Monsoon
President Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush concluded their
three-day visit to tsunami-ravaged countries with a tour of
devastation in Sri Lanka and Maldives. They believe a total of $11
billion will be needed to complete recontruction throughout the
affected Indian Ocean nations, and about $4-5 billion dollars more
in donations is needed.
The Presidents also noted the damage goes beyond the physical
devastation to homes, buildings and fishing fleets. While visiting a
children's trauma-counseling center in Weligama, Sri Lanka and
viewing drawings by the young survivors, President Clinton said,
"There was a lot of emotional damage here that's not visible to the
eye, and it's most pronounced for these children."
Quest to Restore
Tamil Rights
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Shortly after a tsunami swept through the Indian Ocean last
December, a U.N. official complained that the West was “stingy” with
its relief donations. Stung by this criticism, the Bush administration
increased its financial pledge tenfold overnight—while loudly
asserting that the United States actually led the global pack in
foreign aid. Is the world’s wealthiest country a scrooge or a savior?
It is often promoted as the last paradise on Earth, but the Maldives
and its precious tourism industry were devastated by December's
tsunami. Kirsten Magasdi visited the archipelago for BBC World's
Fast Track programme.
The island nation's economy relies more heavily on tourism than
any other tsunami-affected country.
In 2002, a village in India's Tamil Nadu state planted 80,244
saplings to enter the Guinness World Records book.
Little did they realise at the time that the trees would save their
lives.
When the tsunami roared into the coast of southern India on 26
December many villages and towns were crushed as the giant
waves swept across open beaches.
But the people of Naluvedapathy in Vedaranyam district, south of
the Tamil Nadu's worst affected areas around Nagapattinam,
remained almost unscathed.
Siva Swaminthan
After working in the IT field for 12 years Siva pursued her long time
dream of becoming a chef. In 1998 she completed her culinary
training at George Brown College and volunteered with top chefs in
Ontario. She apprenticed in Germany for two years. Siva is also a
freelance writer who has returned to her home in India to help
where she can and to write on the after effects of the tsunami.
"Woman and children are the real victims of the tsunami," stated a
local Hindu priest.
Natarajan, a priest at a Shiva temple in Nagapattinam (Nagai) has
been witnessing first hand the challenges faced by people affected
by the waves. I asked him why. He answered, "Fishermen are at
least getting compensation or a loan to start again, but there has
been nothing done to address the welfare of women or children."
CADPAT does what it’s supposed to do in the Sri Lankan jungle,
where soldiers are nearly invisible, but it doesn’t work in a
government office. Seated in her combat uniform at a meeting with
civilian peers sporting nose-rings and golf shirts, Captain Sue Seo
really stands out.
As Task Force Engineer with the Disaster Assistance Team
(DART), Capt Seo represents the DART at the regular meetings of
aid organisations to discuss water, sewage and health problems in
the Ampara region. “We basically said, ‘Let’s get together to find
partners, and work together towards a common goal,’” said Capt
Seo.
The recent tsunami has turned about 600 prawn farms in the
southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu into wasteland.
Over the years, prawns from Tamil Nadu have found markets in the
US, Japan and Europe.
Farmers were encouraged by the administration to get into
aqua-culture to increase their earnings from the barren land along
the shore.
Lead Scientists for The
Nature Conservancy. Like
many Sri Lankans, he
uses just one name –
Sanjayan.
His job is to ensure that
The Nature Conservancy
is using the best available
scientific methods in order
to implement its mission.
[Contd.]
Relief efforts have focused on the human tragedy -- but now,
scientists are starting to examine the ecological consequences, and
the role of natural systems in mitigating damage. In a two-part
series of reports for the NPR/National Geographic co-production
Radio Expeditions, Elizabeth Arnold journeys to the island nation of
Sri Lanka with one of the first teams to assess the environmental
aftermath.
Nepal is in turmoil. Bangladesh is mired in violent political feuds.
Pakistan is aloof. What are India's options in this scenario?
When India decided to pull out of the saarc summit early February,
it was sending a signal – and in none too dulcet tones – about its
intent to redefine its role in the region. It was not as if New Delhi
had stopped believing in the common destiny binding South Asia;
rather it was saying that India's neighbours could hope for its
cooperation only on certain conditions. Underlying the message
was the assumption: in an inextricably interconnected South Asia,
cataclysmic changes in one country are bound to have its impact
on India.
Follows Movies, Music
to the U.S. [NPR Audio]
Americans are
encountering Bollywood
style on fashion runways
and in music videos, and
a new Hollywood movie is
trying to introduce
Bollywood to Western
audiences.
While many welcome that
trend, commentator
Sandip Roy, an Indian
immigrant, isn't sure what
to make of the new
Bollywood section at his
local Blockbuster.
India's Bollywood film
industry churns out
hundreds more movies
each year than Hollywood
does. Most films from
Bollywood -- the catch-all
name was originally a mix
of "Bombay" and
"Hollywood" -- are chaste
romances set in exotic
locations and jam-packed
with music and dance
numbers. [Contd.]
Ethiopia was where the 60th birth anniversary of Robert
Nesta Marley, better known as Bob Marley, was celebrated
recently. It was a tribute to a ghetto-bred boy who had stood for
peace, love and justice, and for the struggles of the impoverished
and the powerless, says Shelley Walia.
Shetty Sreenath is a worried man.
A time bomb is ticking in Bangalore, India's hi-tech capital, but most
of its six million inhabitants are largely unaware of the threat.
Home to more than 1,200 foreign and domestic technology firms,
Bangalore figures prominently in the danger list of cities faced with
e-waste hazard.
There are two sounds you cannot escape in Dubai: the call to
prayer ringing out from the city's mosques five times a day and the
24-hour clunking and grinding of construction.
The city is home to some of the most ambitious buildings in the
world: the tallest tower block; the world's first seven-star hotel.
There are even plans to build a ski-slope in the middle of the desert
state.
But there is little glamorous about the building industry itself.
Staffed mainly by South Asian migrant workers, it is a 24-hour
operation, run from specially-built labour camps.
Apparel from a series of Asian countries could be offered a
reduction in EU and US tariffs after the tsunami devastated parts of
Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India, Thailand and Maldives Islands at the
end of last month.
EU could accelerate implementation of its new GSP schemes that
will offer relaxed rules of origin to clothing exporters in a large
number of developing nations. A bill will also be introduced in the
US Congress in early February requesting a duty-free access to
the US market for a series of Asian countries, including Sri Lanka
and Indonesia.
The Washington-based independent research organization, the
Institute for International Economics, says the United States is the
principal beneficiary of what is called globalization, the trade and
investment-driven integration of the world economy.
In a new study institute director Fred Bergsten says the standard of
living of the United States is significantly boosted by globalization.
Globalization, he says, has increased average household incomes
by $9000. Overall, says Mr. Bergsten, globalization raises American
living standards by $1 trillion per year. The benefits come mostly
from lower prices, efficiencies, and technological advances.
NGO's Preventing Ethnic Conflict in Divided SocietiesWhat lessons
can be learned for the future of early warning, early action, and
preventive diplomacy? This volume examines whether those
lessons can be discerned, whether continuing hostilities around the
globe can be held in check, and in particular whether
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) can contribute to peace
through preventive diplomacy.
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