The article by the Des Moines Register columnist Marc Hansen titled “Truth is, there are no safe havens from natural disasters” in the Wednesday July 8th issue of the Register has the Sri Lankan students and faculty at ISU wondering where columnists get their facts from. The article biassly tags Sri Lanka as the disaster capital of the world in hopes of de-emphasizing the diverse natural disasters that occur in the United States. The truth is, in Sri Lanka there are no hurricanes, no plaguing wild fires, no frequent floods, no ice and snow storms, no tornadoes, no heat-exhaustion, no volcanoes, no winters, no earthquakes, and no El Nino. The real situation in Sri Lanka is that this country is comparable to some of the developed countries in the world. In terms of social indicators, it has a respectable level of life expectancy (72 years), infant mortality (19 per 1000 births, and literacy rates (90 percent). The Human Development Index of United Nations rank Sri Lanka as a socially developed country despite of its low per-capita income. Sri Lanka is known to many as a gem in the Indian Ocean. It is a tropical rainforest island in the quiet waters of bay of Bengal. With sandy beaches and vast jungles that are home to elephants, leopards, peacocks, cranes, eagles and countless other animals, Sri Lanka is a paradise on earth. This island with an abundance of water falls, and glamorous ocean settings is a sanctuary for European and American tourists.

For a columnist such as Hansen to take a selfish stab at such a glorious nation is a disgrace upon the American people, and an utter disrespect upon the Sri Lankan people and the country of Sri Lanka.

Thulitha Wickrama

President

Sri Lanka Student Organization

Iowa State University