| NEW ZEALAND- December 2004 |
| Claire Rosemary Jane, Children's Author |
| Visit to New Zealand |
| Tsunami New Zealand homepage New Zealand Index page Towns and Cities: Auckland Wellington Christchurch Invercargill Nelson Picton Greymouth Queenstown Napier Gisborne Taupo Rotorua Paihia Specific Excursions: Franz Joseph glacier. Stewart Island Ulva island Southern Alps Tongariro Crossing Cape Reinga Christmas Day in Rotorua Travelling Currency. |
| Just as the tragedy that was the demolition of the Twin Towers in New York on September 11th, 2001 made a big impact upon me, (having been to the top of the South Tower in March 2000), so too has the impact of the incredible loss of life caused by the Asian Tsunami on Boxing Day December 26th, 2004.
This time I did not have first-hand experience on which to reflect, but I did at the time have a connection of a different sort. I do not normally mention members of my own family in my webpages, but those who know me well will know that I have two grown-up sons, both of whom I am intensely proud. And at the time of the Tsunami my elder son was in India. I was still in New Zealand when the Tsunami struck, and every day from the 27th to 31st December I read through the New Zealand Herald, scouring it for every piece of information concerning the Tsunami that they printed within the paper. I knew that my elder son should not be anywhere near the coast for he was staying in Bangalore and its surrounding area, but I could not of course be certain that he had not gone down to the coast as part of his trip with some of his Indian friends. And he himself had no way of contacting me directly in any case at the time. So it was not until 1st January, when by a stroke of amazing coincidence, (some indeed would call it divine guidance or intervention) that again with amazing good fortune, having landed a little late and got off the plane at 5pm, and after an amazingly fast track passage through customs, I managed to catch the earlier 5:40pm coach from London's Heathrow down to Somerset than the one on which I had booked, with barely a minute to spare, on which not only were there spare seats, but also my younger son, who had been up to join in the New Year celebrations in Trafalgar Square with his housemate, and he was immediately able to tell me that he had heard from my elder son. I had had absolutely no idea at all that he would be on this coach, and it was with an enormous sense of relief that that I learnt that my elder son was alive and well. The purpose of this web page is not intended as yet another device for raising money for victims of the Tsunami, people can go to many other places to where they can donate (Our British RadioAid for example on their day dedicated to raising money for the Tsunami on 17th January 2005 has just raised over �3 million, and the figure will rise further), but to draw attention to the fact that for many people, money alone is not going to solve the fact that many people have lost not just one member of, but whole families of loved ones. And only time will heal that ache, and even that may not be enough. And just as the terrible events of September 11th, 2001 affected some 42 nations directly, and the whole world indirectly, so too has the Asian Tsunami. For example here is a list of countries known to have had people die in the Tsunami, and this may by no means end up being the complete list: Andaman, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Burma, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong (China), Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Luxembourg, Macau (China), Malta, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Manamar, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Nicobar, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Seychelles, Singapore, Somalia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, Thailand, Taiwan, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Yemen. That list alone amounts to some 62 nations, scattered over virtually the whole of the globe. The death toll will in all probability end up being considered to be somewhere around 320,000 people, considerably and significantly a greater number than all of the people killed by terrorism, all of the people killed by the Americans in Afghanistan, and all of the people killed in Iraq by the combined forces of the so called peacekeeping mission, in the last 50 or so years. It is as if someone, somewhere, by whatever name you choose to call that power, is saying to us all "You may all think you are all powerful, but you are as ants in the scheme of things." Perhaps this may just put into perspective some of the futile and pointless attempts by certain governments, (and I include both the British and especially the American Governments amongst the most guilty) who are using force against other smaller and less wealthy nations using this so-called notion of peacekeeping or "war on terror" as an excuse to invade these smaller countries on false pretexts, and I suspect with ulterior motives such as helping themselves to fuel reserves that some of these particular countries may have. I think that one needs to ask the question "Who in fact is the greater terrorist?" the people who are rightly or wrongly blamed for the acts of terrorism or the people who themselves go in uninvited and punish often totally innocent people? |
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| The Asian Tsunami, A comment. |
| My main website is at http://clairerosemaryjane.co.uk |