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it business as usual in 2005? The tsunami has wiped away more than life and property in coastal and low-lying areas. Together with death and destruction it has wiped away many intangibles that took a long time to build. Think of business contacts that have vanished forever in the wake of the tidal wave. Think of coastal areas where networks of related businesses have disappeared. These will impact not only those areas and their immediate families. It will affect many others who were connected to them in innumerable ways. But it will also affect the lives of others who were not at all connected to them. The change has just begun. When aid pours in for disaster relief and reconstruction, and when the reconstruction begins, many other things will change. Lifestyles and residences, business practices, leisure activities and a lot more will change in subtle ways, not just among those in affected areas, but in the rest of the country. We have however, not yet come to the stage, as a country, to contemplate the long term effects of the tsunami either way-as positive or negative. But we need to remember that with death and destruction and all the negatives arrive the seeds for positive changes. Such chaos and upheaval in the physical, social and economic environments tend to create waves and ripples that give way to opportunities and make way for ideas that have not seemed feasible until then. Some of these could go very far. Have you thought about it? Looking at it purely from a business angle might seem utterly insensitive at a time like this. However, the opportunities are not merely business oriented. While the death and destruction was more personal, there could be areas which, on the long run, pave way for positive changes for Sri Lanka overall; for our social fabric; for our peace of mind and well being as a country. Consider the last recorded large-scale tidal waves in Sri Lanka's history. Mahavamsa reports that 23 centuries ago the sea rushed inland and created death and destruction on a mass scale to 'punish wrong doings' of the ruler at the time. And according to history, to appease the sea, he had to sacrifice his daughter to the sea. The maiden, Viharamahadevi, who was floated away from Kelaniya got washed in again. She got married and gave birth to Dutu Gemunu, a ruler that united an island that had been fragmented by political differences and power struggles. So, here at least, was one positive result arising out of a long chain of events set off by probably another shift in tectonic plates somewhere. We cannot tell what positive changes will take places in the wake of the crisis. However, rather than wait for random happenings and changes to take shape by default, should we not look at proactively planning and making positive changes for the betterment of our country? You could also extend this way of thinking to a more personal level. Where do we start? We can for one, begin with ourselves. Many of us have been shaken up as a result of the death and destruction we witnessed, if not at first hand, on the media. And in many, attitudes and values have taken a dramatic shift. What we thought were important are not the same now. We have witnessed enough destruction to realize the frailty of human existence that we generally tend to forget. What we love, our material assets and our loved ones and even our own lives could vanish in a moment. That is a great realization to begin with in making positive changes for the future. And
for those looking for business opportunities, chaos and destruction
and such mass scale changes always bring up many new business opportunities.
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