HAPPY 2005?

The New Year, so much grief.

This would be one New Year, which will be recorded as the biggest natural tragedies to befall men.

Recap:
On 26th of December, A magnitude 9.0 earthquake off the island of Sumatra in Indonesia struck at 0800 hours local time on December 26th. The massive earthquake generated a tsunami that has claimed lives in excess of 100,000 across countries including Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Burma, Malaysia, the Maldives, and Somalia.

Even though it is not the biggest but it is the one which the world knows about. This is one time when the global village is becoming a reality.

I was talking to T the other day and said that this is not the worse disasters that we have come across in the history of humanity but it is the one that the world knew about almost instantaneously and the world was shocked and grieved with the people. The mass media, whether the internet, television, etc has brought this closer to home than previous disasters.

So this year, all New Year celebrations were toned downed all across the world. Those countries or cities that still had it had a minute of silence to remember the dead and their families. It was the first time the world has grieved together. The first time that the world was together as one in this.

Even as we enjoy this day and welcome the now year. Let us all remember the people that died in the year 2004 due to no fault of their own. The people who have been murdered in wars and hate crimes. The people who have been killed due to accidents and disasters.