Seldom in history has a tragedy made people learn a new word – the 'tsunami' of 26 December 2004 did just that. It brought mankind face to face with the immense destructive power of nature's wrath. It also brought out what resilience and fortitude can be brought to bear by a handful of dedicated men to rebuild lives and institutions from virtual scratch. Air Cmde Nitin Sathe, a serving IAF officer, has chronicled those horrendous moments and the subsequent difficult days at Air Force Station Car Nicobar in a fascinating book, 'A few good men and the Angry Sea,' due for release on the 10th hard work put in by those people represents the work of countless others who worked tirelessly to bring succor to other parts of coastal India affected by the tsunami.
It was a tranquil start to 26 December 2004 when at 0628 hours the earthquake struck – it lasted six to eight minutes (minutes, not seconds!) and made people lie flat on the ground, for they just couldn't stand. People were bewildered and ventured out to the quickly expanding beach which was revealing corals of hitherto unseen colours. Sathe writes that 'The first giant wave hit the island from the south, approximately 45 minutes after the earthquake. Survivors described it as a huge wall of brown water, about thirty or thirty five feet high and a kilometer and a half wide, travelling at break neck speed. It travelled inland, taking with it all it encountered. Behind
it, a short while later came another giant wave, from the south-east, which tore apart whatever was left standing.' The tragedy was immense. Sathe continues, 'The wail of the grieved ones was strong enough to rip apart the strongest of hearts while the joy of people reuniting with their families was also beyond imagination. The ones who wept did not do so for their homes or belongings; and the ones who rejoiced did so inspite of it. The Air Force Station, despite losing 106 people of its own, rose Pheonix-like to become the centre of the relief efforts. 3,000 people perished in Car Nicobar island itself while the total tally of lives lost in India was almost 20,000.
Overall, almost 230,000 died in the fourteen affected countries, besides the millions who were without shelter for weeks on end.
The world is holding memorial services, events and seminars to commemorate the 10th anniversary of that killer Tsunami; India is debating conversions and speeches of law makers and discussing whether Indian troops who fought and died in World War I were brave sons of India or were just paid mercenaries (as a legal luminary)! But tsunami? What tsunami?
There is a raging on-going controversy about India having forgotten its World War veterans.
Many writers have lamented that our nation did not spare a moment of silence to remember the 74,000 soldiers who died in WW I, while tributes were paid in the West to these very Indians by way of solemn memorial services. The leaders of the world travelled to the beaches of France to remember their dead on the 60th anniversary of the Anniversary of the Normandy landings of WW II and one is sure that a similar remembrance would take place on subsequent milestones.
Sure that a similar remembrance would take place on subsequent milestones. The dead of 9/11 are recalled each year and the new OneWTC represents the resolve of the free world to stand up to tyranny and terrorism.
In life, behind the emotions and memories, there is an intangible called SYMBOLISM that is vital in nation building. It gets a country together and spreads a feeling of oneness. It was not for nothing that the Americans flew their last few space shuttles, piggy backed on Boeing 747s, low over their cities as they retired to museums spread across the US. Everyone in the streets below stopped and clapped for the spirit of their nation as a country that does not remember its pioneers and its dead is doomed to forget itself.
Even now, is it too late to organise a befitting event to remember those 20,000 Indians who died 10 years ago and to acknowledge the work of countless others who worked to bring back normalcy? If constructing multi-crore statues is Ok (as there is symbolism involved), then spending a moment in silence together for those common Indians is certainly in order.
The suffering of Car Nicobar and coastal India deserves to be remembered solemnly this 26 December.
The writer is a retired Air Vice Marshal