Proximity and tragedy
Proximity and tragedy
Updated 11:52pm (Mla time) Dec 27, 2004
By Rina Jimenez-David
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A11 of the December 28, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
JUST when we thought 2004 and the string of disasters and tragedies the year brought us were drawing to a close, it turns out the year had yet another nasty surprise for us.
The morning after Christmas Day, news reports told us about an earthquake that had hit in "Southeast Asia," provoking nothing stronger than curiosity because we hadn't felt so much as a stir when the tremor supposedly hit. Later in the day, the news turned grimmer, as reports of the earthquake causing tsunamis that engulfed coastlines through Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, India and as far as the Maldives brought us images of ruined villages and rampaging floodwaters. As the night wore on, news anchors of both BBC and CNN tried valiantly to keep their frustration in check as downed communication lines prevented their reporters from fleshing out their sketchy reports. Still, the facts that emerged from the confusion and the daze of the disaster were heartbreaking enough. As midnight approached, the death toll stood at an astounding 7,000.
But the news would turn decidedly dark by the next morning. We woke up to even more dramatic footage of the affected areas, and to the ghastly fact that the death toll had more than doubled overnight, reaching, by most counts, a gut-wrenching 14,000.
Fourteen thousand! The figure boggles the mind and cramps the imagination. How does one measure such grief? And how can families and communities, villages, towns, entire provinces and countries cope with such massive loss of life?
The story even had a global dimension. Tragically, the Christmas season, which coincides with winter in temperate climes, brings hundreds, if not thousands, of foreign tourists to Asian beach resorts. Phuket in Thailand is a particularly popular destination, and it was here where hundreds of tourists, who expected nothing more terrible than a sunburn and several days' worth of hangovers from their holidays, ended up dead, missing, injured and for those lucky enough to survive without too much bodily harm, traumatized and bringing home nasty memories.
* * *
JUST when I thought the earthquake and tsunami would just remain a story, far removed from any personal connection, a friend sends a text message asking for prayers for a business acquaintance who had gone to Phuket for the Christmas holidays and ended up with his three sons missing, though he, his wife and daughter survived unharmed. The story has suddenly become personal, though twice removed.
"Proximity" is one of the elements of news, and when I'm giving a talk on news writing, I often use the example of a bus filled with passengers that falls off a cliff. If the accident happens in another country, I say, we may feel fleeting sympathy but unless there's a Filipino aboard the bus, we quickly move on to the next story. Should the accident occur in the Philippines, but in a province hundreds of kilometers away, we feel a twinge of concern, these are countryfolk who died in the mishap, after all, and someone we know may have been involved, but the chances of that happening are slim. But if the bus was on its way to our hometown, and the tragedy took place just outside the town limits, we would certainly be alarmed and may even rush out to visit the site. It's almost certain, after all, that someone we know was in that bus.
But there's another way in which "proximity" works. I was in Morocco, almost 24 hours away by plane from the Philippines, when typhoons "Winnie" and "Yoyong" hit. When CNN first broadcast the news, I was worried and concerned, but after calling home and being assured my family was fine, the worry quickly receded. When fellow travelers condoled with me on the mounting death toll, I thanked them and said flooding and mudslides had escalated typhoon damage ever since deforestation became a major problem.
Only when I got back and saw for myself photos and TV footage of the devastation in Aurora and Quezon did I begin to appreciate the extent of the suffering our countryfolk had gone through. And only after reading accounts of survivors did I realize the depth of suffering and sorrow visited upon them. Distance does have a way of dulling the pain.
* * *
SO WILL "proximity," or the lack of it, affect the way we react and respond to the large swathe of devastation created by the tsunamis of the day after Christmas. I would guess this disaster would elicit more sympathy from Filipinos than, say, the earthquake that destroyed the ancient Iranian city of Bam about a year ago. After all, there but for the grace of the land masses of the Indonesian islands, the deadly tsunami could very well have washed up on our shores, too.
It would be easy to turn away from the extraordinary tragedy that visited our neighbors. After all, we can always say that we are ourselves just recovering from our own string of natural disasters that has in fact taxed our capability to respond to the needs of our unfortunate brothers and sisters.
But I do hope we Filipinos, or perhaps our government, can respond in some way to the crying need of the countries and people swamped by the tsunamis that rippled across the Indian Ocean. However token, our response could symbolize our solidarity with all suffering peoples who share this corner of the globe and a common experience with poverty, with whom we share, in fact, a shared lot as countries on the rim of the "ring of fire," all equally vulnerable to earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions.
It shouldn't take much to make us realize that we are safe, for now, only by the grace of a benevolent God, and that the proper way of showing gratitude for being spared is to feel for those who have not been so lucky.
Updated 11:52pm (Mla time) Dec 27, 2004
By Rina Jimenez-David
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A11 of the December 28, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
JUST when we thought 2004 and the string of disasters and tragedies the year brought us were drawing to a close, it turns out the year had yet another nasty surprise for us.
The morning after Christmas Day, news reports told us about an earthquake that had hit in "Southeast Asia," provoking nothing stronger than curiosity because we hadn't felt so much as a stir when the tremor supposedly hit. Later in the day, the news turned grimmer, as reports of the earthquake causing tsunamis that engulfed coastlines through Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, India and as far as the Maldives brought us images of ruined villages and rampaging floodwaters. As the night wore on, news anchors of both BBC and CNN tried valiantly to keep their frustration in check as downed communication lines prevented their reporters from fleshing out their sketchy reports. Still, the facts that emerged from the confusion and the daze of the disaster were heartbreaking enough. As midnight approached, the death toll stood at an astounding 7,000.
But the news would turn decidedly dark by the next morning. We woke up to even more dramatic footage of the affected areas, and to the ghastly fact that the death toll had more than doubled overnight, reaching, by most counts, a gut-wrenching 14,000.
Fourteen thousand! The figure boggles the mind and cramps the imagination. How does one measure such grief? And how can families and communities, villages, towns, entire provinces and countries cope with such massive loss of life?
The story even had a global dimension. Tragically, the Christmas season, which coincides with winter in temperate climes, brings hundreds, if not thousands, of foreign tourists to Asian beach resorts. Phuket in Thailand is a particularly popular destination, and it was here where hundreds of tourists, who expected nothing more terrible than a sunburn and several days' worth of hangovers from their holidays, ended up dead, missing, injured and for those lucky enough to survive without too much bodily harm, traumatized and bringing home nasty memories.
* * *
JUST when I thought the earthquake and tsunami would just remain a story, far removed from any personal connection, a friend sends a text message asking for prayers for a business acquaintance who had gone to Phuket for the Christmas holidays and ended up with his three sons missing, though he, his wife and daughter survived unharmed. The story has suddenly become personal, though twice removed.
"Proximity" is one of the elements of news, and when I'm giving a talk on news writing, I often use the example of a bus filled with passengers that falls off a cliff. If the accident happens in another country, I say, we may feel fleeting sympathy but unless there's a Filipino aboard the bus, we quickly move on to the next story. Should the accident occur in the Philippines, but in a province hundreds of kilometers away, we feel a twinge of concern, these are countryfolk who died in the mishap, after all, and someone we know may have been involved, but the chances of that happening are slim. But if the bus was on its way to our hometown, and the tragedy took place just outside the town limits, we would certainly be alarmed and may even rush out to visit the site. It's almost certain, after all, that someone we know was in that bus.
But there's another way in which "proximity" works. I was in Morocco, almost 24 hours away by plane from the Philippines, when typhoons "Winnie" and "Yoyong" hit. When CNN first broadcast the news, I was worried and concerned, but after calling home and being assured my family was fine, the worry quickly receded. When fellow travelers condoled with me on the mounting death toll, I thanked them and said flooding and mudslides had escalated typhoon damage ever since deforestation became a major problem.
Only when I got back and saw for myself photos and TV footage of the devastation in Aurora and Quezon did I begin to appreciate the extent of the suffering our countryfolk had gone through. And only after reading accounts of survivors did I realize the depth of suffering and sorrow visited upon them. Distance does have a way of dulling the pain.
* * *
SO WILL "proximity," or the lack of it, affect the way we react and respond to the large swathe of devastation created by the tsunamis of the day after Christmas. I would guess this disaster would elicit more sympathy from Filipinos than, say, the earthquake that destroyed the ancient Iranian city of Bam about a year ago. After all, there but for the grace of the land masses of the Indonesian islands, the deadly tsunami could very well have washed up on our shores, too.
It would be easy to turn away from the extraordinary tragedy that visited our neighbors. After all, we can always say that we are ourselves just recovering from our own string of natural disasters that has in fact taxed our capability to respond to the needs of our unfortunate brothers and sisters.
But I do hope we Filipinos, or perhaps our government, can respond in some way to the crying need of the countries and people swamped by the tsunamis that rippled across the Indian Ocean. However token, our response could symbolize our solidarity with all suffering peoples who share this corner of the globe and a common experience with poverty, with whom we share, in fact, a shared lot as countries on the rim of the "ring of fire," all equally vulnerable to earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions.
It shouldn't take much to make us realize that we are safe, for now, only by the grace of a benevolent God, and that the proper way of showing gratitude for being spared is to feel for those who have not been so lucky.
posted by Dante at 10:55 PM
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