Fist of Fury

If technology and tsunami had gone hand in hand on December 26th 2004, over
25,000 lives in South-East Asia could have been saved. The killer tsunami that
also struck southern India swept away more than 12,000 people with scores still
missing. Worst hit was Tamil Nadu and Port Blair. While thousands along Chennai's
Marina beach have perished, countless people have disappeared in Cuddalore,
Nagapatnam, and Kanyakumari. As people, hit by this mindless fury of nature, and
the affected nations try grapple the enormity of the loss, questions are now
being raised about the role of metrological agencies in forecasting calamites in
advance. 

Tsunami Warning Systems (TWS) have been in vogue since the 1960's and being
used in the Pacific Ocean in the US island of Hawaii. Unfortunately, the killer
tsunami that struck South Asia is out of the range of the Pacific TWS network.
If any of the South East Asian countries had deployed similar TWS systems and
networked with other Asian geographies, the scale of loss of human lives could
have been significantly reduced. 

Although tsunamis in this part of the world are rare, the need for TWS in
India, given this sudden calamity, has become pressing. India should learn from
the current crisis and adopt a strategy for reacting to such calamities, no
matter how rare, in the future. 

The Fate of IT

It would be rather crude to ponder over the future of the IT industry in
Chennai post the tsunami attack. The loss in terms of human lives and material
is appalling. The larger fallout will set only in the days to come. Most of the
IT heads Dataquest spoke to have assured that it is business as usual for them
and the industry will in some way contribute for the relief operations. However,
if as a sequel to the tsunami, most companies may look beyond the humanitarian
angle. For instance, the Old Mahabalipuram Road that runs parallel to the Bay of
Bengal is home to all the major IT companies like Cognizant, Infosys, TCS, among
others. While the sea is actually a good distance away from these companies,
they are likely to be unaffected by tsunamis of this scale. The tsunami attack
would, however, raises new questions on Chennai, which is emerging as one of the
safe destinations to have Disaster Recovery Sites (DRS), as tsunamis of a larger
scale can travel many miles inland. The probality of a worse attack in future
may prompt IT companies to move their DRS sites, which are near coastal areas in
Chennai, to the mainland. While immediate fallout on IT is unlikely, some in the
industry are already drawing an analogy to the thriving action plans. In the
meantime, one only hopes that Chennai and other parts of the State will pull
through one of the most tragic natural disasters to hit mankind.

Shrikanth G in
Chennai For the full story, log on to www.dqindia.com

That Killer Wave

A first-person account of the Tsunami that ravaged South East Asia on Boxing
Day

SP Rajguru, director, sales, Ingram Micro India

SP Rajguru

I was jogging on the Besant Nagar seashore when I felt the earth quiver at
around 6.30 in the morning. I waited for the tremor to settle down and returned
home. At around 8.30, I heard an explosion and rushed out to the balcony. People
on the streets were running helter-skelter. My wife drew my attention to the
sea. The normally calm Chennai sea was in complete turmoil. Huge tidal waves
were coming inland. I realized it was futile to rush out and save my car. We
moved up and took shelter on the terrace. Buildings in the neighborhood closer
to the sea collapsed. The water entered my house submerging the ground floor and
the car park. Shortly, we saw another Tsunami hitting the coast, but this time
with less intensity. People lost shelter, belongings and were stranded on the
road.

Aniruddha Joshi, V-P, Redington India

I was fortunate to miss my flight to Colombo on Saturday. I was supposed to
stay at Taj Betrota, a Taj group hotel on the beach. According to the news
reports, the hotel was badly hit by the Tsunami. The entire ground floor and
first floor has been submerged. The monstrous tidal waves have claimed lives of
many tourists who were residing there.

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