Thai Swathi 2023 - விண்டே ஒழிந்த வினையாயின !!

Today is a Sunday – it is Swathi Thirunakshithiram in the month of Thai .. .. most of us had a relaxed day, taking rest, shopping and spending time with near and dear – those of us who spent the day so, are indeed fortunate – we do not realize, how fortunate we are to live without major worries ..

 

The earth’s crust is made up of roughly 15 massive segmented chunky slabs called tectonic plates which are constantly in motion. The land on which buildings are built rests on these plates. The plates continually collide, push and grate against each other and the meeting points of these plates are made up of a series of ‘faults.’  ..  we live blissfully unaware of all these, until tragedy strikes, something of Nature’s fury; totally unavoidable !! 

On 6 Feb 2023, an earthquake struck southern and central Turkey, and northern and western Syria. It occurred 34 km (21 mi) west of the city of Gaziantep at 04:17 TRT (01:17 UTC), with a magnitude of at least Mw 7.8, and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme). There was widespread damage and tens of thousands of fatalities. It was the deadliest earthquake in the history of Turkey since the 1268 Cilicia earthquake and the strongest since the 1939 Erzincan earthquake.   This is considered  earthquake, one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded in the Levant, and the deadliest earthquake worldwide since the 2010 Haiti earthquake. 

The earthquake was followed by more than 1,000 aftershocks. A Mw  7.7 earthquake occurred nine hours after the mainshock, centered 95 km (59 mi) to the north–northeast in Kahramanmaraş Province.  Both earthquakes were the result of shallow strike-slip faulting. As of date,  more than 34,500 deaths had been reported; 29,500 in Turkey and 5,000 in Syria.  A large winter storm hampered rescue efforts, dropping snow on the ruins and bringing plummeting temperatures.  Due to the freezing temperatures in the area, survivors, especially those trapped under rubble, are at a great risk of hypothermia. 

In 1999, more than 17,000 people were killed in an earthquake near the Turkish city of Istanbul. In the aftermath, authorities promised stricter building regulations and introduced an “earthquake tax” aimed at improving preparedness in a country that sits on two major geological faultlines. Ankara’s slow response to the disaster, however, played a large part in bringing Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development party (AKP) to power: the newly formed party won elections in 2002 by an overwhelming majority, promising transparency and to rebuild the economy, ruined by a stock market crash. 

Nearly 24 years later, after Monday’s even deadlier earthquake and aftershocks, people across Turkey are searching not just for missing loved ones but also for answers. Turkish and international geologists, urban planners, architects and earthquake response specialists have  warned for years that even many modern structures across the country constituted “rubble in waiting” because building codes had not been properly followed. Violations were not sufficiently penalised to deter construction companies and investors from cutting corners, but experts say the problem was largely ignored because addressing it would be expensive and unpopular. 

The Turkish government has periodically held so-called “construction amnesties” since the 1960s, in which construction companies and building owners have had lacking safety certification waived for a fee – a policy that is believed to have generated billions of lira. The last amnesty was in 2018, and just a few days before the latest earthquakes struck, Turkish media reported that another was due to be discussed in the cash-strapped Turkish parliament. 

Now after all the tragedy, Turkish justice officials targeted more than 130 people allegedly involved in shoddy and illegal construction methods as rescuers extricated more survivors, including a pregnant woman and two small children, six days after a pair of earthquakes collapsed thousands of buildings. As despair bred rage at the agonizingly slow rescue efforts, the focus turned to assigning blame for the disaster in an earthquake-prone region that includes an area of Syria already suffering from years of civil war. 

Turkish Justice Minister said that some 131 people were under investigation for their alleged responsibility in the construction of buildings that failed to withstand the quakes. While the quakes were powerful, victims, experts and people across Turkey are blaming faulty construction for multiplying the devastation. The justice ministry said three people in all were under arrest pending trial, seven were detained and another seven were barred from leaving Turkey.  Authorities at Istanbul Airport on Sunday detained two contractors held responsible for the destruction of several buildings in Adiyaman, the private DHA news agency and other media reported. The pair were reportedly on their way to Georgia.  One of the detained contractors,  told reporters: “My conscience is clear. I built 44 buildings. Four of them were demolished. I did everything according to the rules,”

 

All these underline the need for a good, strong Govt capable of protecting the Nation and taking action against those violators.  It also underlies the very basic fact that life can be cruelly cut short and that we need to be kind to every human and spend our life peacefully and purposefully doing kainkaryam to Emperuman.  Residing in divyadesams and doing kainkaryam at temples is one basic karma of our life.

 

நாம் பெற்ற பேறு - மானிடப்பிறவி !  அதில் குறைகள் இல்லாமல் வாழும் வாழ்க்கை எம்பெருமான் நமக்கு அளித்தது.  நாம் செய்ய வேண்டியது எல்லாம்  செங்கண் மாலை  கண்ணாரக் கண்டு அவருடைய நிர்ஹேதுக க்ருபையாலே அவனது   கமல மலர் பாதங்களுக்கு கைங்கர்யம் செய்து இருத்தலே !!  ஸ்வாமி நம்மாழ்வாரின் திருவாய்மொழி பத்தாம் பத்தில் இருந்து ஓர் அற்புத பாசுரம்:-

கண்டேன் கமல மலர்ப்பாதம், காண்டலுமே,

விண்டே ஒழிந்த வினையாயின எல்லாம்,

தொண்டே செய்து, என்றும்  தொழுது வழியொழுக,

பண்டே பரமன் பணித்த பணிவகையே.

 

பரபக்தி முதலியவற்றைப் பண்ணி, எம்பெருமான் நிர்ஹேதுக க்ருபா கடாக்ஷத்தினாலே அவனன்றனது பாதாரவிந்தங்களைக் காணப்பெற்றேன் !;  நித்ய கைங்காரியத்தைச் செய்து அதுவே யாத்திரையாய்ச் சொல்லும் போதினிலே  விரோதியேன்று பேர் பெற்ற தீய வினைகள் எல்லாம்  ஸர்வேச்வரன் ஸ்ரீமன் நாரணன் ஸர்வஸாதாரணமாக  அருளிச் செய்த அருள் வாக்கின் படியே  வாஸனையோடே விட்டுப் போயின - என்கிறார் நம்மாழ்வார்.

 

At Thiruvallikkeni, this evening Sri Azhagiya Singar had siriya mada veethi purappadu.  Here are some photos of the purappadu

 

adiyen Srinivasa dhasan
Mamandur Veeravalli Srinivasan Sampathkumar
12.2.2023
பாசுர விளக்கம் : ஸ்ரீ உ.வே. காஞ்சி அண்ணங்கராச்சார்யர் ஸ்வாமிகள்  அற்புத சுரங்கம் : திராவிட வேதா.org