Overcoming tragedies and disasters

TWO powerful earthquakes and a series of aftershocks struck the Japanese island of Kyushu on Thursday (magnitude of 6.4 on the Richter scale) and Saturday (magnitude of 7.3 on the Richter scale), claiming the lives of at least 32 people and injuring at least 1,000. The second quake was the strongest to hit Japan since 2011, when a 9.0-magnitude offshore earthquake resulted in a tsunami which claimed the lives of 18,000 and caused a meltdown in a Fukushima nuclear power plant. While rescue workers are digging through rubble to reach those who are trapped, other households have been evacuated, and many do not have access to water or electricity. Isolated villages in the mountainous areas are also cut off by landslides and damaged roads.

Across the Sea of Japan, memorial events were held in South Korea to mark the second anniversary of the Sewol tragedy, the country’s worst maritime disaster. The sunken ferry Sewol killed 304 of the 476 people on board, many of whom were high school students. Its captain – who abandoned the ferry – has been found guilty of homicide and handed a life term. Many parents, however, remain bereaved and bereft, and have continued to call for greater transparency over and accountability for the disaster. At the same time, to retrieve bodies of nine victims who are still missing, the government announced that the sunken vessel would be lifted intact by the end of July.

And across the Causeway in Johor, water levels in the Linggiu Reservoir – which helps to meet half of Singapore’s water needs – fell to a historic low of just over one-third full. Dry spells and hot weathers are expected to persist, and worryingly several Malaysian states have been hit by water rationing. 85,000 domestic and industrial consumers in parts of Johor, for instance, will be affected. Beyond the need for greater water conservation, what is even more worrying is the impact of the dry spell on agriculture, with delays in padi planting and the inability to irrigate padi fields until rain returns.

In Singapore, a World War Two tomb memorial at Choa Chu Kang Cemetery – along with 35,000 graves in a cemetery section – will be gone under an exhumation programme by the National Environment Agency (NEA). As of March only 900 of the graves have been claimed, and the graves which go unclaimed by July 31 this year will first be exhumed and cremated. These ashes will be scattered at sea by the NEA if they remain unclaimed three years after exhumation. In the meantime, the National Heritage Board is working with the NEA to document and study significant tombstones as well as historic structures.

And finally, the Straits Times spoke to Madam Khoo Bee Hua, whose left hand was crushed and severed during a lift accident in October last year. She has turned down offers of a prosthetic hand, and since the incident Madam Khoo has been in and out of hospitals for operations and checks, has had to take courses of medication, and is now wheelchair-bound. “I just look forward to the day when I can stand up and do the things I used to do again,” she said.

 

Featured image from TMG file.

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