Conspiracy theorists on tsunami

[Guest guest]

Conspiracy theorists blame aliens for tsunami

 

Sify News

Just 11 days after Asia's tsunami catastrophe, conspiracy theorists

are out in force, accusing governments of a cover-up, blaming the

military for testing top-secret eco-weapons or aliens trying to

correct the Earth's 'wobbly' rotation.

In bars and Internet chatrooms around the world questions are being

asked, with knowing nods and winks, about who caused the submarine

earthquake off Sumatra on December 26, and why governments were so

slow to act in the minutes and hours before tsunamis slammed into

their shores, killing almost 1,50,000.

 

"There's a lot more to this. Why is the US sending a warship? Why is

a senior commander who was in Iraq going there?" whispered designer

Mark Tyler, drinking a pint of beer at a bar in Hong Kong's Wan Chai

district.

 

"This happened exactly a year after Bam," said Tyler, referring to

the earthquake in Iran which killed 30,000 on December 26 last

year. "Is that a coincidence? And there was no previous seismic

activity recorded in Sumatra before the quake, which is very

strange," he said, nodding somberly.

 

After every globally shocking event -- from the bombing of Pearl

Harbour to the assassination of John F Kennedy, the death of

Princess Diana and the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the

United States -- conspiracy theorists emerge with their own sinister

take on events.

 

This time the Indian and US military are in the frame, while the

governments of countries from Australia to Thailand stand accused of

deliberately failing to act on warnings of the impending earthquake

or the tsunamis it unleashed around Asia.

 

Among the more common suggestions is that eco-weapons which can

trigger earthquakes and volcanoes remotely through the use of

electromagnetic waves were being tested. More outlandish theories

include one that aliens caused the earthquake to try and correct

the 'wobbly rotation of the Earth'.

 

Scientists give such theories short shrift. "This was a natural

disaster," said Dr Bart Bautisda, chief science research specialist

at Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, debunking the

idea that an 'eco-weapon' could be used to cause an earthquake or

such large-scale tsunamis.

 

"You would need a very huge amount of energy. It's impossible. A

billion tonnes could not do it," Bautisda said. He said wave

activity might be able to trigger very close to the scene of a giant

explosion, but the effect would be a tiny fraction of the tsunamis

which travelled thousands of kilometres at the speed of a jet after

tectonic plates shifted off Sumatra.

 

Scientific evidence, however, cuts little ice with many conspiracy

theorists. The Internet -- which has proved invaluable in dealing

with the disaster by aiding rescues, providing witness accounts from

bloggers and allowing grieving relatives to comfort each other

through chatrooms -- is abuzz with more sinister explanations.

 

The Free Internet Press, which claims to offer 'uncensored news for

real people', has an article saying the US military and the State

Department received advanced warning of the tsunami, but did little

to warn Asian countries.

 

America's Navy base on the Indian Ocean jungle atoll of Diego Garcia

was notified and escaped unscathed, it said, asking, "Why were

fishermen in India, Sri Lanka and Thailand not provided with the

same warnings?.

 

"Why did the US State Department remain mum on the existence of an

impending catastrophe?," author Michel Chossudovsky

pondered. "Probably because fishermen in India, Sri Lanka and

Thailand don't have multi-million dollar communications equipment

handy," said one respondent as readers posted angry replies.

 

"Maybe rescuers will find Elvis and the gunman form the grassy

knoll," jibed another, referring to those who believe Elvis Presley

is still alive and that former US president Kennedy was shot by

someone other than Lee Harvey Oswald.

 

The India Daily's website joined the conspiracy theorists

noting, "it seems the whole world decided to fail to do anything

together at the same time. Are we missing something?

 

"Can it be that all the government agencies knew what was happening

but were told not to do anything? Who told them? Or is this just a

tragic coincidence?" wrote Sudhir Chadda, a correspondent.

 

"Recent alien contacts have been reported with the South Asian

Governments especially India. UFO sightings have been rampant over

the region affected," Chadda wrote.

 

"Some in Nicobar Island say that it was an experiment conducted by

the alien extra-terrestrial entities to correct the wobbly rotation

of the earth. And some of the Indian scientists are actually seeing

that wobbly rotation of the earth has been corrected since the

massive underwater earthquake and Tsunami."

 

In Hong Kong, Tyler laughed at the alien idea, but remained

convinced humans had a hand in this disaster. "Wait and see. There

will be a lot more to come out," he said.

 

A 'preliminary' alert system could be in place in the Indian Ocean

by the end of 2005 or the beginning of 2006, said Francois

Schindele, the head of UNESCO's oceanographic arm, who also chairs

the international co-ordination group for the Pacific tsunami

warning system.

 

"But that depends on the will of states," he added. Attempts to set

up an alert system for countries on the Indian Ocean have been

bogged down by disputes over funding and other issues.

http://www.samachar.com/newsasia/featarchives/07012005.html

 

AFP