Asia Tsunami

Written on: 29 December 2004 Updated on: 29 December 2004

I’m sure that most of you have all been shocked by the recent events that have taken place in Asia as have I. More importantly a close friend of my brother-in-law has allegedly been reported among one of the South African’s dead in the tragic events of the last few days.

The Star newspaper has reported Paul Sender’s death when it has not even been confirmed that his body has been found. The fact that the journalism in this country lacks such ethics is beyond me. Further to this SABC and other newspapers report the same but I fail to see how this remains true if a body has not yet been discovered…….

The other thing that freaks me out no end is the dis-information that we are fed by the media about all the events in Asia. The problem I have is that across three different television networks (BBC, SKY, CNN) we are fed exorbitant numbers of the death toll. Sky News and BBC report over 60000 confirmed dead while CNN remains on 33000. Big difference here??? What are we supposed to believe? I have no doubt that the death toll will reach 60000+ but I struggle to believe the information that is enforced onto us.

The other dis-information I am loving is the fact that if a warning system had been in place thousands of lives would have been saved. What is interesting about this point is that a city like California in the USA, who is often subject to natural disasters like this, have these warning systems in place yet we never hear about people evacuating the city 2 hours before the disaster strikes. Ten out of Ten times the disaster happens and no lives are saved as a result of this warning system.

The fact of the matter remains here that this disaster is one that happens every 700 years so does the area now need a billion dollar warning system after the fact? It’s just too late!

There is also so much sensationalism going around between the three big news networks. What interests me is that there appears to be so much focus on the Foreign travellers in the region and very little coverage of the poor local people and their disaster. How much have you seen about the devastation with local people? Let’s face it, it makes for a better story when you can relate victims from your country than some poor, disadvantaged Sri Lankan’s who have lost everything with little to no hope of ever regaining it again.

We were fed so much bull during 9/11, the War on Iraq and now again with the Tsunami that I am now just bordering on having enough with the media in our world. The problem is we believe what we are fed and I just don’t think we are getting the full picture.

What can we do? Nothing. I just try and take what I think is important and then attempt to disseminate it into truth. It’s a real pity that we are now forced to do this and I think that we are poorer for this.

My heart goes out to all the families, friends and loved ones that had to loose a loved one in this tragedy. It’s at times like these that I come to realise just how powerless and insignificant I really am in the greater scheme of life.