The horror that has struck Asia in the wake of yesterday’s earthquake is incomprehensible. It boggles the mind how in such a short time, a matter of hours in fact, so much death and destruction could be wrought. The figures defy description. We are looking at over 12,000 deaths across five countries and the toll continues to mount as we write. Reports of thousands missing, resort areas completely gone, tourists, fishermen, homes and cars swept away by walls of water up to 20 feet all sound like something out of a science-fiction movie. Only it’s not. It is for real. It happened.
Third World countries simply cannot afford the kind of money it takes to contend with earthquakes, even if it means saving thousands of lives. Still, it is a duty of the governments of countries that are susceptible to earthquakes to do as much as they can to at least mitigate the effects of quakes. Indonesia, the site of the quake’s epicenter, is prone to seismic upheaval because of its location on the margins of tectonic plates that make up what is called “Ring of Fire” around the Pacific Ocean basin. That it is a natural target of earthquakes should mean its cities are built in such a way as to minimize the damage quakes wreak, and that it has the technological know-how and necessary manpower to deal with earthquakes once they strike. Obviously, however, it does not. Nor do the other countries that were hit in yesterday’s climatic upheaval.
It is not the developing world alone that is hit by earthquakes. In the most advanced of countries, Japan and the United States are perfect examples. Quakes do considerable damage despite the millions of dollars such countries pour into damage control. As such, perhaps we should not apportion too much blame on the countries concerned. What we should be doing more is helping. Scientists expect yesterday’s quake to produce hundreds of smaller aftershocks, under 4.6 magnitude, and thousands smaller than that. This would mean that the crisis is far from over and the countries in the region must brace for what could possibly be more of the same. It is thus imperative that all help out. It is incumbent on the world community to lend a helping hand.
As if on cue, yesterday marked the first anniversary of the earthquake in the Iranian city of Bam that killed almost 30,000 people. The twin jolts in Bam and South and Southeast Asia serve as grim joint reminders that nature can unleash forces of destruction which man has not yet been adequately able to contend with, let alone conquer. The destruction caused by the quakes of Asia yesterday and Iran a year ago are not, many people cry, supposed to happen in the 21st century. But they do. And as in so many previous cases, there’s not a whole lot the directly affected areas or the international community can do about it.
Although we are on the cutting edge of science, as advancements and breakthroughs are made every other day, we have yet to find a way to warn people against the kind of cataclysm witnessed yesterday and properly handle the ensuing crisis.
