Tag: earthquake

Categories
Conflict & disaster

[2997] The broken city walls of Mandalay

All countries are beautiful in their own way and Myanmar is a beautiful country indeed.

When the country just emerged out of its isolationist cocoon and optimism was sweeping through its population in the early 2010s, I had the opportunity to witness the liberalization of Myanmar firsthand by travelling approximately 2,000km for about 3 weeks from Yangon to Mandalay by buses, trains, cars, motorbikes and boats. What surprised me at first back then was that Yangon did not strike me as a particularly poor city. It seemed the democratic dividend was paying off.

But as with most countries, the reality in the capital does not always reflect that of the whole country. Kuala Lumpur feels and looks like an advanced ultramodern economy when taken out of context of the whole of Malaysia.

There is beauty in urbanity but it was the slow progress of modernity in the 2010s that made the country beautiful. Beyond the limits of Yangon within its glittering Shwedagon Pagoda and a confusing mix of brand new right-hand and left-hand drive vehicles on the road all at once, life was slower. The old ways still held fort. When I reached the famed romanticized city of Mandalay after a long train ride sitting next to a Buddhist monk, I felt I was entering a different country.

Myanmar has since slided back. The Rohingya crisis has made the country less popular in the region. Democratic progress has been rolled back. Civil war has taken hold. When I found myself travelling in northern Thailand recently, driving along the Myanmar border, Thai troops maintained high alert, stopping everybody with no exception to ensure that the situation remained safe on this side of the world. On the back of the range that divides Thailand from Myanmar, I could spy deep into the Shan state. Things were quiet and they gave no clue of the raging civil war happening far across the mountains.

Somewhere in Sagaing across the Irrawaddy river from Mandalay (I cannot recall the location exactly now but I think it was in Sagaing), there was a large cuboid temple standing 40 to 50 meters tall. The temple had a large crack running from the top to the bottom caused by an earthquake during pre-colonial times. Back then as I stood in wonder of the crack, that earthquake was an academic curiosity.

A strong earthquake has struck Mandalay this week and pictures of devastation are coming out online. Bridges have collapsed. Pagodas cracked and crumbled. Houses gone. Parts of the old city walls now suffer from gashes. I have been to some of those places and it breaks my heart to see them in such devastation.

I hope we Malaysians will help Myanmar even in our current state of politics where racism, xenophobia and general meanness is on the rise. Malaysia is the chair of Asean this year and Asean has failed the people of Myanmar in so many ways. This is a chance to redeem ourselves from all those failures, even if the window is only for partial redemption.

Categories
Conflict & disaster Environment

[2332] Sendai and Fukushima are not in Malaysia

Malaysia intends to have an operational nuclear power plant by 2021. Multiple individuals and groups oppose the plan. The opposition is based on multiple legitimate concerns. I believe the biggest fear is the chances of a nuclear meltdown. Chernobyl and the Three Mile Island accident are two examples popularly cited to rationalize the fear.  The latest incident around Sendai that included the shutdown of several plants and an explosion in Fukushima is becoming the third example.

It is wrongly becoming a third example.

While the explosion might have led to a meltdown — the latest news reported that the situation is under control now — the explosion itself was caused by a very strong earthquake that is unheard of in Malaysia.

Really, earthquakes in Malaysia hardly deserve the term. Tremors fits the characteristic better and those tremors hardly cause any damage to buildings, if it does at all.

The very limited possibility — out of this world chances — of Malaysia experiencing similar earthquakes that Japan is used to, and especially to the magnitude that Japan suffered several days ago, negates the nuclear incident in Fukushima from becoming a valid case to back anti-nuclear power position in Malaysia. There are many others examples to cite from, but Sendai is just not one of them.

Sendai and Fukushima are just not a precautionary tale for Malaysia. Anyone who thinks so deserves to be accused of being unfamiliar with Malaysia. To make a parallel out of the incident is to ignore local circumstances, which are essentially different to that of Japan’s.

Categories
Conflict & disaster Economics

[2150] Of aid and logistical challenges for Haitian earthquake victims

When the gods battle in Malaysia, the gods forgot Haiti.

As always, the affairs of men are too important to be left in the hands of the gods. Christian conservative Pat Robertson may disagree. Instead, he thinks god wants Haiti to suffer because Haitians made a pact with the devil.[1] Ah, the glory of god.

Thank goodness for the reasonable and capable Bill Clinton!

Former President Bill Clinton yesterday spoke of the need to send cash to Haiti instead of items like food and blankets.

He reasoned that in Haiti now, there is simply no logistical capability to handle various items from abroad in huge quantity. Haiti’s principle airport inability to cope with the volume of aid material is one evidence of that.[2] With an earthquake that devastating, it is probably a prudent to assume that transportation infrastructure in the country’s capital — a major population center located too close to the epicenter of a major earthquake  — is unreliable now.

In economics, cash aid is the best kind of aid because only the persons on the ground know how the money should be spent, especially when compared to some kind-hearted donors living abroad. It is a case of imperfect information.

That statement is made barring the issue of corruption, which is a major motivation behind the need of material aid.

The probability of abuse of material aid is lower than the likelihood of cash aid abuse. This does not mean that there can be no abuse with material aid — somebody may get all the material aid and start selling them when it should be free— but in comparison, material aid does better than cash aid in terms of abuse prevention. Due to this as well as the horrible record of the government of Myanmar, I advocated material aid to the victims of Nargis back in 2008.

I am ignorant of Haitian politics but Haiti is located not so far away from Myanmar in Transparency International’s 2009 Corruption Perception Index.[3] It is classified as above Myanmar but really but comparison to Myanmar is not much of a comparison. Corruption is a serious there.

I have a lot of respect of former President Bill Clinton. He is the US President I respect the most out of Obama, the Bushes and him. When he said something, I would think twice before disagreeing with him. Indeed, as a libertarian, I should be agreeing with Clinton on his assertion of the superiority of cash aid. And sending money is definitely easier than sending material aid. Yet, I have trouble accepting his advice that cash aid is better.

Perhaps, as an UN envoy to Haiti, as well as a person that has been to Haiti, he knows more than me. His knowledge might not be as good as the victims themselves but it is likely better than mine who lives two oceans across from Haiti.

Still, what good is cash when everything is destroyed?

The economy may rebuild and spontaneous order will establish itself during this chaos but as Clinton said himself, there is no logistical capability to handle the kind of volume of aid material in Haiti at the moment. Okay but will local production be able to match the heightened demand for food, blanket, etc.?

I doubt so.

Even if local production is able to do so, would the logistics be able to cope to the traffic of goods? Would local production be able to produce everything autarkically?

Clinton is right. There is no logistical capability in Haiti. But I think that problem adversely affects the effectiveness of both cash and material aids. I am not saying aid should not be sent at all. What I am saying is that the problem with logistics might not impact the relative desirability between both types of aid by too much.

Mohd Hafiz Noor Shams. Some rights reserved Mohd Hafiz Noor Shams. Some rights reserved Mohd Hafiz Noor Shams. Some rights reserved

[1] — American televangelist Pat Robertson has blamed the devastating earthquake in Haiti on a pact between the impoverished nation’s founders and the devil.

It is feared that up to 100,000 people may have lost their lives when the magnitude 7.0 earthquake flattened massive areas of the capital Port-au-Prince yesterday.

Speaking on his television program The 700 Club, Mr Robertson said the pact happened “a long time ago in Haiti”. [Haiti disaster blamed on pact with devil. ABC News. January 14 2010]

[2] — International relief to quake-devastated Haiti was reduced to a trickle this morning after the capital’s airport was overwhelmed by a sudden influx of aid planes, as the country’s President said 7,000 victims had already been buried in a mass grave. [Bottleneck paralyses Haiti relief efforts. Kim Landers. Craig McMurtrie. et al. ABC News. January 15 2010]

[3] — See [Corruption Perception Index at Wikipedia. Accessed January 15 2010]

Categories
ASEAN

[2093] Of a chance to demonstrate Malaysian goodwill

The very silly spat between Malaysia and Indonesia is a huge disappointment for regionalists who dream to repeat the European experiment of closer integration in Southeast Asia. It may be silly but it has dire ramifications to regionalism in the region. Even if one is not a regionalist but simply a citizen of either country who wishes for his or her own country to take its rightful place in the world, it is in his or her interest to see relationships between both countries blooms. It must flourish for both countries are dependent on each other.

The point on dependency is by no means a mere rhetoric. In 2008, Indonesia was the seventh most important trading partner of Malaysia in terms of total trade. In the same year, Malaysia was among the top five most important trading partners to Indonesia. If hostility hurts trade, clearly both have something to lose from hostility. In times when the world economy is struggling to find its way towards sustained recovery, Malaysia and Indonesia do not have the luxury to let trade between them flounder.

The importance of trade impresses upon the urgency on both sides to find for ways to douse the fire that threatens to burn the ties that bind the two together. Multiple issues ranging from culture, territorial demarcation in eastern Borneo, treatment of Indonesian workers as well as open burning in both countries must be addressed to improve relationship between the two Southeast Asian countries, and more importantly, eventually, people-to-people relations.

Alas, these issues are complex enough that individuals on the street may not be able to appreciate the difficulties faced by both sides. Those complexities demand for both sides to take time in finding solutions that will satisfy all. It cannot be rushed lest it becomes seeds for future discord. Therefore, the same issues cannot be relied upon to immediately improve relationship between the two neighbors.

In the short run, both have to rely on something else.

In this sense, the earthquake that devastated Padang and its surrounding in western Sumatra offers Malaysia an opportunity to improve its relationship with Indonesia. To use a jargon, which is regretfully so popular in the circle of management consultancy in Malaysia, this is a quick win.

Malaysia must quickly mobilize its resources to dispense humanitarian aid to victims of the earthquake in Indonesia. In fact, it is imperative for the Jalur Gemilang to be the first national flag to fly alongside the Sang Saka Merah Putih in Padang if Malaysia is to capitalize on the whole episode. The short distance between the two countries further add weight to the importance of Malaysian presence.

Failure to be the first country to reach Padang could only be seen as incompetence of the Malaysian government. Failure to be the first is a failure of Malaysia as a neighbor and a key member of ASEAN. It is most unacceptable, if Malaysia wishes to have better ties with Indonesia.

Not only that, Malaysia must donate generously. The state government of Selangor for one has allocated half a million ringgit towards relief effort in Padang. This action deserves the highest commendation.

One cannot be deluded in thinking that money can buy good relations however, especially at people-to-people level. One also cannot be deluded in thinking that a one-time event like this — if the Malaysian government as well as other Malaysian organizations played an effective role in the relief effort in Padang — can permanently improve relations with Indonesia.

Good long-term relations depend on how issues between the two countries are resolved.

Nevertheless, the disaster is a stepping-stone towards better long-term relations. It is a chance for Malaysia to demonstrate its goodwill to Indonesians and effectively undermine Indonesian jingoists who seek to disrupt Malaysia-Indonesia ties that in effect jeopardizes regionalist agenda for Southeast Asia, though it may not be those nationalists’ intention.

Malaysia has a chance to set everything on the right track here. It is a chance to show that Malaysians care for Indonesians. One would pray for Malaysia to not blow this golden opportunity in diplomacy.

Mohd Hafiz Noor Shams. Some rights reserved Mohd Hafiz Noor Shams. Some rights reserved Mohd Hafiz Noor Shams. Some rights reserved

First published in The Malaysian Insider on October 2 2009.

Categories
Sports

[1031] Of earthquake saved me from Rose Bowl heartache

If it had not been for the earthquake, I had wanted to listen to the Rose Bowl online. Alas, the earthquake severed the the internet in this part of the world and thus, prevented me from listening to the game.

Perhaps, it was a blessing because Michigan lost to USC 32 – 18 in the Granddaddy of Them All:

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — There were no Heismans or national titles up for grabs in this one for Southern California. It was hard to tell, though, given the way Dwayne Jarrett, John David Booty and that suffocating USC defense played.

Jarrett, the sensational USC receiver, caught 11 passes for 205 yards and two touchdowns to help the eighth-ranked Trojans finish their season with a statement Monday in a 32-18 Rose Bowl romp over Michigan.

When was the last time Michigan won a bowl game?

I cannot remember.

The NYT describes the Rose Bowl record of the Wolverines and the Trojans:

PASADENA, Jan. 1 — No game in college football’s postseason has more historical resonance than the Rose Bowl. Southern California’s 32-18 victory against Michigan on Monday maintained two long-standing hallmarks of this prestigious event.

No team has won this game more than the Trojans, who raised their Rose Bowl record to 22-9 since their first appearance in 1930. And no team has lost this game more than the Wolverines, who fell to 8-12 since their first trip here in 1902, the first time the game was played.

Bah! I just hope the Buckeyes would screw Florida through and through in the national championship.