The Natural Disasters - Essay Example

The Natural Disasters Introduction The world has experienced a number of natural disasters in different time periods. These natural disasters range from earthquakes, diseases, insect plagues, tsunami, drought and bushfires among others. Recent natural disasters in terms of earthquakes that have caused devastating losses in the countries where they occurred include the most recent Italy earthquake (2009) and the Chinese earthquake that struck in the year 2008. The recent earthquake disaster took place on 6th April 2009. It was measured at 6.3 on the Richter scale and it caused death to great numbers of people, rendering approximately fifty thousand more homeless. The quake also led to the destruction of approximately 14,000 buildings. Chinese experienced a similar earthquake on 12th May 2008 where an estimated 80,000 people lost their lives, approximately five million others were rendered homeless and property was lost. The following essay seeks to compare and contrast some five aspects; media coverage, government response, international response; survivor rescue efforts and the immediate relief that followed the occurrences of the two case scenarios. Main body The two above mentioned nations demonstrated typically unique approaches to their attempts to rescue the survivors that were trapped in rubbles immediately the earthquakes struck. Since buildings were struck down by the quakes, they crumbled down in the process burying the people who were inside them in the rubbles. Evidently both nations made immediate efforts to attempt to rescue the survivors who were still trapped underneath these buildings in an attempt to save their lives. Rescuers were witnessed working both day and night to rescue as many people as possible. In both cases, the Red Cross rescuers crew found in both countries played the major most roles in the rescue mission getting as many survivors from the rubbles as they possibly could. Their strategic approach was basically organized and with the help of some locals and government authorities, a sizable number of survivors were rescued (Ma et.al. 2000p19). At the same time, the two countries demonstrated some differences in their rescue approaches. While Italy invited and eagerly received the contribution of the other foreign nations and non governmental organizations in their rescue mission, China under the guise of state sovereignty rejected the assistance of the foreign countries and humanitarian organizations and solely sought to undertake the rescue mission. Italy, with more than 5000 emergency rescuers, therefore was assisted by countries like Israel, Russia, the European Union and Britain which had advanced technology in its disposition towards the rescue mission. In effect, a greater number of survivors were rescued at a shorter time period in the Italian case than was the Chinese case. These two cases were of great significance to the governments of both nations and hence elicited responses as they occurred. The earthquake that took place in Italy provoked the government to declare a state of emergency and it dedicated all its attention towards the earthquake and the effect it had on the general Italian populace e.g. the prime minister of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi decided to cancel an official visit to Russia in order to pay a visit to and asses the area that had been hit by the earthquake. Such a declaration was not made in china. Relevant government officials undertook assessment of the area and immediately got into directing their efforts towards combating the effects of the disaster and looked into disaster preparedness. It has been recorded that Italy had been warned of the earthquake by a seismologist but the government had decided to ignore it and decided not to act on it. China embarked on the mass disposal of the bodies and influenced the DNA tests that were meant to assist with the identification of the bodies yet Italy’s engagement in this is unknown. The governments of the two countries embarked on resettling the survivors and the displaced persons to areas of safety and took measures to ensure the people stayed off the affected areas to avoid the possibility of accidents and to maximize safety. The displaced persons were offered tents, food, and water among others. Both countries also arraigned necessary services e.g. medical, temporary academic and water, at the camp sites where the displaced persons lived. While the Italian government allowed the foreign medical practitioners to care for the displaced persons, the government of China had initially denied this chance to foreigners but they later yielded. The Chinese government at one point felt that the international community was meddling with its internal affairs and therefore restricted the entry of the foreign rescuers and journalists in the their country- something that Italy totally disapproved by allowing as much entry into the country as possible (Romeo 2000p23). The two cases were taken as matters of concern by the international community due to the level of their magnitude. The international community responded in different ways from sympathetic to empathetic ways. The governments of Israel, Russia, Germany, Japan, and Britain, and the major non governmental organizations offered to rescue the survivors that were trapped within the rabbles in both cases. Italy readily took up the offer and had these countries included in their rescue mission while China rejected this offer opting to take up the role solely. However as the toll of the people to rescue and treat grew large enough to outdo the capacity available in China, she called for external assistance and some nations including the above named and Taiwan sent their staff; both medical practitioners and rescuers to assist them with offering rescue and medical services to the affected people. Field hospitals were put in place to cater for the growing number of the earthquake casualties. The international media services also took a very great part in enlightening the development of the events in the two deadly earthquake aftermaths. This move was highly embraced by Italy during this incidence but China took the move rather negatively and denied the foreign media a chance to cover the unfolding of the events that followed the earthquake in their country (Sun weekly 2009). As the effects of the two earthquakes raged on, the outer world was kept on toes on the development of the effects of the quakes by the role of the media. In both cases, the local radio and television stations played a great role in this. Most of the people who were living outside the ranges that were hit by the two earthquakes shared that they kept updated about the consequences of the earthquakes via their local as well as international television stations. The Sky Italia specialized in taking pictures and video clips of the destroyed houses and the people who had either died of the earthquake or who had been rescued from the rabbles. The international media coverage played a great role in enlightening the world of the developments of the two earthquakes. The BBC for example was one of the leading examples of international media that spread the news on an international scale. In China, the Phoenix Satellite Television that was based in Hong Kong was a leading television station that was broadcasting the political dynamics that were prompted by the earthquake. It not only did this but also made an extensive coverage of the damages that were caused by the earthquake, the suffering of the people in their makeshift settlements and the general public feeling towards the response of the government to the devastation that was caused by the earthquake. It was feared that the information aired had the potential to mobilize the nation against the government. The station proved threatening to the government which ordered it to close down under the guise of protecting the maintenance of the public security. The devastating results of the two earthquakes left great numbers of people dead with China estimating the number to 80000. At the same time, great numbers of people were left homeless as their homes were destroyed and buried beneath the rubbles. This necessitated the immediate relief of these people that was accomplished by in most part the governments, individuals and non governmental organizations (BBC NEWS 2009). The displaced people were offered with tents to immediately shelter them from adverse weather conditions. There was the provision of the mobile hospital services at the camp sites that assisted with treatment of the medical conditions that these people were suffering from e.g. the assessment of part of the L'Aquila's hospital as unsafe and potentially dangerous for the patients necessitated the erection of field hospitals to cater for the ailing Italians. Chinese survivors of the earthquake had medical practitioners within the camp sites they were living in to cater for any eventuality. The deaths of the great numbers of people also called for a way of disposing off the great masses of people that had died at a go. This therefore called for the cremation of some of the people while others were buried lying side by side inside a pit e.g. it has been recorded that 80% of the bodies that died in the Sichuan earthquake were either cremated or buried. Unidentified bodies in the L'Aquila earthquake Italy were buried in a massive pit that could contain the great number of the bodies. Evidence of the cremation among the Italian victims is not known (The independent world 2009). Conclusion A number of aspects came into play with the earthquakes that took place in both Italy and China that led to devastating losses of the human lives and property, and the displacement of a great number of the people who were living in the areas where the earthquakes affected. I have undertaken to make a comparison and contrast of five of these aspects including the responses made by governments of the affected countries, and the international community, how media covered these events, the immediate relief offered to the victims and how the survivors were rescued. The discussion showed the unique approaches that the governments of the two countries affected decided to influence. Natural disasters are therefore phenomenon that are bound to happen without warning and the level of preparedness of a given country as well as the response it decides to adopt when the actual disaster strikes will reflect greatly on the individuals needing the help. References BBC NEWS (2009) ‘Potent Italian quake destroys many’ as quoted in http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7984867.stm as at 5.50am Ma, Z. et.al. (2000) “Earthquake prediction: nine major earthquakes in China” goggle books p19 Msnbc “Massive earthquake kills almost 10000 in China” as quoted in http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24573168/ on May 5, 2009 as at 5.02am Romeo, R. (2000) “Earthquake-induced ground failures in Italy” Irpinia p23 Sun weekly (2009) ‘Thousands left without home as earthquake rocks Italy’ as quoted in http://www.smh.com.au/world/thousands-homeless-as-earthq... On May 5, 2009 as at 5.00am The independent world (2009) ‘China’s cover up on quake’ as quoted in http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/chinas-quake-coverup-1678542.html on May 5, 2009 as at 5.10am Read More