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Essay on Tsunami, December 26th 2004 the disaster that was caused by the Tsuanmi, and it takes a look into its sociological persepctives

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On December 26, 2004 the world experienced the most devastating natural disaster to hit the Indian Ocean. It was classified as a tsunami, a tsunami holding immense power equivalent to the destruction of three nuclear bombs. Tsunami waves can become more than 30 feet high as they come into shore and can rush miles inland across low-lying areas. The death tolls were astronomical causing much grief, pain and depression throughout the world. "Estimates of the total toll from the eleven countries hit by the disaster range from about 162 000 to 178 000. Tens of thousands more are missing and many are presumed dead." (The star, 2005) A similar situation did occur in the past where a similar atrocity erupted on the Pacific Ocean. It created …show more content…

The United States have also marshaled a fleet of aircraft carriers and helicopters to deliver relief supplies (Globe and Mail, Jan 4, 2005); not to mention the doctors and nurses representing nations from all over the globe taking time to volunteer their services in the shook countries.

I stop to wonder though, would we, the people of this world have compassion and the will to donate any money if the media did not possess the power to influence or motivate? As it was clearly stated by Johnson, "What happens when the camera crews go home?" (Globe and Mail, Jan 4, 2005) The media has become an institutionalized necessity with the western culture. From a sociological perspective, the media plans and organizes what the world should hear and know. "Those deaths are mostly invisible to us, and those people died one at a time. They were not swept away by an ocean wave before our eyes on CNN." (Globe and Mail, Jan 4, 2005) As you can see it clearly stated in the article that if the media did not display the tsunami massacre on television or any other sources of media, the world would be completely oblivious to the mass destruction. Although it has been a great world effort to help the countries in need, matters such as AIDS has caused much misery in Africa, but the teamwork, the deliverance of aid can not be weighed against the relief aid given to Sri Lanka or Indonesia. For example, as it stated in the

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