot. Flies.

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[pretzel4gore]

5. the repukes are dancing with joy!

the thought of all those helpless darky children dying in mud...drives foxnews kkkarazy with lust!....they shiver from pleasure.....bushinc caused this disaster just by being, just by breathing earth's air...they are evil and belong in hell sooner, not later....witchcraft works for those who believe in it, like falwell, limbah-humbug, cnn, geebush jr etc

[Tinoire]

7. I'm shocked. Shocked to see you in this thread! n/t

[Heimdallr]

3. Wow. What an utterly transparent, pedantic smokescreen.

Such a system is not difficult or expensive to install. In fact, the detector buoys that monitor tsunamis have been available for decades and the U.S. has had a monitoring system in place for more than half a century.

Absolutely. No doubt about it.

A mere half million dollars could have provided an early warning system that could have saved thousands of lives.

Then why didn't the Indian gov't supply one?

This should be compared to the $1,500,000,000 the U.S. spends every day to fund the Pentagon war machine.

Then why didn't the Indian gov't supply one?

This means that for what the U.S. is spending for less than one second of bombing and destruction it could construct a system that could have prevented thousands of needless deaths.

Then why didn't the Indian gov't supply one?

Lack of funding for an inexpensive, low-tech early warning system is simply criminal negligence.

On the part of the increasingly wealthy and incredibly corrupt Indian gov't.

Indian Minister of State for Science and Technology Kapil Sibal said, “If the country had such an alert system in place, we could have warned the coastal areas of the imminent danger and avoided the loss of life.”

Then why didn't in the hell didn't the Indian gov't supply one?

But there is no room in the Bush budget for such life-saving measures; the U.S. government's priorities are corporate profit and endless war.

Sorry, like Bush or hate Bush, the above statement is bullshit, and is a childish attempt to politicize this tragedy (and that of India's lack of foresight and action) in terms of the Iraq Invasion.

Disgusting.

U.S. government failed to warn region

Rhetorical question for the gullible: And exactly who would they have warned, what system is in place to do this, and what could the warned parties have done, in what amount of time, to what effect?

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

4. whew

Much of this death and destruction could have been prevented with a simple and inexpensive system of buoys. Officials in Thailand and Indonesia have said that an immediate public warning could have saved lives, but that they could not know of the danger because there is no international system in place to track tsunamis in the Indian Ocean.

Not to be a dick, but if the system is so simple and inexpensive, why didn't the countries bordering the Indian ocean install it themselves? You can't have it both ways. Either the system is easy and inexpensive (and thus doesn't necessitate US aid) or it's expensive (and thus necessitates US, etc. aid)

Although the local governments had no real warning, the U.S. government did, and it failed to pass along the information.

The response of the U.S. government to this emergency is to offer a paltry $15 million "aid package." To put this in perspective, this is one tenth of one percent of what Washington has spent thus far on the war against the people of Iraq.

Can't really argue with that.

The U.S. and British governments owe billions of dollars in reparations to the countries of this region and to all other formerly colonized countries. The poverty and lack of infrastructure that contribute to and exacerbate the scope of this disaster are the direct result of colonial rule and neo-colonial policies. Although economic and political policies cannot control the weather, they can determine how a nation is impacted by natural disasters.

Excuse me? Since when did the US colonize India, Indonesia, etc? And I'm wondering how this "billions of dollars in reparations" talk comes from.

The NOAA immediately warned the U.S. Naval Station at Diego Garcia, which suffered very little damage from the tsunami. It is telling that the NOAA was able to get the warning to the US Navy base in the area, but wouldn't pick up the phone and call the civil authorities in the region to warn them. They made sure that a US military base was notified and did almost nothing to issue a warning to the civilian inhabitants who were in the direct path of the wave--a warning that might have saved thousands of lives. This is criminal negligence.

First, there appears to still be some confusion as to who was notified and when. That said, reports were coming out of Sumatra immediately after the earthquake occured. The Indonesian government had plenty of time to inform neighboring governments about the event. Furthermore, this isn't the US we're talking about. How do you warn a fishing village that might not even have telephones, let alone televisions? Furthermore, with the exception of India, there wasn't enough time to notify the most heavily-damaged areas at all.

I smell bullshit. Looking at the rest of IAC's website, I see a lot of bullshit. I'm sorry, but I just don't see how you can blame the US for this catastrophe. It's a real stretch. Now, I see a lot of blame to go around for our reaction to it, but there simply wasn't a proper system in place to warn for these types of events. Given that a system exists in the Pacific (and serves many of those countries that have been colonized or not by the US and others) I don't see any racist motivation at work here.

1)

[lenidog]

8. There are a few flaws in his thesis

Why is it our responsibility to build a early warning station in the Indian Ocean? The Pacific I can see because we have Hawaii, Saipan, Guam, American Samoa. Which are American territories. If the the system is so cheap why isn't he screaming at India for not building it? They could have bought one less Mig-29 or T-72 from Russia and payed for it. Also when did the earthquake happen? Was there anyone at work to warn. Also if you are a geologist at NOAA do you actually know who to call? Then from what I recall the Thais at least we warned but did nothing. Yes we are sending 15 million, then another 20 million in loans, then there is the food aid which is heading its way through other groups like the UN. (The US is the largest donater of food aid in the world. Usually given to the UN and NGOs who then distribute it. Also we are mobilizing elements of the US military and equipment to help out. He seems like he has nothing but an axe to grind.

[evolvenow]

9. What do people think of this? Related, or not?

This info was only available in the cached version:

http://216.239.63.104/search?q=cache:TZkFgnAvm2AJ:www.q...
World's biggest quake of 2004 in antarctic waters
Wellington, dec 24 (qna)- an 8.1 Magnitude earthquake that struck in antarctic waters today - the biggest recorded in the world this year - would have devastated a city had it been much closer, according to a new zealand seismologist. 'It is a whopper,' Ken gledhill, of the seismological observatory in wellington, told radio new zealand, speaking of the quake felt in new zealand and australia. 'This is what they call a 'real earthquake.'' 'There are not many earthquakes of that size on the planet,' He said. 'It's a long way from us, thank goodness. Anything of that magnitude you don't want to be near them, that's for sure.' New zealand is one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries and there are strict legal construction regulations to try to limit damage to buildings and casualties. But gledhill said: 'even with really good building standards, if you have a shallow quake of that magnitude there's really nothing you can do about it.' He said an earthquake of that size near a major populated area would produce massive landslides, building damage and casualties. The subterranean quake, 33 kilometres below the earth's surface, was centred 700 kilometres southeast of hobart, in australia's tasmania state, where it was reported to have been felt, and 820 kilometres southwest of new zealand's southernmost city of invercargill. There were no reports of damage from the early morning quake, though the seismological observatory said it received 70 reports of it being felt over a wide area in the south island. A south island police officer said it was felt as a rolling movement rather than a sharp jolt. 'It was like being on a little boat on the sea really,' Sergeant peter payne told radio new zealand. The quake struck north of macquarie island just before 4 A.M. New zealand time .(Qna)
Russia test fires second intercontinental missile

Moscow, dec 24 (qna)-russia today performed the second test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (icbm) this week as the country modernizes its nuclear defence capabilities. A fifth generation topol-M missile weighing 47 tons was fired from the northern launch centre at plesetsk and hit the designated target on the kamchatka peninsular in the far east, military officials said. The launch rounds off a series of tests of the mobile missile complex, which is due to be to deployed from next year. It will gradually replace the ss-18 heavy missile, the workhorse of moscow's nuclear arsenal that has been in service since 1988. Russia on wednesday carried out the first test launch of this type since 1991, firing a missile with a dummy warhead from the urals region 6,000 kilometres to the kura range on kamchatka. Russian president vladimir putin said this year that russia would ensure its nuclear defences are modernized and maintained as the key means of preventing any country from 'blackmailing' it.(Qna)  

-- Kamchatka is on the other side of the world
from the antarctic. 
Could a blast that enormous have impact on the plates.

---Ring of Fire
... From Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula to Japan, the subduction of the Pacific plate
under the Eurasian plate ...

geography.about.com/cs/earthquakes/a/ringoffire.htm - 26k - Dec 28, 2004 - Cached - Similar pages