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Sunday, December 26, 2004 at 0100 GMT, a 9.3 magnitude earthquake occured [...] generated a huge tsunami wave, hitting the coasts of Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, India, Sri Lanka, Maldives... I heard thousand times the news from radio. I saw thousand times, on TV and on newspapers, the same images of the horror. And for the first time, i discovered the word "tsunami".

I did as million of people did. I sent money, what i could, what i had, to some French Human Associations : The Red Cross, The "Medecins sans frontiere", The "Medecins du Monde". In May 29 2005, The French rejected by 54,67% the European Constitution. I heard the major Ministers talking about a "tsunami". An another day, on the way to my office, I heard young boys and girls speaking. One of them said :"you know ... humm... my mum freaked out yesterday when she saw my room. She shouted that my room was a tsunami !" Today, it seems that "tsunami" has become a simple and a normal word. The politicians use it to qualify an evenment as a big change or a revoluton. Others to describe a hugger-mugger. The term "tsunami" comes from the Japanese language tsu, meaning harbour, and nami, wave. The term was created by fishermen who returned to port to find the area surrounding the harbour devastated, although they had not been aware of any wave in the open water. Is it good or bad that people appropriate the term, use it in their singular expressions, while the victim countries still try to resuscitate ? Up to now, i do as some people do. I continue to visit the officials web sites of the associations to know how life is going on there.  La Croix Rouge Française |  Médecins du Monde |  Médecins sans frontières

By Khakhon SOM