Henry David Thoreau


George Santayana


As with all the web pages on the Living Cosmos web site, this web page is only a portion of the factual, empirical support for the ideas presented. This is basically reflection of what takes place in history as told in the book, In Defense of Nature -- The History Nobody Told You About, which is supported by scholarly references, historical writings, mythology, religious scriptures and more. There is also an excerpt from The Vital Vastness -- Volume One. Because these books are published the full scope and references could not be presented at present, but may be made available at a later date. An attempt will be made to address queries, but not all queries can be answered.



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The Case of the Indonesian Tsunami Disaster of December 26, 2004


One of the things most overlooked at times of major disasters is the response of life to the disaster. Three hours before the earthquake, elephants in Khao Lak, the hardest hit area in Thailand, screamed in fear. This area is hundreds of miles away from the earthquake that generated the tsunami. They trumpeted a second time an hour before the tsunami struck and moved to higher ground, even breaking chains that secured them. Hermit crabs on some of the islands in Thailand, where they live on the sandy beaches, suddenly escaped to higher ground before tha wave hit. Sri Lanka's Yala National Park was hit by surging floodwater, but there were no signs of any dead jackals, crocodiles, leopards, elephants, and deer, animals that have given the park worldwide fame. Eyewitness accounts indicate that dogs refused to go outside, flamingos left there coastal breeding grounds, and zoo animals rushed into their shelters and would not come out. The coastal region of Cuddalore, India had thousands of human casualities, but no buffaloes, goats, and dogs -- which are plentiful -- were found dead.

Another overlooked fact is that the responses and presence of life helped to save human life. For example, a dive boat captain saw the ocean suddenly filled with dolphins and he followed them, escaping the wave. In San Souk, a fishing village, birds suddenly became frantic, and the villagers took notice and left, saving all 1,000 villagers. In many cases it was trees that people clung to that saved ther lives. Areas that still had their coral reefs and mangrove trees along the coast were far less devastatingly hit. Other forested areas acted as barriers to the full force of the wave. In contrast, those areas where the corals were destroyed or the mangrove trees ripped out for hotels and aquaculture were devastated. For example, in the Maldives more than 100 people lost their lives in a population of about 270,000, while in Phuket, with a similar-sized population the toll was 1,000. It is a well known fact that the developed areas (i.e., areas where life was destroyed by humans) were hit the most and the hardest. See this Innovations-report.de artilce. Meanwhile, places like Myanmar, where the mangroves remained intact, or India's state of Tamil Nadu, where there are dense stands of mangroves, suffered much fewer human casualties and property damage. These so-called "coastal greeenbelts" saved thousands of lives and lessened damage in India, Sri Lanka, and Malaysia. Both the World Wildlife Fund and Friends of the Earth have taken note of this in many regions hit by the wave.

Another overlooked occurrence is what the aftermath scenes reveal. In most cases the tsunami wiped away plantations, aquaculture, agriculture, roads, bridges and buildings, even entire villages. Nature, on the other hand, suffered little, and will likely recover quickly, as has taken place in other disasters. For example, see these NASA, Earth Observatory aerials of the before and after scenes of Gleebruk, Indonesia.




The bottom image is a before image of a tsunami hit area which shows a road, bridges, an aquaculture structure (probably a shrimp farm), a planatation, and buildings (NASA, April 12, 2004). The top image, after the tsunami hit, shows that all the artifical systems and non-living structures are wiped out, including the road, bridges, the aquaculture structure, the plantation, and buildings that existed before the tsunami struck (NASA, January 2, 2005).


Another phenomena unaccounted for by present theoretical perspectives is what happened to the Earth. The earthquake that generated the tsunami was attended with a change in the Earth's rotation, decreased the length of day, shifted the North Pole and changed the Earth's shape. These effects weren't much, but they were measured by scientists. For more see these Universetoday.com and NASA articles. Moreover, the Earth was ringing like a bell for weeks after the earthquake, as reported in a Spacedaily.com article. In The Vital Vastness it was shown that these various phenomena are interconnected and controlled by the field system of the Field-dynamical Earth Model (FEM). In fact, the Sumatran quake also affected the San Andreas fault, because the field system of FEM is an integrated, worldwide whole, as discussed in the books. What might be fear provoking is that this was not the big one, as seismologists warn. Yet, according to NOAA satellite observations the scares to the ocean floor can be seen from space. A full scientific overview of this 9.0 magnitude earthquake other atributes is provided by IRIS..

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The Rising Costs of Disasters

  • See this NASA/Earth Observatory article on how disasters are more devastating in recent years and their mounting costs. This alone should awaken us to the role of disasters and our involvement. Afterall, more property is being destroyed and we are being targeted by the disasters. Its all in the service of life and our living Earth.

  • The Indonesian earthquake alone racked up more than $3 billion in damages, mostly due to the destruction of houses and other buildings. See the PostCornicle.com article.

  • More people were affected by weather-related disasters in 2007 than 2006 -- the bad is getting worse. Despite taking fewer lives, more people were affected globally by weather-related events. Moreover, the number of people hit by all "natural" disasters grew from 135 million in 2006 to 200 million in 2007. See the Physorg.com article.

  • Nearly 92,000 people were killed by disasters in 2005 alone, and 157 million people were involved in disasters. See the Terradaily.com and Alertnet.org articles. Again, this shows that we are attracting disasters and the major outcome is the destruction of non-living structures, and animals and birds typically know the disaster is coming and evacuate before it strikes. We, on the other hand, have lost this sensitivity because of our over involvement in non-living goods and services. In 2004 283,000 people were killed by earthquakes mostly due to the Indonesian earthquake and its tsunami. It was the third deadliest year on record. See the Physorg.com article.

  • The year of 2005 claimed 300,000 lives and cost $100 billon in damages.

    Disasters where up three fold in 2008, with at least 235,816 people losing their lives in 321 disasters around the world and caused estimated damage of $181 billion. The three most devasted countries where China and the United States, both of which are huighly industrialized, and the Phillipines which is destroying natural systems at a rapid rate, while becoming industrialized and urbanized.



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    Richard Michael Pasichnyk
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