State of Calamity

What a wonderful term for the declaration by the Phillipines Prime Minsiter or President to describe the situation in her nation at the moment.

Indeed, the term aptly describes the situation for many places in our neighbourhood - Vietnam, Indonesia, Samoa and several other small Pacific nations.

Several things intrigue me when I consider the response of our nation and the media to such events. Firstly, the way in which level of the calamity seems to escalates exponentially according to the number of Australians that might have been injured or killed as a result of it. The recent plane crash in PNG near Kokoda got global news coverage while similar crashes involving locals happen almost every week.

Secondly, I will be intrigued to see just how many days we can sustain our focus on these events. We tire of them very quickly as we want to hear about the next calamity. I will also be intrigued to see how trivial will be the matter that actually knocks it off the front page. My guess is that by Wednesday at the latest these news matters will be relegated to at least page five.

I wonder, too, what the doomsayers will do with these events - both religious and environmental. First a typhoon across South East Asia, then an earthquake and tsunami across the South Pacific and finally a massive earthquake in Indonesia.

I can imagine the religious seeing these as portents for the end of life as we know it, or even signs or divine judgement against whatever evil catches there eye in these regions.

And I can imagine the envirnmentalists blaming it all on global warming. well, at least they are closer to having a point. More extreme meteorlogical events are evidence that the science is cottoning on to what is actually happening. The low-lying islands of the Pacific are saying that they are already experiencing more serious erosion that they have ever had to contend with - one day a tsunami will just wash right over such an island.

The next real calamity will be when the people decide they have to move. Where will they go, and how will the places they seek to go to respond - in a welcoming fashion or with xenophobia and patrol boats of fences.

We will have to wait and see.