When Big Things Occur....

The earthquake that hit Nepal a few weeks back again reminded us of the fact how the modern humanity is still 'unprepared' for bigger challenges (watch Slavoj Zizek's interview with Aljazeera about his 2014 book 'Living in the End Times').  At least for the first few days, the nature of the magnitude of  the catastrophe was quite beyond management for the relief group consisted of several mighty nations and regional commonwealth countries.   The international media went on reporting how thousands of locals and international pleasure seekers were trapped in this tragic event. The after effects had been more devastating and those who helped rescue efforts found that the situation was far beyond their ability to manage. The Nepal government was assisted by all the regional countries and some superpowers to overcome the situation. Very much like the Tsunami  that hit the some parts of Asia in 2004, no country had ever prepared for a hazardous situation of this magnitude and managerial bodies were initially clueless about the situation. Sometimes ago after the Tsunami disaster, Time magazine published an article titled 'Are we ready for another Tsunami' (Read the article:  http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1661462,00.html ). It feared whether we are ready for another catastrophic situation like this in future. However, it came again but in another guise.

But now that Nepal became yet another Asian country that was devastated by a similar natural disaster.  The contemporary Liberal government give all the promises to safeguard its citizens from any natural (or otherwise) calamity. They promise that the efficient management/administrative bodies can quickly respond to such situations. Yes. They can respond to situations like controlling Dengue or Malaria, or sometimes deploying police to suppress mass rallies etc.  Bur the real issue is how far they can 'efficiently' act when Nature reacts to man's foolishness. When the greedy consumerism destroys all the resources for momentary pleasure benefiting only few billionaires in the world, and when the nature reacts in its own way? This is another obvious example where Nature brings 'unexpected returns' to the carelessness about our way of life. Surely, once more, another big thing (nature) has occurred and thousands were dead and another countless number of people missing. Are we actually safe in the hands of these Liberal prophets when such big things happen?

Read:
S, Zizek. (2014). Living in the End Times. London. Verso.