Nature's fury in frightful forms
NATURE has been doing its worst in large parts of Asia. In these past couple of days, a tsunami has hit Samoa, a typhoon has devastated lives in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, destruction has been wreaked in the Philippines and an earthquake has laid lives low in Indonesia. Natural disasters are of course to be expected and have been happening over the centuries. But for such disasters to strike in such quick frequency and in such damaging manner certainly causes alarm among various parts of the globe. Here in Bangladesh, instances of low intensity earthquakes have been recorded over the past few months, something that has people worried about the consequences should a major earthquake occur. There are already the dire predictions of the devastation which could descend in such a situation. As many as seventy per cent of building structures in the capital are feared to be vulnerable. One can only shudder at the possibility.
Of late, it must be noted, instances of nature's fury have been frequent and of worrying intensity. What has happened in southeast Asia and South Pacific region is surely the highest and most fearsome manifestation of it. An intriguing aspect of such a situation is that when a disaster overtakes one country, the ramifications, in physical terms, are felt a long way away. The earthquake in Indonesia caused worrying ripples in Singapore. There are then the tremors felt in La Paz, in distant South America. The heart-rending aspect of all this cumulative tragedy that has occurred in Asia is the ruined lives it leaves behind. Of urgency today is the huge human need to come to the aid of the survivors of the earthquake in Indonesia. Initial reports speak of a thousand people dying, but as in such cases the figures are higher and keep going up. Where the tsunami is the issue, here too the trauma is indescribable and because it is, it becomes important for governments and organizations to come forth with emergency aid on a swift basis. There is little question that disasters in our times cause empathetic agony.
Our sympathies go out to the suffering survivors of the disasters. And our prayers are there for those who have perished in them.
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