Meaning of tsunami

IT is a good thing that the PTI government in KP is launching a programme to take on the timber mafia and preserve the tree cover of the province. Much depends on how they carry out this campaign, but a strong focus on ecological issues from the provincial government is a welcome step.

However, it would be better if the party abandoned its cavalier use of the word tsunami. It is important to understand that this word refers to an event of tremendous destruction that brings in its wake large-scale loss of life.

For instance, Japanese sensitivities are clearly offended by the way this word — which is from the Japanese language — is bandied about by the party which seems to think that it represents a force for positive change, of renewal.

Also read: PTI declares war against timber smugglers in KP

For the Japanese, a tsunami is the harbinger of indiscriminate death and destruction. It is associated with terrible calamities such as the March 2011 earthquake in the Pacific Ocean that sent a 15-metre-high wall of water crashing ashore, inundating two nuclear power plants that went into meltdown immediately and started releasing radiation into their surroundings.

Within days, as workers struggled to contain the meltdown and leakage from the stricken plants, the prospect of evacuating Tokyo had to be discussed by the government.

For many, the event revived memories of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, adding to the pain of the moment. Almost 16,000 people died from the consequences of the tsunami that struck in March 2011.

Similarly, a few years before, the 2004 tsunami had left a large number of nations in Asia shattered, with the term coming to denote a terrible event for millions of affected people.

Using the word tsunami to describe a government initiative aimed at ecological preservation shows profound ignorance.

Not only is it awkward imagery to invoke for this programme, it is hard to imagine what a tsunami of trees might look like. All it shows is a callous disregard for the sensitivities of those for whom a tsunami is a terrible reality.

Published in Dawn February 23rd , 2015