1000 crores is not steep compared to thousands of crores pocketed by politicians implicated in hundred's of scams!
SAFETY of its citizens has never been top priority for the Indian government. Avelino Bastora/Kuwait ______________ Samir has a valid point particularly since the NIO is based in Goa. However, it is the Indian Government that is to be blamed for not participating in the tsunami warning system. ======================================= But such was the level of ignorance that even National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) director Satish R Shetye admits: ''I got to know about the tsunami at around 10 am on Sunday, I was completely taken by surprise.'' The irony could not have been sharper. For, one of the people who helped set up the Pacific Tsunami Warning System and the Canadian Tsunami Warning System three decades ago was a Canada-based Indian, Tad Murty. ''I have tried several times with the Indian government, but they have said they do not have enough money to sustain a full-fledged system,'' Murty told The Indian Express from Manitoba, ''it is largely seen as a Pacific country problem.'' It's estimated that joining the tsunami warning system would cost around Rs 1,000 crore. While that does seem steep, contrasting that with the human and economic costs of the tsunami paints a different picture altogether - almost 11,000 priceless human lives, estimates of 30,000 missing, and millions displaced. The economic cost to business alone is estimated at Rs 2,000 crore.
