DEMOCRACIES LET PEOPLE DIE

- Demokratien lassen Menschen, lassen ihre eigenen Bürger verrecken,-
- wenn Katastrophenhilfe in einer Hilfskatastrophe endet. - 
> 26. Dezember 2004 - die Tsunami-Katastrophe <
A disaster aid? --- No, an aid disaster!

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May 22, 2008

Democracies Let People Die
and keep silent
Letters to the editor of
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL EUROPE
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Letters@WSJ.com
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Re: Natural vs. man-made disasters.

Sir,

We had to take a deep breath. Daniel Pollyanna Henninger (“Democracies Don’t Let People Die” 5/15/08) believes, “In democracies, even poor ones, the pols are accountable… public outrage calls for heads to roll.” He believes apparently no democracy would kill its own citizens.

Really?

He lists all kinds of catastrophes to prove his point but, significantly, forgets the greatest disaster in mankind’s history which affected 55 countries (13 diectly) and claims between 230.000 and 300.000 thousand lives, the tsunami of Christmas 2004. We, its survivors, are still waiting to see this aggregation of incompetencies, of snafus and of scandals discussed in the media and investigated by parliaments. Only the quake and the destructive waves that the quake stirred up were nature’s work and thus beyond human control, but very little of what followed was. Here are some main points we want to raise.

Hard facts: The quake on Dec. 26, 2004 (Dec. 25th in the U.S.A.), was the strongest since over forty years (magnitude 9.1-9.3), in a shallow deep (10-30 km), the longest in the time (ca. 8-10 minutes) and the longest in the rupture’s length (around 1200-1600 km), beginning near the Simeulue Island off northwest Sumatra and forwarding northwest up the North Andaman Island. The energy released during this quake along the fault was many ten millions of strength the Hiroshima atomic bomb.

All seismological stations around the globe have registered, quickly located and measured this giant quake within some minutes. As was a seaquake the first question was: Did it cause a tsunami? Because not all seaquakes do this. In this case it could have been ascertained a few minutes later when hundreds of small islands along the very long fault line (part of Sunda Trench) from Indonesia’s Simeulue to India’s Nicobars and Andamans were devastated. It was a cloudless morning. Many countries had the capability to observe via satellite the effects: the traces the waves left. The horrific destruction was clear visible from the space on this day. In addition, eyewitnesses must have phoned or radioed the authorities on the mainland. The news must also have spread to ships in the area. Anyone anywhere on the planet could have gathered information by contacting individuals on land or on ships who were immediately affected. During these crucial minutes many people failed to do their jobs properly. We’re not talking about amateurs but about those thousands of professionals at all well-paid government experts and which dispose of the latest highly expensive gear.

The big picture and that there was imminent danger to so many people could have been established within minutes. Why didn’t this happen? Why weren’t all coasts of the Indian Ocean immediately alerted? Only Kenia would hours later clear its beaches proving how easily could be done. So no massacres occurred there. Nobody should be fooled: What happened wasn’t due to the supposedly lacking of early warning system. Everything that was needed to alert tourists in the hotels and a lot of nationals in the cities and villages, was there and available. No doubt:

The disaster was man-made.

Indonesia: Which had most of the casualties (between 170.000 and 230.000), was struck after only 15 minutes in some places, after 30 minutes or more in others. Even this short period would have been valuable had Djakarta cared to prepare itself for the eventuality. That country has been devastated by tsunami every few years since times immemorial. In the nineties alone it had two with thousands of dead, plus another one right next door in New Guinea. Indonesia isn’t just a poor democracy. It’s a basket case.

India: The world’s greatest democracy (by its own estimation), a member of the atomic club, operating an nuclear power plant south of Mumbai in Kalpakkam just near the beach and responsible for monitoring a great part of the Indian Ocean within the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS, NAVAREA VIII) and for warnings concerning maritime security in this area, lost less or more 20.000 people and was perhaps the worst culprit in the whole story. Than over there begun the disaster, on the Nicobars and the Andamans, where India’s military base is installed and thousands of people live. But India’s bureaucratic mess and own understanding of national pride prohibits quick humanitarian response and openness as well. So it didn’t issue any alert and later preferred to hide how much it really suffered. As elsewhere, no debate, no public outrage, no investigation.

Thailand: Another democracy (of sort), where thousands of foreign tourists died plus a probably undisclosed number of Thais and Burmese (official death count is over 8.000 but other sources speak on about 13.000). Thailand did not warn and evacuate the beaches though it had two and more than two hours before the same waves that had earlier raced across the Nicobars and the Andamans reached its own beaches. It had all necessary personal, technical tools and sufficient administration to foresee what was coming and to alert and evacuate the tourist and a lot of own people. What did the Thai Meteorological Department and the cabinet in Bangkok discuss and decide that morning? Why have all documents been locked away? Apparently the tourist industry prevailed. It disliked the discomfort of an alert and let happen a massacre on the own coasts. As elsewhere, no debate, censorship in the media, no public outrage, no open investigation, no accountability.

Australia: The proudest democracy of the southern hemisphere and earlier a member of British Empire was responsible for monitoring of the east part of the Indian Ocean within the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS, NAVAREA X) and for warnings concerning the maritime security. Millions of Australian people spend vacations each year on the coasts of Indonesia and Thailan. Nevertheless Australia did warn as we read in the press only its embassies but nobody more and lost nearly 300 people. No one take care there of investigation steps, no accountability and open discussion are visible there.

European Union: Don’t forget of course the new super power of the world, we wish been called, by name the old Europe, the cradle of democracy in ancient time, with its myriad scientists, geological institutes from the North to the South and from the East to the West, with its earth monitoring satellites managed by the European Space Agency (ESA), with its high-tech equipped around the clock alert-prepared and waching NATO and its highly dedicated Quick Response Forces (alias Farce) - all of them doing nothing. Don't forget the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES), established in the year 1998 from the Europeann Commission and the European Space Agency (ESA), a joint initiative, launched with the aim of the integration of different activities in the areas of earth observation and remote sensing in Europe. Through the use of advanced earth observation and information technologies at last should increase the protection of the environment and the security of Europeans. Mission Impossible - as it showed. Don’t forget the European war ships operated within the scope of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) in the Indian Ocean just during the calamity occured, ready at any time answer for the security of the citizens of the countries that they posted. Really? They could have been send a warning message over the IOR-INMARSAT satellite and so could reach directly all coast stations on the Indian Ocean and many of ships there as well. How many lives they could have been saved? The tsunami red alert could so has been taken place. But nothing happened. Theirs crews sleept or drunken beer and taken sun bath on deck during the tsunami rolled across the Indian Ocean. The German Frigate <Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, F218> lead just on the same time a multinational OEF-naval formation on Horn of Africa. Over 2,500 victims and countless wounded and disabled people deplores Europe. Negligible and irrelevant to the pols and bureaucrats of Europe. Not only authorities and other institutional bodies and the judiciary in the various European countries turned their backs to the victims but also institutions of the European Union: the European Parliamen and the European Comission. Victims, not only tsunami victims, have no rights in Europe. They are without victims’ rights and live poor on the fringes of society. This kind of failure to assistance victims is more than scandalous, this is criminal.

United Nations Organisation: The crown of world’s democracy is the UNO, of course, and its so many children, the Institutions (Sonderorganisationen) of the UNO. Lots of governments were assigned roles and responsibilities for this kind of scenario by the United Nations. Reams of paper were printed and endless treaties signed, none of them honoured. Nobody is held accountable, nothing is open discussed in the media, no investigations were lead no personal and juridical consequences followed the horrific global calamity that cost thousands of citizen lives from 55 countries of the world.

USA: A very special place we reserved for America, the world power and the biggest and proudest democracy of the planets history since Christi was born. What exactly was America’s role in the tsunami calamity? Debate? Public outrage? Accountability? None. We haven’t noticed the slightest hint of curiosity in the press or in the media of this world’s most prominent democracy. How many American victims? Possibly 2,000. There is no official number, no list, nothing. Every time after a madman’s shooting spree, the following day a complete victims’ list with names and photos can be found on the internet, as also after 9/11. But nothing of the sort after the tsunami.

American navy is present all over the Indian Ocean. It keeps a base on Diego Garcia that was warned about the coming tsunami from the Pacific central command of the 7th fleet in Honolulu. The safety of its expensive material alone requires a close surveillance of the ocean. So any suggestion that the US navy wasn’t aware of what afoot is laughable. In any case, this deserves to be investigated.

There were also non-military safeguards that should have made the human disaster impossible. First there was the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) in Hawaii. But the jerks there, incredibly, issued a bulletin: “No tsunami thread exists.” and was waiting then for TV news coming from CNN. Never mind they really meant: No any danger for the Pacific. They were surely taken at their word in countries like Sri Lanka, India and Thailand. For this blunder alone they ought to be in jail now.

Their boss, Adm. Lautenbacher in Washington, wasn’t any more competent. Unless one commends him for skill in obfuscation. He employs hundreds scientists (about 12, 500 employees counts the NOAA’s - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency staff) and disposes of all the fanciest tools anyone could desire. Two weeks after the disaster, during an internet chat called “Asking White House”, he got away with the flimsy excuse his agency didn’t’ yet know how to detect a tsunami on the high seas. As we already said above: They didn’t have to. The area next to the fault, from Simeulue and Northwest Sumatra to North Andaman, was full of hundreds of islands on whose shores the onslaught of the destructive waves could have been studied. Mysteriously and inexplicably, the satellite images of just the critical period have not been available. Why has the footage disappeared and where is it being kept?

The general stonewalling on the part of all American institutions categories is so obvious it lead us to suspect there has been a White House directive to hush matters up. We are quite sure that the chain of command runs to the U.S. president. If this weren’t shameful enough America’s journalists also seem to be toeing the line.

It’s time to remember:

1. After the outbreak of Krakatoa off Sumatra in 1883 and the ensuing destructive transoceanic tsunami killing over 35,000 people, the Royal Society in London published a meticulous and comprehensive investigation though England wasn’t even involved.

2. In 1912 after the sinking of the Titanic, the courts in New York and in London wanted to have 41,000 questions answered.

3. In 1995 after the Kobe quake, the Japanese authorities set up 24 commissions to investigate independently of each other the causes of its own failure.

Why hasn’t anything comparable happened now? Many more points could be brought up, like for example the scandalous misuse of donations. But to finish, let us just ask: Why did it take the countless emergency authorities and organisations of the richer countries days to show up? Their aid was badly needed and highly welcome. Only some of the Scandinavians had discussions and investigations afterwards. Unfortunately these remained skin-deep and looked more like ritualistic exercises to prove how exemplary Scandinavians are. But the rest of the world can not even show something like that.

We detect the same pattern everywhere:

All kinds of laws, of regulations, of international agreements exist but are never respected. All kinds of the latest high-tech gear is bought but not properly used. All types of supposedly well-trained experts, of academically educated staff are hired. (Not to mention all those useless politicians who've sworn an oath on the Bible.) And inordinate amounts of taxpayer's money are wasted. But when it counts nothing functions. This phenomenon has been studied by countless wits, by sociologists and other authorities. Do we therefore have to accept this as inevitable fate? No, under no circumstances! Let's be objective: It does not happen with the same inevitability everywhere and all the time. Everyday there are millions of people in the world who do their work conscientiously and dependably. To paint a different picture would be to paint a caricature. Scandals must be investigated. All the relevant facts and data must be dug up. No cover-ups must be tolerated. Names must be named and culprits must be punished. Sometimes journalists do an excellent job, sometimes parliamentary committees do. At other times it is the courts. In the case of the Indian Ocean tsunami 2004 they have all spectaculary failed. The necessary procedure has to be followed in order to obey our sense of justice and the respect that we owe to the victims. If these lessons are not learnt the next disaster is bound to happen.

The only one strong logical conclusion of all the facts above is:

Democracies of the modern world let people die and keep than silent.

They settled the tsunami victims with their fate without help and alone during and after the calamity. Not only a war crime in Jugoslavia was possible. Not only the big silence in the West after the War II and the crime of Katyn 1940. Both a crime against the humanity and the big silence after that was and is in the Old Europe and in the U.S. still possible. A shame for the Western World, its lacking moral and its poor democracy!

Yours,

Jerzy Chojnowski

Chairman-GTVRG e.V.

www.gtvrg.de

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GERMAN TSUNAMI VICTIMS RESPONSE GROUP
WORKING TO PREVENT MAN-MADE DISASTERS
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