Crying over spilt milk
June 15, 2013, 6:48 pmAlthough only a few days have passed since gale force winds lashed the western coast, taking the lives of at least 50 fishermen out at sea, the tragedy is already receding in the public mind. We Lankans, as we are often told, have notoriously short memories. Although our hearts melt at news of tragedy, we are quick to forget travails of other people as the business of daily living and priorities in our own lives take precedence. This is very much a part of human nature and Lankans are neither better nor worse with regard to such matters than humanity in general. Nevertheless, there is no escaping the reality that we must not allow the weather related calamity that took the worst toll since the tsunami on Boxing Day 2004 to be consigned to the limbo of forgotten things without taking whatever preventive action is possible for the future.
We have already indulged in a blame game with the Department of Meteorology being quickly targeted for not issuing a timely bad weather warning. The department, in defensive mode, said that it had issued a general warning and, perhaps gratuitously, that in the monsoon period fishermen should be careful about putting out to sea. That, of course, is very much like the man who fell off the tree being gored by the bull as the hoary Sinhala idiom has it. No one more than those who eke out a living from the sea know better that putting out to sea during periods of bad weather is dangerous. But people do take risks, hoping that the gods will be kind, or have little option about foregoing a day’s income when they have families to support and home fires to keep alight. In recent years, especially post-tsunami, Sri Lanka has benefited enormously from high-tech bad weather warning systems set up by the United States and Japan, particularly. Whether out Met Department did receive such timely warnings or not requires careful investigation. The fact is while there was some kind of general alert from the department, it appears that fishermen were not specifically warned against putting out to sea. While it is easy to be wise after the event, if the necessary information was in fact available in time, the authorities cannot evade the responsibility for not having disseminated it.
Even many years ago when the Met Department had only basic equipment, it used to effectively use the radio to warn fishermen of impending bad weather. Today most Lankans including fishermen have television receivers in their homes and provided the information was relayed to the stations, the message would have been widely beamed. Opposition politicians trying to get mileage for themselves by attending funerals of those who lost their lives in the storm would surely look pathetic in the eyes of reasonable people; but even more pathetic was the attack on Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and his colleagues after they had visited the funeral houses. These were obviously not spontaneous attacks by enraged fishermen resentful about blatant vote trawling. If that was so, they would have got a torrid reception when they visited the homes of the bereaved families. Clearly it was organized and it is the business of the police to arrest the stone throwers and other violent elements; more so it is the responsibility of the president and the government to identify the politicians behind such incidents and put them right.
As is the custom, a three-member committee of inquiry has been set up to determine what went wrong and hopefully do what is necessary to set things right. Obviously Sri Lanka lacks the resources to equip herself with the most sophisticated weather prediction systems and equipment. But given the development of information technology and the speed at which such information can be conveyed to countries at risk, this is no great disability. A major problem that has long confronted this country is that very often various government and other agencies are lax about ensuring that routine information gathering that must necessarily be done on a daily basis is left undone. Alternatively, when data is collected, analysis and interpretation of such information is not taken seriously. These are all matters that must rate the highest priority. There is no use in offering excuses like cadre positions not being filled, equipment that have broken down left unattended because of non-availability of funds to repair or replace them and the myriad of other excuses on offer when something goes wrong. There is no use crying over spilt milk. At least now, when the fishing community has paid a heavy price for the lack of an early bad weather warning system, it is essential that the concerned authorities put their house in order.
Fishermen themselves must also do what they can for their own safety. Wearing life vests while at sea or at least carrying them in their boats for use during bad weather is a must. We have talked about insuring our fishermen and their craft for a very long time. Nothing very much has happened in this regard. Insurance does not come cheap and given what ordinary fishermen earn, most of them will not be able to afford the premia. No doubt the more expensive fishing boats like multi-day trawlers funded by banks are insured with the lenders making sure that their money is safe given some calamity. But which fisherman going out to sea in a catamaran is likely to carry insurance?
Some modest compensation is being paid to the families of those lost in the recent tragedy. But Rs. 100,000 for the loss of a breadwinner is obviously small beer. The Fisheries Ministry is also on record saying that lost fishing craft will be replaced. While the fishermen will no doubt welcome whatever assistance they are offered, what is most urgent is to make sure that an efficient early warning system is in place and basic safety measures like equipping fishing vessels with lifebelts and life vests are ensured. Ministers promising to resign ``if I am in any way responsible’’ is laughable. The people know too well that ministers do not resign in this country taking responsibility for acts of omission or commission. They are past masters at passing the buck and holding everybody but themselves responsible when anything goes wrong.