Tardiness of relief work

Tardiness of relief work

While India was understandably unprepared for the tsunami that
came without warning, this does not explain the inexcusable
tardiness in the relief work in some of the affected areas. The
tsunami might be a stranger to India, but not the destruction
brought by nature to the country's eastern coastline, for long
used to natural calamities such as cyclones and torrential rain.

A lack of coordination and foresight in making full use of the
armed forces seems to have resulted in valuable time being lost.
While the Coast Guard straightway plunged into search and rescue
operations, a whole day was lost before the Army was called in to
undertake rehabilitative measures and reconstruction work.

In Tamil Nadu, it was evident that politicians were keener on
winning brownie points for meeting the aggrieved sections than on
concerted action to bring effective relief. Central Ministers
seemed to go one way, State Ministers another. Although there can
be no argument against people's representatives visiting
hospitals and the affected areas, an unconscionable amount of
manpower, logistics support, and resources appear to have been
soaked up by (these) visits at the cost of reaching relief to the
victims quickly and effectively.

-- The Hindu, Madras, India