SACW | 01 January 2005

[sacw]

South Asia Citizens Wire   | 01 Jan.,  2005
via:  www.sacw.net

[1] Tsunami Disaster and After:
(i) Apocalypse in Asia (Asoka Bandarage)
(ii) The tsunami warns us all (Praful Bidwai)
(iiii) More than a million Hiroshimas (P. Sainath)
(iv) IHEU Tsunami Disaster Appeal For Andhra Pradesh, India
(v) The Tamil Nadu Science Forum and Pondicherry Science Forum Update - Appeal
[2] Pakistan: Allah Hafiz & other Islamic Tamiz (Zia Ahmed)
[3] India Pakistan Arms Race and Militarisation Watch Compilation # 148

--------------

[1]

(i)

[SACW | December 31, 2004]

APOCALYPSE IN ASIA

By Prof. Asoka Bandarage

The worst tragedy in the history of the world? 
Piles and piles of putrefying, unidentified 
bodies, mass burials, devastated lands and 
hungry, homeless people across South and South 
East Asia. Over 100,000 dead, thousands more 
missing and still more to die from disease, 
hunger and despair. Were the doomsday prophets, 
Nostradamus and Malthus right? Has the apocalypse 
arrived? Was it the wrath of God or 
over-population that caused this terrible tragedy 
in Asia?

Indeed, it is the poor, mostly children that 
perished in the wrath of the tsunami waves. The 
fishermen who eked out a precarious living, the 
squatters who built their fragile shacks on the 
beach because they had nowhere else to live and 
the innocent children who loved to play on the 
sand. Was this natureís way of disposing of the 
'surplus population', bringing balance between 
people and resources, as Malthus claimed would 
happen?

But, is Mother Nature simply to be blamed? Are 
poverty and lack of access to modern technology 
entirely attributable to population pressure? 
There are reports that meteorologists in the west 
were aware of the earthquake and tidal waves 
before tragedy struck. If so, why was that 
information not made available to the unfortunate 
countries? Did global warming play a role in the 
rapid rise of sea levels and easy flooding? Why 
were early warning systems not available in South 
and South East Asia when they are relatively 
inexpensive, about 4 million U.S. dollars, less 
than the price of some houses in the U.S.? In 
other words, how much of this tragedy was 
man-made, a product of an unequal global social 
order ranked by region, color, social class and 
so on? How much of this tragedy, like many other 
so-called natural disasters, was the product of a 
world order which gives priority to the selfish 
interests of a few over the welfare of the many 
and the common survival of all?

Indeed, the need of the hour is to provide 
immediate assistance to the victims: medicine, 
water, food, shelter. How can this be done in a 
non-partisan way, so that victims from all groups 
are provided for? It is the unfortunate reality 
that many relief operations are being conducted 
along religious and ethnic lines and some groups 
are exaggerating their woes and making false 
claims and accusations against other groups. How 
can we develop unified efforts within countries, 
if not across the region or the world? How can we 
put aside our cultural differences and come 
together for our common human and planetary 
survival? Isn't this the lesson of this 
apocalyptic tragedy? Half the bodies being 
recovered cannot be identified and their 
ethnicity or religion cannot be determined. Only 
the common human tragedy, the universal pain and 
suffering are discernible.

What are the next steps to help the survivors of 
the devastation? Thousands lost their lives and 
many more thousands have lost their homes and 
their means of livelihood. The people who earned 
their living from tourist related work, the 
families of the hotel workers, the sellers of 
curios and services on the beach, must now find 
alternative means of living. They have to find 
places to live. Restart their lives. Let us not 
forget them after the bodies are disposed of and 
the global media has moved on to the next 
disaster. Let us share the basic modern 
technology that they need, including surveillance 
systems that can warn them of possible future 
disasters.

We need a more compassionate global economic 
system that can provide economic and social 
protection for the poor and the destitute. Take 
the case of the Multi Fiber Agreement that has 
provided country quotas for textile exports which 
will no longer be in effect after December 31, 
2005. Sri Lanka, one of the hardest hit by the 
tsunami tragedy, over 22,500 people dead, and 
greatly dependent on garment exports, is 
estimated to lose 250,000 jobs with the end of 
the MFA. This is a double whammy for the 
unfortunate country. Thousands of people, 
including many families made destitute by the 
current tragedy, will lose a primary bread-winner 
with the loss of the textile sector jobs. Could 
the rules made by the worldís powerful 
institutions, such as the World Trade 
Organization, be bent a little, to help this poor 
country in its hour of desperate need? Could not 
the MFA be extended a few more years for Sri 
Lanka and other countries in dire need, until 
they get back on their feet? The suffering people 
will, no doubt, be deeply grateful.

29/12/04


_____


(ii)

THE TSUNAMI WARNS US ALL

Tsunamis that hit nine countries should trigger 
serious disaster-prevention initiatives 
throughout South Asia on assumption that natural 
calamities are socially determined

by Praful Bidwai

The devastation caused in nine Indian Ocean 
countries by a tsunami triggered on December 26 
by an earthquake continues to boggle the mind. 
Sri Lanka and India were hit the hardest. Their 
shock and grief is all the greater because 
tsunamis - gigantic sea-waves caused by massive 
displacements due to earthquakes or volcanic 
eruptions or submarine slides - are rare in South 
Asia, unlike the Pacific, which has witnessed 
nearly 800 of them in the past century.

Although Pakistan and Bangladesh were spared this 
tsunami's fury, their citizens and governments 
should not be complacent. They too are vulnerable 
to similar disasters. On November 28, 1945, the 
West Coast of undivided India was hit by a 
tsunami, including the Karachi, Makran and Bombay 
areas. The waves reached a height of two metres 
in Bombay and 11 metres in Kutch. The Bay of 
Bengal too has seen tsunamis - in 1762, 1881 and 
1941.

The latest wave was unleashed by a great 
earthquake with a magnitude of 8.9 on the Richter 
scale. Its impact was bound to be horrifying. The 
extensive damage it wrought necessitates a 
high-powered relief effort and large-scale 
rehabilitation. It would be a shame if 
bureaucratic obstacles or lack of resources were 
allowed to come in the way of relief provision on 
the scale warranted by the calamity.

However, it would be an even greater disgrace if 
we South Asians fail to learn the right lessons 
from natural disasters, and thus subject 
ourselves to preventable loss of life and 
property. The first lesson is that it simply 
won't do to claim that the catastrophic event was 
of exceptional dimensions and hence the damage 
could not have been mitigated. Officially India 
practised such self-deception at the time of the 
Orissa cyclone five years ago, calling it a 
"super-cyclone". The term was subtly employed to 
insinuate that no damage-limitation methods could 
have worked.

This is totally false. Had simple, old-fashioned, 
low-technology cyclone shelters been built and 
properly maintained, they could have saved 
hundreds of lives. Cyclone shelters are rugged, 
two- or three-storeyed concrete structures that 
can withstand 300 kmph winds and tidal waves.

The world has witnessed many tsunamis with tides 
as high as 20 metres, 50 metres, or even higher. 
Alaska in 1958 was hit by a 540 metre-high 
monster-higher than Taipei-101, the world's 
tallest building! Similarly, India too suffered 
two major strikes-in 1881 and in 1941. The second 
was caused by an earthquake in the Andamans which 
was thought to have exceeded a magnitude of 8.5.

The latest earthquake was detected in time by the 
Pacific Tsunami Early Warning System, but there 
was no address in the Indian Ocean region to 
which the information could be communicated. This 
lacuna must be filled. All Indian Ocean states, 
including Pakistan, should join the 26-member 
System.

A second lesson is that natural disasters are 
natural only in their causation. Their effects 
are socially determined and transmitted through 
mechanisms and arrangements which are the 
creation of societies and governments. Natural 
disasters are not socially neutral in their 
impact. Rather, they pick on the poor and the 
weak, rather than the privileged. Consider the 
following:

The United States and Europe are prone to 
disasters like earthquakes. Yet, according to the 
environmental research group, Earthscan, 
earthquakes killing more than 10,000 people have 
not occurred in them, only in the Third World.

Hurricanes and cyclones frequently hit the US. 
But the toll they claim is incomparably smaller 
than the havoc caused by similar events in 
Bangladesh, India and the Philippines.

The average natural disaster kills 63 people in 
Japan. But in Peru, the average toll is 2,900-46 
times higher.

Around the same time as Latur in India (1993), 
California (US) was hit by an earthquake which 
was 100 times more powerful. Only one person died 
in the US, while 11,000 people perished in Latur.

When Hurricane Elena hit the US in 1985, only 
five people died. But when a cyclone slammed 
Bangladesh in 1991, half a million people were 
killed.

The reason natural disasters hit the Third World 
poor so hard is not difficult to understand. It 
has nothing to do with the intrinsically deadlier 
nature of the calamity involved. Rather, poor 
people are socially and physically 
vulnerable-being forced to live in congested, 
overcrowded and unsafe conditions in dangerous 
areas. The typical medical and relief 
infrastructure in the Global South is hopelessly 
inadequate and usually crumbles first under the 
impact of a calamity. Above all, emergency relief 
provision is appallingly bad.

A third lesson is that governance has much 
bearing on how a society copes with natural 
disasters. If there is transparency in official 
decision-making, the toll tends to be low. This 
is especially the case where governments are 
responsive to people, and where early warnings 
are sounded, and accurate advice and information 
is disseminated about the availability of rescue 
and relief services, emergency telephone numbers 
and addresses, etc.

Third World societies are far more hierarchical 
and their rulers feel no obligation to 
disseminate information and advice to the 
underprivileged. They are also marked by poverty 
and paucity of radio receivers or telephone 
connectivity. Human life is wantonly lost. And 
the poor suffer the most.

A fourth lesson is that Third World societies are 
severely under-regulated for safety. Either they 
have no laws on zoning of residential, industrial 
and commercial activities. Or, such regulations 
are routinely violated. Third World people are 
forced to live in unsafe shanties because they 
cannot afford a legal title or to secure shelter. 
They therefore create a slum-using unsafe or 
flimsy materials, which give way when disaster 
strikes. Use of inflammable goods like plastic 
magnifies the potential damage.

In most Indian Ocean societies, there are no laws 
against building structures close to the 
coastline. India's Coastal Zone Regulations 
stipulate that no structure should be constructed 
within 500 metres of the high-tide line. But 
hotels, shops, prawn hatcheries, and private 
house-owners often flout this law.

In recent years, growing commercialisation has 
led to construction activity in seaside resorts 
right up to the high-tide water-mark, leaving no 
safety margin whatever. These activities-all in 
pursuit of a fast buck from the tourist trade-are 
downright predatory. They destroy highly 
effective natural shields and buffers like 
mangroves, and create new risks and dangers.

An integral part of any agenda to reduce risk, 
improve safety and deal rationally with natural 
calamities must oppose predatory interests. This 
agenda is itself inseparable from a larger 
programme to make governments more democratic-and 
more accountable. The December 26 tsunami was bad 
news. But more tsunamis could hit South Asia in 
future. So will other natural calamities. We must 
learn how to cope with them-by internalising the 
lessons just discussed.

Postscript: Maldives has declared a state of 
emergency after the tsunami flooded two-thirds of 
the capital, Male. This is a grim reminder of the 
impending danger from global warming for this 
region. Male is only about three feet above sea 
level. A four feet-high wave of water swept over 
it, submerging many of the 1,200 tiny coral 
islands that comprise the country.


o o o o

(iii)

The Hindu
Jan 01, 2005

MORE THAN A MILLION HIROSHIMAS

By P. Sainath

Will Governments ever spend the modest sums 
required along the coast to protect the millions 
of poorer Indians dependent on the seas?

THE EARTHQUAKE that produced the tsunami 
unleashed energy millions of times greater than 
the Hiroshima bomb. True, comparisons across 
different physical processes are not 
straightforward. Yet it is quite common to 
restate the magnitude of earthquakes in terms 
that are more familiar. Typically, this is done 
by asking how much of the common explosive 
Trinitrotoluene (TNT) would have to be detonated 
to obtain the same release of energy as the 
earthquake.

A table produced by the Nevada Seismological 
Laboratory suggests that a quake of 9.0 on the 
Richter scale has a seismic energy yield roughly 
equalling 32 billion tons of TNT.

Compare that with the bomb that decimated 
Hiroshima, whose yield was similar to that from 
exploding 15,000 tons of TNT. The Indonesian 
quake last week, like the Chilean quake of 1960, 
unleashed 2.13 million times more energy than the 
perversely named "Little Boy" did over Hiroshima.

As geophysicist and climatologist Ashwin Mahesh 
points out, "Such a look across different 
processes is tricky. This cannot be a straight 
comparison but simply a useful indicator of power 
that ordinary people can relate to. Also, 
Hiroshima was an `atmospheric' blast, not on the 
ground. Then there is radiation damage, which 
additionally occurs with nukes. Not with quakes. 
Finally, there is the impact - nearly all the 
energy from an atomic bomb is released locally, 
but energy from an earthquake is distributed by 
seismic action and more widely dispersed. This is 
why something that happened in Indonesia still 
packs a punch thousands of miles away from the 
epicentre."

Dr. Mahesh is, of course, quite right. Yet, the 
comparative numbers do convey a sense of the 
sheer magnitude of the quake's power. And apart 
from the physical and character differences of 
the two processes, the quake in this case also 
triggered the devastation that spilt across 12 
countries and two continents. It will be ages 
before we fully measure the damage.

There has been much agonising over "those vital 
three hours" (now spoken of as 90 minutes) in 
which the Government "could have done something." 
Sure, it is always useful to be forewarned of 
disaster. Every human life saved is worth the 
effort. Yet, there was little scope for a major 
response, even if India had been part of the 
tsunami warning system. (Of course this did not 
stop sections of the media from identifying the 
villains and the good guys within six hours of 
the event.)

Without a network of local alarm systems in place 
along the coast, membership in the warning system 
club would have meant little. Those networks 
would have to be of a kind that did not depend 
wholly on human agency. That is, they should not 
need someone to switch them on or off. The 
coastal disaster struck in the early hours of the 
morning, when all offices and institutions were 
closed.

`Local administration,' such as there was, was 
also crippled by the event. Policemen, municipal 
workers, clerks, low-level officials, engineers, 
medical personnel, and many others, also died in 
the disaster. Roads were inaccessible, vehicles 
washed away, electricity shut down. A 
highly-skilled, ready-round-the-clock entity like 
the Indian Air Force had a base wrecked (it took 
a beating during the Gujarat earthquake, too). 
Many of those we assume could have done a lot in 
those 90 minutes were themselves victims of the 
catastrophe.

The nuclear site at Kalpakkam was hampered by 
more than the direct impact. A design engineer 
employed by the facility was swept away by the 
waves while praying in Church. Other employees 
too died. The apocalyptic scale of disaster 
ensured a chaos on the ground that paralysed most 
systems.

The blame game unfolding within hours of the 
tragedy is mystifying given that few explain what 
they would have done in those 90 minutes had they 
got the warning. Warnings without practised, 
in-place response strategies and drills might 
have meant little. Certainly at that hour. 
(Incidentally, one channel announced that Besant 
Nagar in Chennai was "under water," leading to 
panic - outside that locality.) We may not have 
been able to do much in those 90 minutes. But 
every little thing we do now matters enormously. 
What is needed is urgency on the relief and 
rehabilitation front and a rational long-term 
response to disaster.

It is also a little mystifying that the India 
Meteorological Department is seen as having a 
major role in the present mess. Tsunami are not 
weather phenomena. If anything, monitoring events 
that might trigger them could be the task of the 
Geological Survey of India (GSI). But that is 
another story. Where indeed Governments must be 
blasted is for the quality and tardiness of 
relief efforts. Not for failing to predict the 
impact of tsunami.

It is also another matter, as John Schwartz 
points out in The New York Times, that 75 per 
cent of tsunami warnings in 56 years have been 
wrong. He quotes a NASA website devoted to 
tsunami as saying "Three out of four tsunami 
warnings issued since 1948 have been false. And 
the cost of the false alarms can be high." 
Already, the panic over the "high wave alert" is 
an embarrassment for a defensive Government 
trying to cope with the media charge that it did 
not respond the last time.

The January 17, 1995, Kobe earthquake in Japan 
took 5,500 lives, injured 26,000 and inflicted 
damage in excess of $ 200 billion. That in a 
country where seismic activity is massively 
monitored with advanced technologies. The quake 
lasted some 20 seconds and measured around 7.0 on 
the Richter scale. Structures designed for such 
seismic zones were torn apart like paper. Last 
week's quake measured 9.0. Which means it was, 
near Indonesia at least, 1,000 times more 
powerful than Kobe (The Richter scale is a 
logarithmic one, not a linear scale.)

The question is not so much whether India should 
have been a paid-up member of the tsunami warning 
system. Until last week, elite wisdom would have 
viewed that as so much money saved. The question 
is whether Governments in India today will ever 
spend the modest sums required along the coast to 
protect the millions of poorer Indians dependent 
on the seas. And whether we need a disaster this 
scale to rethink some of our priorities.

The surprise expressed by many (arriving from 
Delhi) over the poor medical facilities in these 
regions is misplaced. The capital city may have 
such facilities. But we have spent the better 
part of 12 years gutting public health care, 
privatising hospitals and charging user fees in 
Government ones from people who cannot pay. 
Fracturing an already inadequate and fragile 
system. Now, when there is a deadly danger of 
epidemics, there is little to fight them with. It 
is odd that we allow Governments to get away with 
atrocities against the poor. But sternly hold 
them to blame for an unprecedented natural 
disaster.

Hundreds of fishing villages have been squeezed 
into narrower, tighter settlements as 
`development' Indian-style sets in. Many have 
moved into unsafe terrain, pushed by resorts, 
hotels, construction of highways. Mangrove 
forests that have always acted as a brake - 
however limited - against tidal waves, have 
increasingly vanished. So have another natural 
barrier - sand dunes, looted by the construction 
industry. We have put a lot of effort into making 
the coastline increasingly unsafe.

And not just the coastline. There seems to be no 
concern over the fact that the many small dams in 
the western part of the country might be 
responsible for what is known as 
`reservoir-induced seismicity.' Our planners 
still aim to turn every river into a chain of 
lakes.

Growing seismic activity in Maharashtra has not 
led to a rethink on the ever-higher skyscrapers 
being planned there. Especially in Mumbai city. 
Nor has the harrowing experience of the Gujarat 
earthquake had any impact on Mumbai's mighty 
builder lobby. We could perhaps have done very 
little in "those crucial 90 minutes," but there 
is much we can do on other fronts, if we wish to, 
to make people safer.

It would not be too much of a challenge to 
India's much-celebrated IT and software genius to 
make the lives of traditional fishermen along 
India's coastline a lot better. A PCO type box, 
modified for at-sea use could do plenty. It could 
act as a weather alert and SOS mechanism. It 
could work as a GPS device. It could even be used 
to help fishermen in shoal tracking - a huge 
advantage that predatory big boats and trawlers 
have over them. All in all, it might be possible 
to install these in the vessels of traditional 
fishermen at maybe less than Rs.2,000 a boat. It 
is a small thing that may have little to do with 
tsunamis. But it could make a big difference in 
many life-threatening situations.

That it has never happened on a major scale means 
it is just not a priority. When advanced 
technological systems do come in, they will 
likely be installed with an eye on tourists 
rather than fisherfolk. The latter, right now, do 
not even have boats on which to install any 
safety device. Thousands of boats, catamarans and 
fishing nets were simply destroyed in the 
calamity.

Maybe we can never fully and correctly predict a 
tsunami or, more importantly, its likely impact. 
On the other hand, it is easy to predict that our 
priorities, our ways of thinking and living, 
render us vulnerable to disasters of our own 
making.


o o o

(iv)

IHEU TSUNAMI DISASTER APPEAL FOR ANDHRA PRADESH, INDIA

ON BEHALF OF ARTHIK SAMATA MANDAL OF ATHEIST CENTRE, INDIA

      The undersea earthquake near Sumatra on 
December 26 was the largest in the world for 40 
years. The tsunami that followed caused a 
widespread disaster. About 12,500 people have 
been killed in India and more than 35,000 have 
been evacuated in Andhra Pradesh. Many others are 
at imminent risk of disease following the 
flooding.

      The coastal communities of Andhra Pradesh 
are mainly dependent on fishing as their major 
source of income. Traditional handloom weavers 
are equally vulnerable. Many villagers lost the 
tools on which they depend for their livelihood 
in the inundation of water into the villages.

      IHEU's member organisation in India, Atheist 
Centre, has an existing disaster relief 
organisation in place since 1977, Arthik Samata 
Mandal (FCRA 010260025). This organisation 
already has the required Indian Government 
approval to receive overseas aid funds.

      Arthik Samata Mandal of Atheist Centre and 
IHEU have launched an appeal to address both 
short term (rehabilitation) and long-term 
(reconstruction) needs. Programs are being 
designed in cooperation with the affected 
communities. Short-term intervention is aimed at 
bringing the community back to normal livelihood 
conditions. In the longer term, the objective is 
to reduce the geographical vulnerability. Arthik 
Samata Mandal of Atheist Centre's main strength 
is in working with local community leaders, 
women's groups, youth clubs, Panchayat Raj 
institutions and other grassroots civil society 
organizations.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

      IHEU is accepting donations on behalf of the 
disaster appeal. Please click here to make an 
online donation via Paypal:

https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=iheu-website-admin%40iheu.org&item_name=IHEU+Tsunami+Disaster+Appeal&item_number=December+2004+IHEU+Mailing+List&no_shipping=0&no_note=1&tax=0&currency_code=GBP

(please be sure to copy the whole link into your 
web browser) or use IHEU's Paypal facility by 
clicking on the link provided at www.iheu.org.

       For other payment methods, please see the 
details near the end of this message.


HOW DONATIONS WILL BE USED: SHORT-TERM NEEDS

HEALTH: Medical attention through medical camps 
and if necessary referrals; provision of 
medicines.
FOOD SECURITY: Provision of groceries, utensils and safe drinking water.
HABITAT: Housing repairs and temporary shelters.
LIVELIHOOD: Provision of work tools, boats, 
fishing nets etc; provision of milch animals.
GENERAL: Provision of clothing, toiletries, etc.

HOW DONATIONS WILL BE USED: RECONSTRUCTION FOR THE LONGER TERM

HABITAT IMPROVEMENT: housing; sanitation; 
drainage; drinking water supply; mangrove 
regeneration.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

      Andhra Pradesh is battered by every kind of 
natural disaster: cyclones, floods, earthquakes 
and drought. The coastal region suffers repeated 
cyclones and floods. The 1977 cyclone and tidal 
wave, which resulted in great loss of life, 
attracted the attention of the central and state 
Governments of India and the international donor 
communities, as did those of  1979, 1990 and 
1996. The floods in the Godavari and Krishna 
Rivers caused havoc in the East and West Godavari 
and Krishna districts. Concerned about the 
frequent recurrence of cyclones and the 
devastating effect on the economy and employment 
potential of the people, Arthik Samata Mandal of 
Atheist Centre has concentrated its efforts in 
these coastal districts to mitigate the suffering 
of the people.

      The communities living in the most 
vulnerable areas are the most disadvantaged in 
terms of their very low socio-economic status and 
lack of access to basic information, resources 
and opportunities needed for a dignified life. 
They have been the victims of circumstances over 
many years caused by uncontrolled exploitation of 
natural resources and mechanisation, which have 
had direct impact on local artisans. Communities 
are caught up in the debt trap as each new 
situation threatens their livelihoods. Ever since 
the 1977 cyclone and tidal wave, the coastal 
communities have struggled to recover from the 
aftermath of recurring disasters. Their means of 
livelihood such as boats, looms etc, are 
frequently washed away or are destroyed in these 
disasters. Their habitat, health and livelihoods 
are under continual threat.

      Every disaster has even greater impact on 
the nutrition and health of women and children, 
as they are doubly disadvantaged during and after 
natural disasters. They are still required to 
perform their productive and reproductive roles. 
Children are forced into child labour to add to 
their family income. Vulnerable communities are 
not only exposed to natural disasters, but are 
also affected by forced changes in their 
economic, social and cultural circumstances in 
the aftermath of the disasters, such as 
migration, limited employment options, premature 
deaths of family members and extra burdens on the 
family. Added to this, the local fatalistic 
belief system put them on the back foot, leading 
to inaction even when the need for action arises.

      Earthquakes in the recent past have occurred 
along and off the Andhra Pradesh coast and in 
regions in the Godavari river valley. Mild 
tremors have also hit the capital city of 
Hyderabad, for example in September 2000.

THE ORGANIZATION

      Arthik Samata Mandal (ASM) of the Atheist 
Centre was founded by Gora and J.C. Kumarappa, 
both well known Gandhians. Arthik Samata is the 
13th Item of the Gandhian Constructive Programmes 
meaning "Economic Equality". It was started as a 
disaster relief appeal following the 1977 cyclone 
and tidal wave when more than 10,000 people lost 
their lives.

      In 1978, ASM was registered as an NGO under 
the Societies Registration Act of the Government 
of India. For the past 25 years, ASM has been 
actively working in the field of disaster relief, 
rehabilitation, reconstruction and mitigation, 
and has been involved in comprehensive 
development programs (health, habitat, 
livelihood, education & child sponsorship), 
focusing on fisherfolk, handloom weavers, tribal 
people, rural artisans, agricultural labourers, 
and small farmers. Its major focus is on 
children, youth, women and the handicapped.

      Its operational area covers the Krishna, 
Guntur, Nalgonda, East Godavari, West Godavari, 
Prakasam and Nellore districts in Andhra Pradesh. 
About 90% of its operational area is along the 
coastline, with the remaining 10% in the 
drought-prone Nalgonda district.

OTHER PAYMENT METHODS

      Click on the link above to make a donation via Paypal.

      Alternatively, donations can be made by bank 
transfer or wire transfer to IHEU's bank account: 
Barclays Bank PLC, Chancery Lane and Goslings 
Branch, 147 Holborn, London EC1N 2NW, United 
Kingdom; account name: International Humanist and 
Ethical Union; sort code: 20-41-41; account 
number: 50958840; SWIFT code: BARCGB22; IBAN 
number: GB59BARC20414150958840; quote reference: 
Tsunami Disaster Appeal.

      Or you can send a cheque or money order, 
made payable to International Humanist and 
Ethical Union, to: IHEU Tsunami Disaster Appeal, 
International Humanist and Ethical Union, 1 Gower 
Street, London WC1E 6HD, United Kingdom.

      IHEU is registered as a 501(c)3 in the US 
and donations to it are tax deductible under US 
law.

o o o o

(v)

Friends,
Another effort for relief, that you could all 
keep in mind, if you do not know about it already.
(The list of essential drugs referred to below are :

1.	Tab. Paracetamol - 500 mg
2.	Tab.Furazolidone - 100 mg
3.	Tab.Domperidone - 10mg
4.	Tab.Co-trimexazole SIngle Strength
5.	Tab.Metronidazole - 200 mg
6.	Tab.Dicyclomine - 10 mg
7.	Tab.Ibuprofen - 200 mg
8.	Liquid Betadine for wounds
9.	Tab.Amoxycillin - 250 mg
10.	Tab.Norfloxacin - 400 mg

Caution:Not to be administered by untrained volunteers)

My warm regards, Ammu Abraham
---------------
From Prabir Purkayastha, Delhi Science Forum

Friends,

The Tamil Nadu Science Forum and Pondicherry Science
Forum, the two constiteunts of All India Peoples
Science Network (AIPSN) are involved with the relief
work in the tsunami hit areas. Some details of this is
attached here. For those desirous of sending relief
and money, the details are as follows:

For cheques/DD:

Pondicherry Science Forum : SB Account No.19448

Indian Overseas Bank, J.N.Street, Pondicherry-1

Relief Mateial:

Pondicherry Science Forum (No.46, II Street,
P.R.Gardens, Reddiarpalayam, PONDICHERRY-605 010:
Phone: 0413-2290733)

Details are given in the mail and attachment below.

Prabir



The Pondicherry and Tamilnadu Science  Forum in close
coordination with other mass organisations( esp DYFI
and AIDWA) and with AID India have set up a overall
coordination mechanism and a distribution and outreach
mechanism to reach out to the entire area of the
affected. To do this the  TNSF  Chennai office is
taking care of the relief work in Chennai town and the
Malar/TNSF office of Kanyakumari is taking care of the
work in  Kanyakumari district. The rest of the area
esp the Pondicherry- Cuddlaore Nagapattinam belt which
is the main affected part is being coordinated from
the PSF office. This entire large stretch has been
divided into 4 areas which are furhter ssub-divided
into 7 clusters with a senior coordinator in each area
and a cluster level team helping out in each cluster.
In each cluster there are 30 villages and a group of
volunteers in each village. In some of these areas we
have well established networks and therefore this has
been relatively easy to set up whereas in other areas
we have sent in volunteers.
So far 6 truckloads of relief materials have been sent
down this chain. This is a small drop in the ocean of
needs- but on the other hand this has ensured that the
chain is functional.
We welcome contributions - but please time is
important and we need to rush it in. Both cash( to go
towards house- rebuilding the number one necessity)
and more important clothes and blankets. No torn
clothes please. Please find attached the details of
contact of the relief coordination center of the
Pondicherry Science Forum - a constituent of the
AIPSN/BGVS and a part of the Jan swasthya abhiyan
network. Whatever JSA constituents can do to reach us
relief material for distribution would be welcomes and
woould be gratefully acknowledged. We would also
appreciate information on other relief material
flowing in to any other source from you.One of the
tasks we are undertaking is to form village level
committes to over see local receipt and proper
utilisation and distribution of relief material - one
of the lessons we learnt from the Orissa cyclone
disaster.
Since the medical system is pretty much intact and
functional - doctors would not have too much of a role
but the essential ten medicines of the CHW list would
be welcome.


______


[2]

The Friday Times
www.thefridaytimes.com/

ALLAH HAFIZ & OTHER ISLAMIC TAMIZ

Zia Ahmed

A foreign menace threatens us. We are under 
attack by an alien influence so insidious
that most are unaware of its existence even as it 
undermines the very foundation of
our society. Our language, the defining characteristic of our culture, is being
subverted. In classrooms and offices, on 
television and radio, in casual and formal
speech, our beloved Urdu is slowly being corrupted by another tongue.

If you think what'got my goat is a simpering airhead on TV gushing "viewers,
hum short break kay baad milte hain ,"youâ*™re 
mistaken (although the airhead is
pretty annoying). The enemy is far too cunning 
for such an obvious attack. It works
through underhanded means; deceit and subversion are its weapons. Allow me to
illustrate.

Even though I graduated from college years ago, keeping in touch with the alma
mater nurtures my Peter Pan complex. I subscribe 
to the email list of the Pakistanis
on that American campus, an affiliation that 
keeps me up to date on local desi events:
cultural, culinary or otherwise. Only recently, 
at the very beginning of the holy month,
a flurry of emails landed in my inbox to mark the 
sighting of the moon. One annoyed
me to no end.

"Ramadhan Mubarak,"it proclaimed.

Excuse me? Ramadhan ? I may not have fasted since 
I was sixteen, but I am pretty
sure that the month of big appetites and short tempers is called Ramazan. What
country are we from anyway?

Dear Dada Abba, the stern family patriarch, often threatened me with physical
violence for my inability to pronounce the Arabic 
duad . Eight year-old Quran readers
across the nation are victim to this malaise. Confusingly, duad (the â'duhâ'
sound) in Arabic is zuad (â'zuh) in Urdu. The language chips were stacked
against poor Dada Abba. Since he could hardly force me into changing my name to
Dia, correcting my pronunciation was a lost cause to begin with.

Obviously, the (Pakistani) sender of the Ramadhan email had a more effective
grandfather. Either that or he has succumbed 
completely to the alien menace. More
and more Pakistanis, especially those in the 
diaspora, are incorporating Arabic into
their everyday speech. This is a new wave of 
Arabic imperialism, different perhaps
from the one started by Mr Bin Qasim in 712 AD, but just as decisive.

Of course, Urdu speakers are no strangers to 
linguistic imperialism. The language,
though indigenous to India, has always borrowed 
heavily from Farsi and Arabic, the
languages of literature and philosophy. The 
founding fathers, cognisant of this,
looked west " to Persia and Arabia " for the 
vocabulary of culture and erudition.
This accident of history makes the contemporary 
Pakistani position on language rife
with paradox.

Is there another nation whose citizens do not 
understand their own national anthem
because it'written in a foreign language? As a student, I sang it every day for
eleven years (not very prettily, need I add). But 
even as an adult, I struggle with the
unfamiliar words and alien grammar in the vain hope of understanding what the
sweetest ode to our land actually means. And 
should we really celebrate the fact that
the high priests of our culture, men like Ghalib 
and Iqbal, considered themselves to
be primarily poets of Farsi, not Urdu?

Ah, but that was then. Farsi and Arabic were the 
pillars of high culture. The times
they are a-changing, sang Bob Dylan. My mother's Farsi BA notwithstanding, the
number of fluent Farsi speakers in the country 
today can probably be counted on one
hand (and a few feet). Similarly, despite 
PTV'bizarre efforts to educate the public
through Arabic news bulletins, the sorry truth is 
that few understand the language of
revelation. If my local maulvi sahib is relying 
on a recycled Friday khutba , surely the
average school kid can be excused for lip-syncing the national anthem?

More examples. A generation ago, Lollywood heartthrob Waheed Murad would start
his day with cornflakes and a cheery "Adaab, ammi "The indigenous greeting
of adaab is fast going the way of the dodo, 
having given way to Assalam alaikum .
The (thoroughly indigenised) Persian khuda is 
another casualty of the war on Urdu;
even Abbu has taken to signing off with "Allah hafiz "instead of the possibly
pre-Islamic "Khuda hafiz "Pakistani Arabists are promoting wassalam as the
next daisy-cutter against Urdu. What'next, Allah-o-Akbar chants at cricket
matches? Wait, we already have those. How about a constitutional amendment to
replace shukria with shukran ? Our Majlis-e-Shoora â*" the word "parliamentâ*?
makes Arabic groupies itch â*" is just the 
sovereign body for the job. Maybe Ameer-
ul-Momineen Musharraf should go for an 
enlightened clean sweep and declare Arabic
the national language.

Jokes aside, the linguistic imperialism cake by far goes to a gentleman of my
acquaintance who has a truly novel catchphrase. 
In lieu of a simple goodbye or see
ya, this gentleman relies upon a cheery inna 
lillahi wa inna ilahi raji'™un (« we are
from God and to God we shall »). Every meeting with him leaves me as
depressed as a visit to the Tariq Road graveyard 
where a certain ancestor of mine lies
in restless slumber. Adaab , Dada Abba.



______


[3]

India Pakistan Arms Race and Militarisation Watch Compilation # 148
( 31 December,  2004)
URL: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IPARMW/message/158



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Buzz on the perils of fundamentalist politics, on 
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