The scourge of earthquakes still dictates the world despite mankind’s phenomenal success in harnessing the whims of nature.. The latest Iran tragedy proves the point beyond question. Last year it was in Bam in Iran; the year before it was in Bhuj in India and this year it could be somewhere else. The devastating tremor is almost an annual or biannual feature even in the cyber age and the whole of humanity remains a helpless spectator unable to protect life from utter annihilation

Enough is done when a quake rocks a doomed piece of earth. The entire world rises to the occasion screaming, lamenting and rushing help. Even the poorest of nations contributes to the relief effort notwithstanding its resource crunch at home. Tragic stories hit the newspaper headlines and fill the slots in TV channels all over. States vie with each other in pronouncement of sympathy and allotment of relief packages. All these are no mean things. It establishes human solidarity. But these take place after the demolition is over leaving poor victims incapacitated for good.

Can nothing be done on a preventive mode to protect invaluable human life, which no human on earth can reconstruct? There is a vast warehouse of knowledge of seismography and no dearth of wisdom associated with. The quake prone zones have been identified and categorized in terms of susceptibility. .Occurrence of an earthquake is predictable to some extent. And to top it all the technology for quakeproof structures is available with ease...Resources, which flow in after the tragedy can be pooled in advance. A dedicated outfit which is all geared up on preemptive tone can be created for the purpose..

In a nutshell, let there be a sea change in attitude and approach with the powers that be. Let us not act after the rampage is over with tears in our eyes. That provides little solace to the victims. Let us be on our feet before Mother Nature shakes herself ominously with optimism in our mind. God will bless us for sure for that.

(Mr Annan is an extremely busy person .I am not sure if he pours through the pages of the JoeUser blog sites...Could any kind hearted Joe mail this article to The Secretary General and do a favour to humanity?) .. .



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