Should we learn to live with natural calamities? YOUTH CONTEST


The 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami left millions stranded and displaced from their home, demolishing property from Africa to Thailand. The great earthquake, which generated the tsunami, is estimated to have released the energy of 23,000 Hiroshima-type atomic bombs, sending waves at the speed of a jet airliner. Hurricane Katrina oversaw one of the deadliest hurricanes and social humanitarian crisis in the United States. It ravaged nearly 93,000 square miles and caused the citizens of New Orleans to have a rate of post- traumatic stress that was ten times higher than the general public. In the 2009 Haiti Ear thquake, almos t al l commercial building fell due to poor earthquake preparedness. Aid workers had trouble getting into the city as a result of poor communication systems in Haiti. None of these calamities could have been avoided. But the magnitude of these damages could have been reduced if the citizens and communities were prepared. That’s why we must learn to live with natural calamities.


Preparedness is the key to minimizing damage during a crisis. Preparedness prevents loss of life. For each life we save, we save a family. Moreover, being prepared means having plans for the economy of an area after a natural disaster. Governments, communities, and citizens should set aside a segment of their budget towards preparing citizens and


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officials for a calamity and providing disaster relief. For example, a coastal community may be completely focused on fishing to provide means of living, but a hurricane will ruin the ecosystem. To avoid a breakdown, the government should have immediate housing in a nearby city for citizens. Simultaneously, they must be available to providing credit to allow citizens to revitalize their businesses. This assistance from the government keeps the economy in check and prevents looting and


by kailash sundaramam, mo


human race each and every time. When man needed to hunt for meals, he learnt how to make spears. When man needed faster methods of copying than by hand for quicker learning, he invented the printing press. When man needed to travel long distances quickly for business and war, he invented the plane. “Necessity is the mother of invention,” and we will find ways to prevent cataclysms in the future.


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vandalism among citizens.


The state government needs to discern what disasters are most common in the area and urge citizens to prepare for the calamity in advance. Citizens should implement a family plan, identifying emergency routes and places to meet each other following the emergency.


But simply learning to live with natural calamities is only a temporary solution; we must prevent catastrophes from natural events in the future. Throughout history, man has invented things as his need for them arose, and has advanced the


We should begin our campaign to halting natural calamities by not contributing towards climate change. This begins by drastically altering our economic system, which currently rewards production without regard to the environmental impact. The world has become a materialistic- oriented place, where we claim that we sincerely care for the environment, when we continue to buy plastic water bottles when we have fine tap water and reusable bottles in our houses. We need to boycott goods such as plastic water bottles, and enforce regulations that products be classified as: environmentally friendly, harm to environment, or disastrous to environment. People who continue to buy items of harm or items that are disastrous will be taxed a significant price of the item by the federal government.


Next, we need to reduce global reliance on coal – “the enemy to the human race”. This begins with President Obama. While the


March 2012


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