THE year 2004 crashed out, literally, in the wake of the biggest tsunami in history. The disaster of the under-ocean earthquake near the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, and wall of water it set off, marks 2004. The terror and sorrow of this event touches us all.
Like others who have acquaintances in the affected areas, my first anxiety was to find out what had happened to those I knew.
I have worked with Indonesian and Indian peasant leaders whose organizations are members of the global peasant and small farmers movement, the Via Campesina.
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Fortunately, word came through quickly, thanks to the internet, that the women and men I know personally are safe. But sadly, many local leaders have been lost along with tens of thousands of coastal people and visitors. The grim statistics continue to mount.
For communities in the affected areas, the tragedy is beyond imagination. Whole communities have been wiped out. Millions of people are left homeless, many are injured, traumatized and in deep mourning.
Although many of the lead stories in our media seem to focus on the death of tourists and the damage to the tourist industry, the heart of this tragedy is the losses to local coastal communities.
Those who survive in the fishing and peasant communities are faced with incredible odds. Not only their communities and their homes but their very livelihoods have been destroyed.
While the large fishing trawlers anchored in deep waters rolled over the waves, small fishing boats docked along shorelines were smashed to smithereens. Tens of thousands of fishers depend on these boats for their food and family incomes.
As the waves washed inshore, they brought in salt water and debris that leaves thousands of acres of land contaminated. These are the plots that have fed peasant families for centuries.
Peasant families in these affected areas are grieving the loss of loved ones while staring into a future without their source of food and livelihood.
In the face of such devastation, it is doubly important to ensure that the aid which compassionate citizens and governments are offering is effective and helpful.
Who can understand that better than the people who live there?
Who better to direct the aid efforts than the peasant and fishing peoples suffering desperate immediate needs and a grim, uncertain future?
In response to this imperative, the Via Campesina is gathering resources for the grassroots organizations in the region. (Go to www.viacampesina.org for further information).
Channeling help directly through local, peasant organizations will ensure it reaches those who need it most immediately.
Genuine, effective aid takes the physical and cultural needs of the people into account. Humanitarian aid requires humane delivery.
For example, villagers in Aceh complained that they were being treated like dogs when the Indonesian army delivered aid by throwing the boxes of supplies at them off the backs of trucks.
Wounded bodies and communities cannot be healed by wounding the dignity of the suffering.
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