Fresh Vision

The fear of losing one’s life appears to be the greatest fear of all humans. While some people undergo mind revolution schemes to build sufficient courage necessary for surmounting dire challenges of life which sometimes may include giving up once life, the greater majority will rather take a neighbour’s life to remain alive. The old still dread death, at least unplanned!

 Certain circumstances however are clearly beyond man’s control, some have been with us since creation, other appear to be evolving as a consequence of how man operates this planet. Mankind is in permanent quest for a solution to natural disasters, be it technological or spiritual. Indeed nothing just happens. There is sufficient cause for every occurrence.

 From Bible history, some people opine that there may have been a natural disaster that made the world without form and void after The Beginning in Genesis 1:1, which warrant the mandate “…replenish the earth” in Genesis 1:28. Most religious people also look forward to a cataclysmic end of the world in what can be classified as the greatest unpreventable natural disaster yet to come. see 2 Peter 3:10 -12., while there exist the  prophetic warning of coming  “famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places” as  sure signs  before the end. Mat 24:7, Mark 13:8 and Luke 21:11.

Other seemingly natural or rather divine events that lead to large scale loss of lives includes the flood in the days of Noah Genesis 7:17 -24, fire and hailstone on Sodom and Gomorrah Genesis 19:24, several famines beginning from Abram Gen 12:10, the opening that swallowed up Korah, Dathan, and Abiram in the days of Moses, Numbers 16:30 -35, and earth quake in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah Zechariah 14:5.

 The extent of damage and loss of life occasioned by natural disasters often leave religious men asking “Where is God in all of this?”  or  “ is this what God is doing to us?  And why? ” Some others postulate quite logically that the absence of light creates room for darkness, implying that turning away of the divine light of God due to the sin of mankind. Whereas, as a symbol of the presence / endorsement of God, some other earthquakes were recorded, though without negative consequences, such as with Elijah in 1 Kings 19:12, Paul and Silas in Acts 16:26, and at the death and resurrection of our lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 27:54, and Matthew 28:2 respectively.

 The proper perspective therefore is to be adequately informed and prepared at heart, with the fact that from the very beginning, the world and everything in it is temporary including our existence in this material world.

 A simple definition of a natural disaster is a major adverse event resulting from natural processes of the Earth, and in modern times, numerous natural disasters are experienced around the world.

 MAJOR NATURAL DISASTERS ARE;

•  Volcanic Eruptions occur when molten rock, ash and steam pour through a vent or fissure in the earth’s crust. The ensuing hazards include explosions, lava flows, bombs or ballistics, ash or tephra, pyroclastic flows, pyroclastic surges, mudflows or lahars, landslides, earthquakes, ground deformation, tsunami, air shocks, lightning, poisonous gas and glacial outburst flooding known as jökulhlaups. Each hazard has a different consequence, although not all occur in all eruptions or in association with all volcanoes. Volcanic eruptions are measured using a simple descriptive index known as the Volcano Explosivity Index which ranges from zero to eight. The index combines the volume of material ejected with the height of an eruption column and the duration of the eruption.

•  Earthquakes involve the sudden release of energy in the Earth’s crust that creates seismic waves.  Measured using observations from  seismometers, the moment magnitude is the most common scale on which earthquakes are reported for the entire globe, with  numerous smaller earthquakes measured mostly on the local magnitude scale, also referred to as the Richter scale. The Intensity of shaking is measured on the modified Mercalli scale.

 LESS POPULAR DISASTERS ARE CLASSIFIED AS

 1.       Hydrological disasters which are water related, such as

•  limnic eruptions which  occurs when a gas, usually CO₂, suddenly erupts from deep lake water, posing the threat of suffocating wildlife, livestock and humans.
• Tsunamis caused by undersea earthquakes 
•  A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land

2.      Meteorological disasters which are weather related, such as

•  Blizzards are severe winter storms characterized by heavy snow and strong winds. When high winds stir up snow that has already fallen, it is known as a ground blizzard,
•   An avalanche (also called a snowslide or snowslip) is a rapid flow of snow down a sloping surface. Avalanches are typically triggered in a starting zone from a mechanical failure in the snowpack (slab avalanche) when the forces on the snow exceed its strength but sometimes only with gradually widening (loose snow avalanche).
• A tornado is a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. Most tornadoes have wind speeds less than 110 miles per hour (177 km/h), are approximately 250 feet (80 m) across, and travel a few miles (several kilometers) before dissipating. The most extreme tornadoes can attain wind speeds of more than 300 mph (480 km/h),
• A heat wave is a period of unusually and excessively hot weather. The worst heat wave in recent history was the European Heat Wave of 2003.
• Hailstorms are falls of rain drops that arrive as ice, rather than melting before they hit the ground. It is also known as ice storms
• Drought is unusual dryness of soil, resulting in crop failure and shortage of water for other uses, caused by significantly lower rainfall than average over a prolonged period. Hot dry winds, high temperatures and consequent evaporation of moisture from the ground can contribute to conditions of drought.
• Cyclone, tropical cyclone, hurricane, and typhoon are different names for the same phenomenon a cyclonic storm system that forms over the oceans.
• Thunderstorms and lighting
• Winter

 3.      Wildfires

Wildfires are large fires which often start in wildland areas. Common causes include lightning and drought but wildfires may also be started by human negligence or arson

 4.      Health disasters such as Epidemics and  Emergency diseases

 An epidemic is an outbreak of a contractible disease that spreads through a human population. A pandemic is an epidemic whose spread is global.

 ·         Some of those experienced in the past include pandemic influenza, small pox, polio, malaria,  HIV/AIDS, Nile Virus, H1N1 Swine Flu,  Bird Flu  Anthrax, and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

·         Presently there is Ebola Virus in some parts of Africa, and Middle East Respiratory Virus found in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, the UAE, Yemen, Lebanon etc . They both have no cure and no vaccination. So we must be very careful when we travel to these places , as we can only prevent it by the following rules

 –       Avoid close contacts, such as kissing, sharing cups, or sharing eating utensils, with sick people.

 –       Wash your hands often with soap and water for 20 seconds,

 –       Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands, 

 –       Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze then throw the tissue in the trash.

 –       Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces, such as toys and doorknobs.

 5.      Space disasters caused by

 A meteoroid, which  is a small rocky or metallic body travelling through space while a comet is an icy small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, heats up and begins to outgas, displaying a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. They contribute to

 ·         A solar flare is a phenomenon where the sun suddenly releases a great amount of solar radiation, much more than normal.

 ·         Impact events such as fallen trees caused by the Tunguska meteoroid of the Tunguska event in June 1908

 ·         Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are flashes of gamma rays associated with extremely energetic explosions that have been observed in distant galaxies.

 For the mention, there are also man-made disasters, such as

• Plane Crashes, Bridge Collapse, Cyber-attacks and hacking of computer databases, Air Pollution from Industries and Global Warming, Explosions in pipeline and mines)  
• Hazardous materials and Chemical attack on humans, Nuclear power plant and nuclear blast, Oil Spill and Environmental Pollution,
• Extinction of species such as dinosaurs, dolphins, elephants, or even local languages. As youth we must learn our local languages.
• Civil unrest,  bomb explosions not forgetting BOKO HARAM or wasteful government projects gulping so much money that would have been used  alternatively to create  jobs, repair roads,  build  and equip hospitals, etc. because money truly  has a proportional relationship to quality of life and even ability to remain alive is certain circumstances found widespread in Africa.

 Remember the definition of a disaster is a calamitous event, especially one occurring suddenly and causing great loss of life, damage, or hardship.  It may be a natural disaster or a man-made disaster.

 Nigeria has more man-made disasters than natural disasters for now. But with increasing environmental pollution, and voids in the earth from the massive drilling of crude oil (millions of barrels per day), very soon we may begin to experience some natural disasters. May this not be our lot.

Samuel Kwelle   (2014)