Main Concerns: Still Russia and Pakistan

All major news agencies, such as BBC, Bloomberg and the German Focus still report extensively about the natural disasters ongoing in Pakistan and Russia. In Pakistan, the floods now affect ca. 20 million people, who are threatened to be killed by Cholera and other diseases if not by the waters. In Russia, the wildfires come dangerously close to nuclear facilities around Sarov. Even though Russian officials claim that the fires are under control, nobody can be sure about that or another outbreak of fires. Everybody around here is concerned, donates and perhaps prays, as this is all one can do.

Floods in Pakistan

Whilst fires rage in Russia, water washes land away in Pakistan, and with it the homes of app. 14 million people, which equals a quarter of the UK population. Even though the world is alarmed and mobilised, the enormity of the catastrophy hampers all efforts.

Moscow still smog-covered

Komsomolskaya Pravda issued a map of the wildfires sweeping through western and southern Russia. Smog still persists in Moscow and reaches as far St Petersburg and Ekaterinburg, 1,500km west of Moscow.

Wildfires in Russia

For the first time in my life, I experience extensive coverage of a natural catastrophy in Russia. Either such things did not happen in the past (unlikely) or the Kreml simply did not let the news spread (likely). Anyway, Pravda amongst other news agencies report that countless fires rage in Central Russia sparked by the heat wave. It has been the hottest July since record, giving Moscow temperatures of ca. 35C and more as opposed to usually 23C average.
Fires are sweeping across all western and southern counties surrounding Moscow, dramatically increasing pollution in the capital. So far the fires have claimed 48 victims. The respective counties are in a state of emergency. Authorities fear that they will not have enough professional firefighters and that the flames could reach a nuclear plant near Sarov (south of Moscow), the Nuclear Research Center of Russia. (Source picture: Pravda)

"Power on Earth"

"That ordinary thing [power] is like an illness. After you get used to it you almost prefer life with it, though you know it will take you to the grave. I think it is a terrible vice, and one that isn't so easy to give up." (Leonardo Padura Fuentes.  Havana Black. 1998, 2006 English) (Picture: Amazon.co.uk)

"Horror on Earth" (A. Seebold)

"It was that day that I knew I wanted to tell the story of my family. Because horror on Earth is real and it is every day. It is like a flower or like the sun; it cannot be contained." (Alice Seebold. The Lovely Bones. 2002)

World Famines (1693-2005)

A report dealing with historical famines caught my eye. 2 countries are re-occuring, such being China and Russia, mainly in the 19th and 20th centuries. China lost approximately 32 million people to hunger and Russia approximately 16 million in the course of ca. 100 years to famine only. The reasons for those famines (listed in 'Observations') range from merely natural ones such as drought or floods to political ones such as war and policy failure.

(Source: Survival. Global Politics and Strategy. June-July 2009. Vol. 51 No.3)

World's Disasters

Mankind has seen many disasters, taking millions of lives. This is a true, sad, general fact. Putting faces and numbers to such an informations makes a catastrophy hard to grasp for everyone. Three of the most devastating and deadliest tragedies happened in the last 5 years:
1. 2004, December, Tsunami after earthquake , hitting Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, taking 250,000 lives.
2. 2008, May, earthquake, hitting China, costing 88,000 lives.
3. 2010, January, earthquake, hitting Haiti, costing 230,000 lives.
That is more than 1/2 million lives wiped out in just 5 years. As grim and ghoulish as it may sound, it seems as earth and nature reclaim whatever is theirs by these natural disasters...


Tsunami about to land.
(Photo by BBC)

Haiti's Port-au-Prince after the quake.
(Photo by CNN)






China, Sichuan province.
(Photo by BBC)