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| Sunday, 25 May 2003 |
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Editor, Sunday Observer. E-mail: [email protected] Snail mail : Sunday Observer, 35, D.R.Wijewardana Mawatha, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Telephone : 94 1 429239 / 331181 Fax : 94 1 429230 Alight The floods have come and will shortly recede. But their impact on Sri Lankan society is the most tragic in decades. This latest natural disaster, though, has also set alight the spirit of human, social and political solidarity at a moment when all Sri Lankans had begun to despair over our continuing failure to come together. Given the ease and sheer volume of mass media communications today, the public response to major natural disasters seems greater than ever before. It is perhaps not since the days of the 1930s "Soorya Mal" campaign that there has been such a great public response to a natural disasater. While the Government has to play a major role in the implementation of a disaster response, there have now emerged many new non-governmental responses. Much of it has largely been driven by the mass media, and even if a contest for audience and market share is part of the motive, in an emergency situation such as this, who would complain? The raging floods and landslides that have swept large parts of the South of the country these past weeks, have prompted whole communities to forget their differences, hostilities and suspicions in initiatives to help each other in order to survive the natural calamity. Today, we see the Prime Minister inviting the President to head the national disaster relief effort, a heartening aftermath to the recent political confrontation over a single, minor governmental institution. In this moment of calamity, the people do not expect anything less than the fullest, most enthusiastic co-operation among political leaders. Today, we see foreign governments, who are already helping in the peace process and the efforts to fully re-integrate the North-East with the rest of the country, coming swiftly to the aid of the scores of thousands of people imperilled by natural disaster in the South. India, our great neighbour and the home of the origins of our civilisation, was the first with substantive aid, with Indian personnel today risking their own lives alongside their Sri Lankan counterparts in the massive emergency rescue and relief effort. The Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister here to deal with political issues pertaining to the North, did not hesitate to rush South together with the Prime Minister to assess the situation and hear the lament of the storm-affected. Even more heartening has been the historic initiative of the political leadership of the North-East; those who, at one-time, only sought to break away from the larger Sri Lankan nation, now, in a gesture of national unity, coming to the aid of their fellow Sri Lankans in the South. If Sri Lankans in recent years have trekked North to hear the protestations of Northerners over ethnic oppression and to express solidarity with the North-Eastern community as it suffered from political turmoil, now we see Sri Lankans journeying South to express solidarity with Southerners in their moment of suffering. This moment of adversity has become a moment in history in which Sri Lankans have come together: a fitting aftermath to the holy week of Vesak and Milad-un-Nabi. With the world watching and helping out, can this moment become at least the beginning of a new phase in the life of our island community? |
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