While raging is possible against man-made tragedies, one feels almost helpless in the face of calamities like the one that occured on December 26. Devastating coastal areas across south and south east Asia, the quake, possibly the fifth largest ever, and the resultant tsunamis have changed the lives for many forever.
While Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand have experienced tsunamis earlier, it was a novelty for south Asia. And it caught us unawares, unprepared for a tragedy of this magnitude.
In India, it was the coastal districts of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh and the Nicobar Islands that bore the worst brunt, though Kerala, Orissa and West Bengal too had loses of lives and resources.
But it is in the micro stories that the real magnitude of the horror reveals itself - entire boats of fisherfolk wiped out, leaving grieving familes united by this common tragedy, devotees swept away while praying, tourist trapped in their rooms, even morning walkers claimed as fooder by the massive waves. And without warning, thousands across these regions have had had lives changed forever.
- Suman Tarafdar