Tunnel vision as policy

Did I mention - 'Biting criticism' ?

Tunnel vision as policy

Moral of the tsunami story: self-reliance can be the perfect recipe for self-destruction

Wiser in hindsight as always, India is now considering measures to protect itself against the kind of natural disaster that rocked the nation on Sunday. The tsunami brought with it the realisation that it does not pay to be isolated from scientific collaboration on an international scale, given the indubitable fact that had we been linked to systems like the Pacific Tsunami Warning System, we may have been able to save thousands of lives. Escaping a tsunami is, after all, a fairly simple exercise which involves running away for a kilometre or so from the shoreline when it hits. Therefore monitoring its progress and warning vulnerable communities becomes absolutely crucial.

But for this to happen India needs, first of all, to discard one of its most valued mantras which has become a national ideology: self-reliance. Self-reliance can sometimes be the perfect recipe for self-destruction, as the recent tragedy demonstrated. We are justifiably proud of our pool of scientific talent but if it should result in a fortress mentality, or cause us to reject the option of benefitting from enormous advances in the technology and methods of weather prediction, it does not help us. Tunnel vision cannot be policy, especially in an area like weather forecasting, where developments taking place hundreds of kilometres away crucially impinge on national welfare and well-being. At least twice in the last two decades, India has been the victim of its own ignorance. In 1987, we were clueless about the El Nino phenomenon and paid a heavy price because we were unprepared for the unprecedented drought that descended upon us. While the US had intimation of a major El Nino visitation at least six months in advance, we were left staring blankly at the cruel blue skies which signified a failed monsoon. On Sunday, we had to learn that lesson all over again.

It is time, then, to seriously consider a tsunami alert system for the Indian Ocean that is linked with the one that is already in operation for the Pacific Ocean. Such systems read and put out relevant data which monitors around the world — from undersea gauges to satellite transmitters — pick up. Indeed the tragedy behind the present tragedy, as this newspaper has reported, was that 26 countries were alerted within 15 minutes of Sunday’s disturbances on the Pacific Ocean floor but India was not on that list. In our moment of grief and shock, let us seize the moment and work towards instituting such a monitoring system which will help not just India but all the nations in the region.