John Jordan is a freelance writer from Chatham and co-owns a Bed and Breakfast at the family farm.	Sobering Thoughts On A Disaster

 

Boxing Day, 2004.. .the day the earth shook. The day an earthquake so powerful struck in the middle of the Indian Ocean, not even Mr. Richter could have comprehended the power of it all. The 60 metre shift in the ocean floor was so huge, it made the fabled San Andreas Fault look like a crack in the soil of a south Kent clay farm in the middle of summer. With no way to tell the residents and tourists along the ocean fronts of a dozen countries, tens of thousands of lives were lost.

Now that the dust has settled and the ocean has gone back from where it came from, we have the biggest mess to clean up. I am using the collective "we" in this case. People from around the world are jumping to the need. Sometimes, faster than governments can respond.

Would you look at this! Who can give the most to the poor victims of the Tsunami in South Asia? Canada is now in fifth place with countries trying to outdo each other in donations. I'm just watching this as spectator sport and wondering why. Not because the victims don't need it, they certainly do need this helping hand. But I am looking how this money started coming in the first place.

This Asian Tsunami is the most spectacular show Mother Nature has given to us since Mount Pinatubo gave us the year without a summer in 1991. Couple this natural phenomenon with the fact that everyone and his brother, it seemed, had a video camera. Now this is what is called a media event! Many of these cameras were just capturing some home video at the time but because of this, we have the most visually captured natural event ever. Now, take those horrific images of the wrath of nature consuming thousands of locals and tourists and put them on television, night after night. It doesn't hurt that the networks send their key correspondents to the hotspots to do reports on the plight of these people either.

Instead of a paltry few million our Prime Minister was first prepared to spend, guilt and good old Canadian will took over and the money from all sources started to pour in. I say guilt because I am sure that is one of the motivators that causes us all to dig deep. In fairness, most of us have an innate spirit that rises up when a helping hand is needed. No matter, the proof was in the pudding. Money, supplies, personnel, equipment, you name it, have come from all quarters of this country to help these Asian countries.

The more images shown on the news, the more help comes their way.

So as we get settled in this New Year, we see more money leaving this country to another part of the world than has ever been raised before. So much so that other charitable agencies such as United Way must be feeling the pinch. Money that normally would stay at home is now going to places some of us have never heard of. Deserving? You bet, but the point from this curmudgeon's view on the verandah is that charity begins at home.

The amount of work to put these washed-out communities back on the map will be ongoing for five years, I bet. Meantime, we are going to see numerous reactions to the effects of the big waves. Water wells have been contaminated, roads and railroads have been washed out to sea - so much destruction of infrastructure that these countries will be economically set back for years. That's why one of the key elements our government is contributing is by way of a debt moratorium until they can get back on their feet.

It's clear, there is a need for this support. But if charity begins at home, what should we do? Back to what I described earlier: those images of destruction and need that are shown each day in the media. Perhaps some of our local charities need to take a page from this moment in time and see if something can't be done to show the public what is needed right here at home.