Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Nature’s wrath

Just as the relief operations in the cyclone-hit Myanmar are underway, Sichuan in China was hit by the worst earthquake in almost three decades on 12 May 08. The earthquake, measuring 7.5 on the Richter scale destroyed life form and infrastructure in a matter of hours. The death toll at the point in writing was 12,000 and counting.

Days before the quake, dwellers in Sichuan witnessed ten of thousands of toads coming out to the streets from their usual habitats, a strange phenomenon which they never understood till now; for animals such as toads detect natural calamities much earlier than human do. These are the telling signs of the catastrophe which human do not heed.

Myanmar and Sichuan are also rice-producing provinces; with the escalating cost of rice due to global shortage, the natural catastrophes in these two countries further aggravated the situation.

This year is the year of the Rat; it seems that the global rice supply have been really been ‘eaten’ by the mighty Rat figuratively.

No comments :

Total Pageviews