Source: CS Monitor
12-30-04
Sunday's megaquake was not the first time, or even the second, that a major geological event in Indonesia has killed tens of thousands.From the 1815 eruption of Mt. Tambora to the 1883 explosion of Krakatoa, Indonesia's seismic tragedies of the past two centuries have altered human history well beyond the Pacific's so-called Ring of Fire, sending geopolitical, economic, and even artistic repercussions across the planet.The havoc wrought by the tsunami that swamped southern Asia Sunday is a stark reminder that humanity is bound together as much by geological forces - often unseen and occasionally devastating - as by the tides of commerce and culture.This latest natural disaster will have profound effects on the politics and economies of the Indian Ocean. Separatist movements in Sri Lanka and in Indonesia's Aceh province suffered thousands of casualties, and India's pummeled Nicobar and Andaman islands have often been used by rebels from both movements.How well governments respond to the tragedy, say historians, could shape those conflicts and their nations for years to come. "Some people think natural calamities are a signal from god," says Taufik Abdullah, an Indonesian historian trained at Cornell University. Historically "quite often natural rebellions have triggered social rebellions," he says.
