According to the UN, “A disaster is a serious disruption to the functioning of a community, which causes human, material, economic and environmental losses beyond a community’s ability to cope. Disaster management aims to lessen the impacts of disasters, minimizing losses of life and property”.
In the ancient days, disasters were considered to be an expression of anger expressed by mother nature, years passed by, and we got to know the science behind it. In layman terms, disasters could be either manmade or natural. But off late, it has been observed that even natural disasters occurring these days have a push of the human hand! For example, deforestation in a hilly region might cause landslides. A good example of manmade disaster and carelessness could be the Minamata disease outbreak in Japan due to mercury contamination in fishes.
With evolving time, we have new challenges coming up especially due to excessive pollution, climate change, and overpopulation. Over the last two months, the world has been suffering from COVID-19, a virus said to be transmitted via a bush market in Hunan, Wuhan which sold bat meat to 27 of the first 41 patients who had been tested positive for the virus. The bush-market is said to be a place where all sorts of animals are kept in unhygienic and inhumane conditions to be slaughtered and sold.
This tradition of eating such animals started way back in the 1970s when the Chinese government allowed slaughtering of such animals amidst the food crisis in those days. In 1988 it enacted the Wildlife Protection Law, in which animals were designated as natural resources, making them fit to be slaughtered. A huge wildlife Industry started booming which also gave way to an illegal industry in which animals such as Tigers, rhinoceros, and pangolins started being trafficked, often sold to the elites marketed as performance enhancers, sex tonics and what not!
All being false claims.
We, humans, are immune to certain viruses, but in my opinion, it is better to draw a line, else in the future also we will end up being in contact with such new viruses as and when we encroach deep forests and preserved habitats, and damage the ecological balance. So much so for small economic benefits which in turn have tampered the world economy today.
The COVID-19 is just the trailer of the movie we might end up watching if we don’t stop encroaching into deep ecological systems and disturb the balances of the same. We need to have a long term vision. We have only one earth to live in. We need businesses, we need our economy to grow but sustainably. So that our needs of today, don’t tamper our needs of tomorrow.
Astonishingly, a microscopic virus has brought the whole world to its knees, something which even the greatest conquerors and colonialists couldn’t. We were well-equipped with arsenals of nuclear missiles, tanks, and ammunition for any attack on our sovereignty seldom did we know that we need to be prepared for such a virus pandemic. We need to strengthen our health systems all across the world, create a good network of data sharing between countries where we can “germ game”, just like we war-game.
Had there been good data sharing and China warned us, the world would have been well equipped to fight the virus, and fewer lives would have been lost. Dr Li Wengliang, a whistleblower, came out of his way to tell the world about the virus, got infected himself, kept updating the world regarding the same, and unfortunately died. Such incidents make us realize the importance of free speech and democracy.