leaves on the seine.

Monday, December 27, 2004

I wasn't even aware of the earthquake and the resulting tsunamis that devastated and perished whole islands and lives until either Jon or Vish mentioned it to me. It was obviously a big thing, as I switched between BBC and CNN. The calamity shocked us as it did to everybody else- at a time of celebration. Just when I thought that Russian bombings; or the Nicoll Highway incident would be as bad as it could get for 2004, this earthquake struck. God IS trying to send us a message. We've just repeatedly turned away His signs. Blind and deaf to His cries for peace and love and devotion to Him. It's not much to ask for right?

We were going about having a wonderful dinner at Jon's place and the next thing i knew, thousands were killed across Asia from Indonesia to India. Thank God Singapore's situated nicely between Malaysia and Indonesia.
But my question- Just how long more till Singapore gets hit by a major catastrophe? What if half our population is wiped out by say, an earthquake? What if some psycho terrorist group does actually manage to sneak a bomb into somewhere central, somewhere with a large crowd? (God forbid)
Are we really really prepared, mentally prepared, for such a thing to happen? Or have we lapsed into apathy and obscurity? After Sept 11, we've gotten used to reading abt bombings and wars and natural disasters there that death tolls mean nothing more than a statistic to us anymore. After all, we're safely nestling at home in accident-free Singapore right? But how long more would our skies be blessed with clouds with silver linings? Just how long more would our streets be safe and not marred be with tragedy, devastation and loss of lives? Physically we are ready. I'm just skeptical about the mental part. SARS displayed our valor and how we rallied together. But it's still considered small-scale, with less than a thousand deaths. We wont have such luck forever. It's just a matter of time, if you ask me. So be prepared.

Posted by zul at 7:13 PM