FOXNews's Jennifer Griffin, on the scene in Phuket, Thailand, describes strewn corpses in bikinis and swim trunks with their arms frozen above their heads as if in their last moments they had desperately tried to hold back the onrushing tide. Reminiscent of the bodies of Pompeii (above) and Herculaneum (below), their forms preserved in ash as they tried to escape the Vesuvian eruption of antiquity. The spaces left in the hardened ash were cast, centuries later, and placed upon display as curiosities. Now the horror returns in real time to remind us that Mother Nature always has the last word.
Photoshop-enhanced image of Sissy in her salad days mugging for the cameras at Ercolano (Herculaneum), Italy, the little sister to big brother Pompeii, frozen in time that awesome day that Vesuvius erupted way back when. The mosaic floor of the atrium of this elegant Roman suburban house was still intact but instead of being flat took the form of a wave of energy -- the relentless drive of Vesuvius's will.
"In an abstract way, the information flows surrounding the Tsunami of December 2004 structurally resembled those preceding the Pearl Harbor and September 11 attacks," writes Wretchard of Belmont Club [via Pajama Pundits]. The killer wave is "an example of a rare event, like an asteroid strike, which is often considered uneconomical to prepare against until it happens. In hindsight, a few simple precautions could have saved thousands of lives":
The window of opportunity to make a difference came when seismographs all over the world measured the quake and triangulated its epicenter. Then, and surely after the first giant waves crashed ashore in Phuket, Thailand it would have been evident that a tsunami danger existed across the whole Indian Ocean. The Indian subcontinent, still some hours distant from the ocean monster which was then bearing down at airliner speed, might have received the benefit of warning.
The raw data announcing the unfolding threat was there, yet the pattern so evident in hindsight was invisible to those who were not looking for it. But if tsunamis and asteroid strikes are rare events, they are comparatively more common than that still rarer object, the unprecedented event: the something that has never happened before. Threats like that can emerge suddenly out of chaotic systems, like WMD terrorism or new viral plagues. Against such events, specific precautions are impossible because no one can prepare for what cannot be foreseen. The real challenge is not so much to create a new dedicated network of staring systems against known threats but to tie current sensors to systems which are capable of cognition. The most valuable survival asset is situational awareness -- the ability to recognize threats you have never seen before and respond in an evolving manner -- and that capability has not yet come to the world as a whole.
Instead, Wretchard notes, "There will be momentary interest, a search for scapegoats and then a gradual return to forgetfulness." Echoes of post 9/11.
It's only human to forget -- repress? -- horrific experiences, to move on. Those who were there and lived to tell the tale are scarred for life and will never forget. They know it in their bones and will try to warn the world -- of what? Pay attention to your surroundings? Don't take anything for granted? Repent before it's too late? -- with their stories. Locally it will enter the communal lore. But beyond the region, it won't stick. The rest of us out here in the larger world -- who only hear of it, see media images and try in our mind's eye to imagine the horror but then can turn away to the comfort of our everyday lives -- we are the ones in danger of forgetting.
Note: Go visit Donna B's Pajama Pundits, your one-stop convenience center for excellent links covering the developing tsunami story, including news updates, relief efforts and the science of tsunamis, as well as "those that don't get the science and the whiners."