Tsunami reporting guidelines

These are reporting guidelines but are also guidelines for how to interpret all the news that you may be seeing and reading about the tsunami

The following draft guidelines have been provided to the Psychosocial Support Programme of the IWTHI Trust (Tel: +94 11 4516408/ + 94 11 4515279; Email: pspcp@eol.lk/ pspdat@eol.lk). [from the Tsunamihelpsrilanka blog]

• Remember that the disaster is a national issue – so that partisan or other vested interests must not be considered in reporting and/or commentary…
  
  
• Remember that the disaster is regional in scope – so that the relief, reconstruction and rehabilitation work must be placed in context when reporting and/or commenting…
  
  
• Remember that the disaster is international in the attention it has and will receive – so that reporting and/or commenting will reflect the state of the nation, affect its national developmental agenda, and impact the responses of the global community in crucial matters of aid and relief…
  
  
• Report and/or comment responsibly, reasonably and fairly – keeping in mind not to sensationalise, speculate or generalise…
  
  
• Report and/or comment equitably – keeping in mind that the people affected are from all races, religions, communities and geographical areas…
  
  
• Report and/or comment accurately yet positively – keeping in mind the critical and crucial role that the media can play in the national effort to restore, reconstruct and rehabilitate Sri Lanka…
  
  
• Report and/or comment sensitively – keeping in mind that lives have been lost, livelihoods irreparably damaged, property irrevocably lost and future prospects inestimably compromised…
  
  
• Reporting and/or comment with an emphasis of expectation that normal recovery will eventually take place for communities that have been affected – keeping in mind that emphasising losses will increase the sense of hopelessness and despair that people feel…
  
  
• Report and/or comment in ways that are reassuring and empathic about people and their current situations – keeping in mind that people are normally expected to exhibit stress reactions at this time; as also that being confused, sad and anxious are natural signs of shock and stress… as are crying, screaming or anger; and also that these are not signs of psychiatric impact or trauma…
  
  
• Report and/or comment humanely – keeping in mind that people in these circumstances may still retain a sense of hope and humour, and may be active in reorganising their lives; as also that it is not a sign of ignorance or indifference if people who are affected smile or appreciate what they do have left…
  
  
• Report and/or comment while being mindful of human dignity – while remaining sensitive and aware of the repercussions of depicting mutilated and decomposed bodies, as family members of the deceased who may view these in the media could be further distressed…
  
  
• Resolve to be sensitive in interviewing people – keeping in mind not to ask them unnecessary personal questions, or force them to talk; as also allowing them to share what they would like to, even if it doesn’t make ‘good copy’…

The morbid dilemma

"...WHO's David Nabarro told CNN that survivors are at risk for diarrhea, respiratory infections and insect-borne diseases that could result in "quite high rates of death" but quickly added that the living are in more danger from other survivors than from the dead.
"The fundamental need at the moment is to look after the well-being of living people and to make sure that they have what they need for life," he said. "And the requirement to properly dispose of dead people through burial or some other method in a way that is appropriate for the local tradition is certainly there. But it's not urgent from the point of view of public health."

This is an important issue that came up even in Haiti when Hurricane Jeanne wreaked havoc leaving an estimated 1250 people dead. There was extreme concern that the situation could lead to an epidemic outbreak. And it is here that a morbid schism seemed to present itself. Officials in Haiti, including the president and the local UN officials believe that the large number of rotting corpses were the central danger and there was extreme haste to have mass burials of these bodies. But a WHO spokesperson in Geneva had criticised this as being a misled allocation of resources for the same reasons -- namely the misconception that undisposed corpses presented the most immediate public health hazard.

References:

1. Morgan O. Infectious disease risks from dead bodies following natural disasters. Rev Panam Salud Publica. 2004;15(5):307–12.
   
2. WHO warns against health misconceptions in the wake of Turkish earthquake

A generation suddenly depleted

"In country after country, children have emerged as the biggest victims of Sunday's quake-born tidal waves — thousands and thousands drowned, battered and washed away by huge walls of water that have decimated an entire generation of Asians.

"The power of this earthquake, and its huge geographical reach, are just staggering," said UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy. Hundreds of thousands of children who managed to survive in the affected coastal communities now "may be in serious jeopardy," she added.

The U.N. organization estimates at least one-third of the tens of thousands who died were children, and the proportion could be up to half, said UNICEF spokesman Alfred Ironside in New York. He said communities are suffering a double loss: dead children and orphaned boys and girls. "Our major concern is that the kids who survived the tsunami now survive the aftermath. Because children are the most vulnerable to disease and lack of proper nutrition and water." ..."

[Generation of Asians Lost in Disaster (Associated Press)]

A dark day

These are kids I met on a beach in Chennai who were from a fishing hamlet closeby. I fear greatly for what may have become of them in this disastrous tsunami.

5ed5, originally uploaded by linear_thoughts.

---

Also from the same hamlet :(

Tsunami-5, originally uploaded by linear_thoughts.

---

This was a fisherman whom I had chatted with and his daughter at a small hamlet near Pondicherry, another place that took the brunt of the tsunami.

Tsunami-3, originally uploaded by linear_thoughts.

Recent films

Saw these two films, both centered around sex but in vastly different ways. Both are way above your average film in every way and their low-level topical messages are skillfully conveyed. Yet that alone isnt enough. In the company of films in this above-average calibre both seemed (atleast to me) to lack that je ne sais quoi gut-level oomph that separates the good from the amazing. I'm going to leave it at that.

Kinsey (2004)

La mala educación (Bad education) (2004)

Rambler #134

:( A sadly accurate description of my years of graduate research:

"...He to whom many objects of pursuit arise at the same time, will frequently hesitate between different desires till a rival has precluded him, or change his course as new attractions prevail, and harass himself without advancing. He who sees different ways to the same end, will, unless he watches carefully over his own conduct, lay out too much of his attention upon the comparison of probabilities and the adjustment of expedients, and pause in the choice of his road, till some accident intercepts his journey. He whose penetration extends to remote consequences, and who, whenever he applies his attention to any design, discovers new prospects of advantage and possibilities of improvement, will not easily be persuaded that his project is ripe for execution; but will superadd one contrivance to another, endeavour to unite various purposes in one operation, multiply complications, and refine niceties, till he is entangled in his own scheme, and bewildered in the perplexity of various intentions. [...] He will attempt a treatise on some important subject, and amass materials, consult authors, and study all the dependent and collateral parts of learning, but never conclude himself qualified to write. He that has abilities to conceive perfection will not easily be content without it; and, since perfection cannot be reached, will lose the opportunity of doing well in the vain hope of unattainable excellence." -- Johnson: Rambler #134 (June 29, 1751)

The Amazings

:) Yes, that's what The Incredibles(2004) are. I saw it last night and it was thoroughly enjoyable. The movie felt like a Simpsons-episode on steroids. The correspondence between the two families and the setting is absolutely uncanny.

The "social statement" that the film makes is highly deceptive. On the face of it, the statement is about mediocrity and how such an incredible family has to act normal and mediocre to fit in. This is the low-fat, vanilla, feel-good statement that everybody wants to hear about how "society" does not allow them "to be who they really are". But, the film is way smarter than that, because this very message is also thoroughly mocked taking the form of the characters Buddy and the baby Jack Jack.

Buddy is not a superhuman by birth, but wants to be one. His way of overcoming this congenital fact of having been born "normal", is to use invention, ingenuity and prosthetics to be able to do what a "superhuman" does. His source of acute chagrin is that his ability to do things that superhumans do is still not accepted because he wasnt born as a superhuman. Well, this is not an acceptable result so he proceeds to change the world...with the ultimate vision that every normal person could have access to these prosthetics so that nobody could claim to be more super than anybody else. While mediocrity is frowned on and everybody (i.e. the mediocre) loves somebody who is outstanding, the character Buddy mocks the mediocre for being satisfied with their mediocrity and stands out as the rare person who expresses open rebellion against the membership of the elite club of superheros being decided on by birthright rather than capability.

Jack Jack again is the only "normal" (well atleast for most of the movie) human in the Incredibles family. While all the others are having difficulties dealing with having to act dumb in order to fit in, clearly Jack Jack would not. I shudder to imagine what a tortured and conflicted life it would be for him to grow up in this family, which is also evident in the movie, where the Incredibles treat him as not really being one of them. Guess that's why he's conveniently a baby who is oblivious to all these undercurrents.

Both of these characters significantly tie in with the earlier discussion about the film Gattaca and my belief that as a society we havent yet found a way to dealing with inter-human differences in a satisfactory way, and due to the deep conflicts in values involved, I don't see this being resolved anytime soon.

A book

Recently finished reading the book: "Women, Population and Global Crisis : A Political-Economic Analysis" by Asoka Bandarage -- a really interesting book. There is more to be said about this book particularly in light of issues that I've talked about elsewhere in this blog, much more to be said....

Signs of life

I am still here but have been caught up in a flurry of work to write about all the interesting things that have been happening or even follow up on the excellent comments to my previous post (which I will very shortly). I've seen a few films in the interim though...

• Alfie(2004): This is the somewhat new Jude Law movie, which I ended up seeing as the tickets for The Incredibles were sold out. It is a completely predictable moral tale of a callous hedonist who goes from woman to woman craving the next easy pleasure, to be eventually dealt with the ultimate retribution of all -- loneliness. But unlike other films where the character is overtly nasty (i.e. cruel to children, old people and small animals), Alfie isnt such a "bad" guy per se and there is something tragic about how his world progressively comes apart capped off with the final scene when he happens to meet one his many women on a cold, winter night. :) Maybe I'm just not sufficiently cynical about Hollywood films, but despite the terrible reviews it has received, I thought the film was...was...was....kinda nice.

  ---

  
  
  
• Trading women(2003) [Directed and written by David A. Feingold]: This is a documentary investigating the socio-economic drivers of the trafficking of women in Thailand. Being a layperson, watching this film was highly informative and being from India, where similar kind of trafficking is rampant, I could closely associate with many of the issues brought up by the film.
  
  Synopsis: "A clear and consistent message of the film is that trafficking is not a localized problem. The international crime of trafficking is susceptible to a complex range of influencing factors, which include the economies of supply countries and their neighbours, government anti-drugs initiatives affecting agricultural communities, sexual demand for particular ethnic types, the legal status of communities, restrictive immigration policies, official corruption and cultural stereotypes." [Pile Them High, Sell Them Cheap: Women and Sex for Sale, United Nations Chronicle][also read an interview with the film-maker]
  
  A quote from the filmaker David Feingold: "Trafficking conferences, conventions and government statements of goodwill are not enough. It is time we stopped simply presenting horror stories of individual women, and looked at the root causes. It is time we stopped feeling good about feeling bad.".
  
  NOTE: Though the content of the film strongly spoke for itself, in general it didnt seem particularly well edited and seem to indulge in a fair bit of "hand waving" while trying to make certain points. I'm just nitpicking

  ---

  
  
  
  
  
• Summer Interlude(1951): Bergman, Bergman, Bergman -- sigh -- what more can I say, he never disappoints. The Seventh Seal is the film that turned on the light in my head one cold January evening in 2000 and ever since then watching a film (any film) began to mean something very different.

  ---