Novel coronavirus – The message

Now that the coronavirus has invaded our country, we are faced with a stubborn virus that won’t slow down, and the Government has declared a national state of disaster, doing its best to contain it by imposing extraordinary measures as it races to contain the spread of the coronavirus – Pic by Shehan Gunasekara

We can see that all of human behaviour that caused senseless wars, usage of nuclear weapons and nuclear warheads, weapons of mass destruction, causing unprecedented illnesses and diseases to spill over into humans including destruction and damage of environment and for the past few decades we have been witnessing a complete environmental disaster; and today’s civilisation is “playing with raging inferno”.

The novel coronavirus is a disaster that is not getting us off guard. It is a human-induced disaster in every way. Our actions and attitudes, focussing on destruction of mankind and countries with the sole purpose of taking over world domination, have disturbed the equilibrium and the balance of nature, that has led to climate change, altering rainfall patterns, and causing unprecedented natural disasters floods, tsunamis, earthquakes, dry weather and famine; an acute insufficiency and severe shortage of food through crop failure resulting in violent hunger, starvation and death.

Man was placing too much and too many pressures on the natural world with such disastrously damaging and terrible consequences; and we have received a warning that failing to take care of the planet meant, not taking care of ourselves. And now, nature has stepped in to take its revenge.

Leading scientists have said that the COVID-19 outbreak is a “clear warning shot” to assess our current situation. Nature is sending us a message with the coronavirus pandemic. The COVID-19 crisis may provide an opportunity for change, but we are not convinced it will be taken.

This is a massive wakeup call – An astronomical global economic impact of any emerging disease. Not a single country or people in the world have been spared. Because everyone on Mother Earth is responsible for the pollution of the global environment in some way or another, no matter where and how the pollution is produced; as airborne and foodborne pollutants could circulate around the world in different ways. 

The environment in its entirety is a complex living system that needs regular breaks to assimilate and ingest toxic pollutants produced during intensive and continuous industrial processes.  With high levels of CO2 emissions in the atmosphere and toxic pollutants in air, water and food have serious repercussions and have taken its toll on all life’s systems, including living beings, environment and economy and it was going overboard. Not a single pollution-free place was left on earth.

We have to be punished for our cold-blooded past; and that is taking place now, although grim, it could offer tough lessons  for the world to change its ways, attitudes and treatment of the environment and ushers in a new hope of reversing nature.

Because human activity has several detrimental effects on the environment. The use of chemicals have damaged fragile ecosystems beyond repair, the garbage we produce pollutes land and water and production of the energy we use results in harmful emissions that contribute to climate change. Reversing these effects and restoring the environment is a complicated process comprised of various efforts that differ in different places and circumstances.  This pandemic has already imprinted itself upon the psyche of man globally.

Local scenario

Now that the coronavirus has invaded our country, we are faced with a stubborn virus that won’t slow down, and the Government has declared a national state of disaster, doing its best to contain it by imposing extraordinary measures as it races to contain the spread of the coronavirus. Schools were closed and restaurants shuttered. Quarantines were mandated and travel severely limited, shutting down ports and airports and banning gatherings

But here we are, still witnessing callousness, hard-heartedness, cold-bloodedness and insensitivity against humans and animals. These can be seen by the fact that while our country as a whole and the whole world is facing this novel coronavirus cataclysmic tragedy, we hear that senseless, insensible, stupid, ignorant and illiterate bunch of devils are indulging in congregational prayers, religious sermons and gatherings and organising religious feasts (Kanduris), under the guise of religion are trying to push the entire country in to a disastrous situation. 

It is our strong, undivided and uncompromising opinion that all those responsible for encouraging to bring about such extreme misfortune and calamity be given very severe and deterrent punishments for disobedience of safety regulations instituted by the Government, irrespective of race, religion, caste or creed.  All those people entrusted with authority who had authorised such functions, fun and frolic be deemed to be traitors and punished accordingly.

Why can’t these violators see that the coronavirus and the disease it has caused – COVID-19, have taken millions of people off the streets in the world? It has crashed economies and broken health-care systems, filled hospitals and emptied public spaces. It has separated people from their workplaces, their friends and their relations. It has disrupted modern society on a scale that most living people have never witnessed. 

 Why cannot they see that factories, all around the world spewing harmful toxic smoke, polluting the environment are suddenly shut off, wars perpetrated by the so-called super-powers have been stalled, Millions and millions of vehicles and transport systems have to come to a grinding halt. Nature garroted, throttled, suffocated and strangled by man is now hitting back at everything and anything created by man; because nature needs to breathe.

Conclusion

Disasters are by their very nature devastating to communities, often having significant and long-lasting individual and population-level effects on physical, mental, and social well-being in communities where health in many cases already is suboptimal. In addition to the tragic loss of human life and devastating health consequences for survivors, disasters often necessitate billions of Rupees in public, private, and philanthropic expenditures for recovery assistance.

Depending on the nature of the disaster and its impact, these expenditures may support strategic planning and decision making on resource allocation; rebuilding of critical public infrastructure, homes, and businesses; workforce development; provision of health and human services; and restoration of care delivery systems.

Disaster recovery is a developing discipline that is creating an experiential-based fund of knowledge with insights into community strategic planning and redevelopment, economic revitalisation, and health and human services delivery, among other fields. The collective body of knowledge stemming from these continuously learning laboratories represents an invaluable resource to recovering communities and the local officials who must make difficult decisions in the face of uncertainty, armed only with the best information available. 

Accordingly, there is a need to make lessons learned from past disasters available to guide those decisions and for leaders at all levels to act on them. recommendations and guidance on how local and national leaders can mitigate disaster-related health impacts and optimise use of disaster resources—which inevitably must be spent in rebuilding—to pursue more proactively, deliberately, and thoughtfully the goal of creating communities that are healthier, more resilient and sustainable.

To achieve this success all communities, irrespective of race or religion, caste or creed, must join hands for the active restoration of normalcy in our beloved country.