Two days ago the Financial Times carried a deeply touching article about the terrible dilemma that had faced many of the fishermen on the coast where the 11 March tsunami struck. When the alarm came, these men had a choice. They could head immediately to higher ground (assuming such ground was near enough), knowing that they would be leaving their livelihoods – their boats and equipment – behind. Or they could try to sail out to sea before the waves struck, in the hope of riding the waves and getting beyond them. What do you do? As one villager put it, ‘Do you think about your life, or do you think about your livelihood?’ Many of those who thought about their livelihoods lost their lives. But, just as cruelly, many of those who thought about their lives have lost their livelihoods.
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