Human experience shows that sometimes nature rises and showers man with its fury like a rain of fire. Whenever this happens death and destruction abound and it does not stop there. Usually, even years after nature’s fury subsides, the scars remain for a long time with them the hard and cold evidence that when nature desires, it can be devastating in the affairs of man.
When these tragedies that are not man-made occur and go on to devastate man on a terrifying scale, hopelessness is usually the general and overwhelming feeling. People just stay and respond with hopelessness at such times.
Events from Turkey in the last one week have broken the heart over and over again and laid bare the staggering fragility of the human life before nature’s relentless fury. On February 6,2022, a devastating earthquake surged through parts of Turkey and Syria tearing down buildings and turning lives upside down. While the whole world has stood behind Turkey and Syria united in grief and solidarity with the country that has quite a large number of refugees, the death toll has continued to climb.
In both countries, more than 40,000 people have been killed and tens of thousands have remained missing even as authorities recently expressed worry that the window of rescue was rapidly closing. Many desperately worried families also continue to await news about their loved ones who have been missing since the earthquake and with each day that passes hope continues to fade as in the case of the Ghanaian international footballer Christian Stay who played his football in the country and has not been heard from since the devastating tragedy.
In times like these,people are reminded of the stakes or life and the sometimes very heavy hand that life deals them. People are reminded of the temporarity and transience of their lives; people are reminded of the fact that their lives could be extinguished like a flicker in no moment.
So many things continue to happen around the world with frightening frequency that highlight just how vulnerable humanity is even if it wants to think of itself as invincible. In countries around the world, different events remind people of the dangers they live everyday.
In different lives in Nigeria, people are harshly reminded of the precarity of human existence, of how peaceful and harmonious things can appear one minute but completely go off track the next minute.
Families have been torn apart in Turkey and Syria as lives and limbs have been lost to nature’s fury. Many people have also been left homeless. Refugees in both countries as well as migrants have been particularly hard-hit by the tragedy which has trailed them far away from home.
While rescue efforts have gone on in a bid to save as many lives as possible, the Turkish government has been accused of an inadequate response to a tragedy that has affected many people around the world.
It casts into grim light the preparedness of governments around the world to respond to such unforeseen, unexpected and unfailingly devastating events whenever they occur.
Amidst angry allegations that it has not done enough to save lives, the Turkish government has frantically pointed out that no country can ever prepare enough for a disaster of such magnitude.
There have also been allegations that poor urban planning aided the fearsome fury of the earthquake as buildings built without sufficient permits toppled easily trapping many beneath their ruinous rubble.
As the dust raised by the tragic earthquake settles, countries around the world can look at themselves and determine how prepared they are to salvage what is left of the lives of their citizens when events like these unfold.
Nigeria especially should examine its preparedness for natural disasters.The country has been lucky with natural disasters but there is a strong suspicion that the country is never adequately prepared to handle such disasters. There is ample proof for that too.
When in 2022 devastating floods forced their way through the country wreaking havoc in communities and leaving many families stranded, Nigeria struggled to respond. Whatever response the country was able to muster was just not enough as the furious floods claimed lives and livelihoods.
Unfortunate events like the earthquake in Turkey and Syria bring people together and bind people in bonds of solidarity and common humanity. However the response to such events also always unfailingly show up the need for proactive governments at all levels.
With climate change becoming such a critical issue around the world, nature is bound to vent its fury from time to time. It is only prudent that countries should prepare so that when nature comes hunting, not many people will be caught flat-footed.
For each family ripped apart by the ferocious earthquake, the question of how man can live in harmony with nature must assume greater urgency.
Kene Obiezu
Twitter: @keneobiezu
