CALCUTTA, 12 January 2005 — Mahasweta Devi, one of India’s most respected social workers and prominent writer, has urged New Delhi “to put aside its pride and accept international help if thousands of more lives are not to be lost.” Without mincing her words, the 78-year-old activist who has won India’s highest literary honor, Jnanpith, as well as the Magsaysay Award — Asia’s equivalent of the Nobel Prize — said yesterday: “The Indian government does not have the resources to deal with the crisis (caused by tsunami)”.
She added: “The experience of previous disasters generates little confidence that our administrators have the organizational and logistical capacity to discharge the enormous responsibilities they have assumed.”
Vehemently criticizing New Delhi’s stand that foreigners cannot be allowed into Andamans for defense reasons, Mahasweta remarked: “What is the point of defense if not to protect citizens? What security concerns can possibly outweigh the need to save the lives of thousands?”
Her stern warning coincided with India’s announcement yesterday of another 114 people dead in the tsunami tragedy, lifting the confirmed death toll to 10,136 with 5,630 still missing and feared dead.
Most of the new figures concerned the remote Andaman and Nicobar Islands where the toll rose to 1,310 dead with 5,544 missing, the Home Ministry said. Katchal Island alone accounts for 4,354 of the missing — or more than half the population of 8,000. Some 303 people died on Katchal when the waves smashed in on Dec. 26. On the mainland, at least 8,826 people died.
According to Mahasweta, “The decision of the Indian government not to accept foreign aid is questionable. International aid agencies are already ministering to survivors in Sumatra and Thailand and even in Aceh, where the situation is gradually coming under control. A US desalination ship is providing clean water in the Maldives; such a ship could be saving lives in the Nicobars.
“Materials and experts are flying daily from Thailand onto a US aircraft carrier off Sumatra for the relief effort onshore. From Thailand, it would have taken no more than a few hours for international aid agencies, which are experienced in dealing with disasters, to airdrop supplies to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and send medical help and experts for cleaning up the islands and making them habitable again.”
