The tsunami brought terrible consequences to many in Asia. Lives were lost, properties damaged and economies slowed. All the while, many others are focused on the destruction that Mother Nature brought against our habitat. However, many have overlooked the benefits of the destruction.

First off, the tsunami probably reduced the number of fishing fleets in the Indian Ocean. In fact, this tsunami acts as a temporary environmental restriction imposed on fishing industry. As a direct result, the amount of harvest will fall. This gives any threatened or endangered fish a chance to recover for at least a couple of months. With reproduction rate possibly higher than the harvest rate, the stock size will increase, making future extraction more sustainable.

Then there are the beaches. All efforts on reclamation and most structures built near ocean have been razed down to the earth. There are satellite photos to confirm this. There is almost nothing there right now. Hence, some might say the incident in Asia and, to a smaller extent Africa, brings back innocence to the beaches. But of course, the reversion was anything but cleanly done. It seems that it is us that need to clean up after Gaia, unfortunately.

With the reversion done, it gives the people in the affected area to rebuild their lives. Specifically, a planned reconstruction of cities and towns is now possible. Previously, most of the hit cities and towns was (or are, I am not sure) disorganized. The places were worse than spaghetti on a plate. Now, especially the urban area has the chance of being thoroughly planned and reorganized – make it pedestrian and biker friendly and in turn, environmental friendly. In spite of that, the current situation is Aceh and Sri Lanka, where the rebels are active, will somewhat deters the reorganization effort. I’m sure that survival is more of an issue than the environment there.

Regardless of all these, nobody wants the disaster to happen in the first place. But we don’t have the ability to control the world. Thus, we will have to do the best out of the situation. We need adapt to the aftermath and look for the silver lining behind the dark clouds. (If you are in Ann Arbor, I'll understand if there is no silver lining to be seen. For goodness sake, I am yet to see Ann Arbor's Sun this year!)

So, stop whining and start working. At the same time, stop making foolish statements like this is God's punishment on us or to the unbelievers. Stop blaming everybody else. The fact is, shit happens. Period.

p/s - an interesting blog concerning the tsunami and the bureaucracy surrounding the ongoing aid.