The day has started off rather depressingly. All the headlines are screaming about the China earthquake. Turns out there are atleast 20,000 people feared dead. I remember reading about this story yesterday morning. It was reported that there were no reported casualties yet so I figured that it was a minor event. Now, they fear 900 students are buried alive under their school building. God give their parents strength in these trying times.
The entire Asian continent is jinxed. First the Myanmar cyclone, now this earthquake. Feels like nature is hitting back with a vengeance. I wonder when people will realise that our time on this planet is limited and we live as custodians to the property we inherit as long as we live here. The earth doesn’t belong to us to abuse it as we want.
To top it all, most of these countries are refusing aid for the fear of foreigners entering their country. I fail to understand how you can refuse help when you need it the most. Why is it that rulers think only about themselves rather than the victims of tragedy? I remember something Bush said after the World Trade Centre collapse. When asked how many people had perished in the attack, he replied, “I don’t know the numbers but I do know know that they will be much more than we can bear.”
As much as I dislike American government policies, I have to admit they have their priorities in place when it comes to human life. One may argue about the lack of urgency after Katrina or 9/11, my reply better late than never as will be the case with the cyclone victims. Those who have survived the cyclone will perish due to lack of food, medicines, fresh water and treatment. Why? Just because their government doesn’t trust aid workers and aid workers don’t trust their government with the supplies.
The end result is that we will never know the full extent of the damage or the actual number of victims. Life will go on for us. For the survivors stuck in a time warp, the future is long story of struggle for survival. May God give them hope and courage on this arduous journey.
compulsivewriter said
one can’t help but think about those who survive, with the nightmares of the calamity. knowing that had their been help in time, their loved ones could have been saved. who do they have to blame… For the governments it’s a mere statistic but for the victims, it is a catastrophe that will change the way they look at life forever…
If only « Compulsivewriter’s Weblog said
[...] If only May 14, 2008 Posted by compulsivewriter in People, babble. Tags: bereavement, blasts, death, earthquake, Jaipur, life, loss, procrastination, regret, uncertainty trackback There are three things that have driven me to write this post. First the earthquake in China and the rising death toll. Second, the Jaipur blasts. Then I happened to visit my friend Sneha’s blog who wrote about the earthquake (click here for a link to the post I am talking about) [...]