Nature’s revenge

Written by Kinza Mujeeb • November 2010

6-1 Drastic climatic changes have led to the emergence of highly alert local institutions and government agencies in most of the countries affected by these changes. But South Asia, though one of the most disaster-prone areas, has sadly made little effort to enforce disaster reduction strategies.

On December 26, 2004, Sri Lanka suffered heavily from two catastrophic events. The earthquake which had a magnitude of 9.0 on the Richter scale was one of the most disastrous quakes ever experienced anywhere in the world. The earthquake caused a tsunami that took the lives of as many as 40,000 people. At the same time it left 2.5 million victims seriously wounded and shelter-less. A large percentage of children among them were found suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) while about one third of them had severe anxiety. Sri Lanka made a concerted effort to fight the miseries caused to the victims of the earthquake.

The geographical location of Bangladesh makes it particularly susceptible to earthquakes, especially in its northern and eastern regions. On the other hand, the southern region is prone to a combination of five catastrophic calamities: cyclones, droughts, earthquakes, floods and landslides. The low-lying country is, in fact, an alluvial delta. It is, therefore, predisposed to flooding. The flood in 2004 affected 19 million people as it swept vast areas of Bangladesh. Later, in July 2007, heavy monsoon rains caused a havoc affecting around 4.5 million people.

To add to the miseries of that series of calamities, the country was hit in November by cyclone Sidr. That was a category 4 cyclone and swept the south and south-western coast of Bangladesh. Even though the Bangladesh authorities had managed to evacuate millions of people, around 3.2 million were affected by the cyclone. That calamity killed more than 3,300 people and left many more injured and missing.
Inadequate infrastructure and poor housing always multiply the damage caused by earthquakes. A chain of moderate earthquakes struck Afghanistan’s seismically active area which includes Hindu Kush. The houses or rather shelters made up of mud, led to fatal consequences. More than 2000 people lost their lives in Afghanistan when an earthquake of magnitude 6.1 hit the country.

Due to a vast geographical diversity, India too has had its share of natural calamities. During the last decade, India had to suffer around 64 floods in its various parts due to unusually heavy monsoon rainfall. The tectonic plate movement of the precarious ground caused three earthquakes. At the same time, there were four spells of extremely high temperature.

Tsunamis are less frequent in the Indian Ocean. But the epicenter near the Indonesian island of Sumatra was building up for years. And then it unleashed itself sending killer waves to 11 countries. With calamities of such huge magnitude, it is difficult to estimate the extent of destruction, the number of lives lost and the amount of aid required pulling people out of their state of misery.

A fierce earthquake shook the northern areas of Pakistan on 8th October, 2005. A relatively less intense earthquake of magnitude 7.6 caused turbulence in India, Kashmir, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The casualties and the number of people who suffered on account of those calamities were large. But the number of people who suffered in Pakistan due to the recent floods is a shocking 13 million. This number exceeds the number of victims of the Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004, of the Kashmir earthquake of 2005 and the Haiti earthquake of 2010.

It is needless to say that all these countries were helped by various other countries and non-government organizations providing financial assistance as well as medical aid.
A question haunts many minds as to why it is that monstrous calamities have hit our planet so frequently during the first decade of the 21st century? Generally this is attributed to natural phenomena such as temperature rise or the man-made depletion of the Ozone layer. However, there are some skeptics who put forward the bewildering theory of “Weather Modification Weapons”.

Those who believe in this theory mainly focus upon the High Frequency Active Auroral Program (HAARP) which is being carried out in the U.S. It is said that under this program, a technology has been developed which can introduce a variety of changes in the Ionosphere. The ionosphere is a layer of positively charged particles or ions which engulfs the earth at a height of about 40 to 60 miles above it. So far the Ionosphere has been used extensively for radio communication.

The advocates of the Weather Modification Weapons theory paint a picture which is indeed horrible for the developing countries. According to them the power/powers possessing this technology would at first use that technology to cause calamities like floods, earthquakes, storms and tsunamis to cripple the economy of various developing countries.

Then they would emerge as saviors, not only helping in the rehabilitation of the affected population but also extending substantial loans to re-build the country’s economy. However, since such calamities would be too frequent, the said countries would never be able to free themselves from the clutches of the lending countries. The lending countries would also demand them to adopt policies that would not be independent and would only result in their own subjugation, so the same results would be obtained by the weather modification weapon as can be secured by the use of traditional weapons.

Such apprehensions can not be dismissed as pure fantasy. The writings of some well-known scientists support this view. According to Dr. Rosalie Bertell, “US military scientists are working on weather systems as a potential weapon. The methods include the enhancing of storms and the diversion of vapor-rivers in the Earth’s atmosphere, to produce targeted drought or floods.”

Another distinguished personality, Zbigniew Brzezinski author of Between Two Ages, reveals “Technology will make available to the leaders of major nations techniques for secret wars in which only a minimum standard of the security forces need be appraised…. Techniques of weather modification could be employed to produce prolonged period of drought or storm.”

What Dr. Bertell has stated, brings to mind the probability of the recent floods in Pakistan to be a man-made affair. This is one possibility which cannot be just brushed aside as being nonsense, as it does make sense in view of the drowning economy of the country and its need for unending borrowings.

And that raises the question that are we living in a world where we constantly need to look beyond what is virtually projected to us as reality? Also, if the above mentioned disclosures are true, the world is moving towards a warfare that would kill many more people in man-made calamities than were ever killed in wars using the traditional weapons. And the enslavement of nations resulting from such warfare would be more pathetic than that which results from foreign rule.