VULNERABILITY OF EAST PAKISTAN KNOWN

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32462, 24 November 1970, Page 15

VULNERABILITY OF EAST PAKISTAN KNOWN

(By

WALTER SULLIVAN

’ of the New York Times News Service through N.Z.P.A.)

NEW YORK, Nov. 23. Why had not more been done to protect the people of East Pakistan against the cyclone and tidal wave that appeared to have been the greatest disaster of the twentieth century, with a loss of life exceeding 500,000? The vulnerability of East Pakistan was well known. In October, 1960, two hurricanes killed 15,000 to 50,000 of its residents. As with the present disas-

ter, the political structure was too loose to produce accurate statistics. American specialists were asked to study the situation, and Mr Gordon Eunn, former head of the National Hurricane Centre in Miami, spent four months there.

Among the resulting recommendations was one for an effective warning system. For example, Mr Eunn recalled last week that on one island, with 250,000 inhabitants, there was no electricity and only one battery-powered radio.

The entire area is so low that, when the sea rises, there is no place to go. He proposed that earth platforms be built on the islands, suggesting that they might also be sites for schools and other public buildings. Another recommendation was for radar stations to watch for storms coming up the Bay. Last January, one such station was dedicated at Cox’s Bazar on the coast near Burma.

However, the breakdown seems to have been in bringing the alarm to the populace, nor does much appear to have been done to provide sanctuary platforms.

The disaster is bound to have political ramifications in Pakistan’s General Election, two weeks hence. There also seems to have been an almost total breakdown in organisation and transport needed to bring in relief.

Not only are modem communications largely absent, but the shallow waters make it impossible to distribute supplies with ordinary ships. Helicopters are the most efficient vehicles for the task, but in recent days only a handful have been available.

Press reports from Pakistan say that, apparently for political reasons, the Govem-

rnent delayed requesting outside help. The United States has numerous helicopters in South Vietnam, 1000 miles away, but the six that have just been sent were from the United States itself and from an aid mission in Nepal. Senator Edward Kennedy (Democrat, Massachusetts), asked on Friday, why the United States, so well prepared to dispatch military support anywhere “in a matter of hours,” cannot effec-

tively aid those struck by a natural disaster? “Why is it that when our real or alleged security is threatened, we can consult governments and send our representatives all over the world to gain support, but' when a people in need cries out for our help we are suddenly incapacitated?” The only comparable disasters of this century were a 1920 earthquake in China’s Kansu Province, taking an estimated 180,000 lives, and one that levelled Tokyo in 1923, with a death toll of 143,000. In 1911, a flood of the Yangtse River killed 100,000, but one must go back to the Yellow River flood of 1887 for a comparable catastrophe. Its estimated toll was 900,000.