Earthquake in Japan: A sign foreboding the apocalypse?

As everyone should know by now, a powerful earthquake rocked Japan to the very core on Friday, bringing with it a tsunami that has caused immeasurable tragedy and heartbreak. Unfortunately, things may even get worse as the country's oil refineries have been turned into raging infernos and the safety of some of its nuclear power plants may have been compromised. The explosion in the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan after the earthquake is sending a chill down our spines as any nuclear accident in Japan reminds us of the horrible nightmares the Japanese had experienced in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Is the Planet Earth experiencing a complete shift? Is God punishing us? Is the humanity facing the end of times for the doomsday? Is the Apocalypse in the offing? Language is too poor a medium to express our feelings of fear, despair and helplessness at what has happened after an earthquake measuring 8.9 on the Richter scale hit Japan on Friday last. This earthquake, one of the strongest in recorded history, sent a catastrophic 33-foot tsunami hurtling across the Pacific Ocean. Ironically, it is Japan which gave to the world the very word "tsunami" and it was in Japan where thousands of people were forced to flee away for their lives as the 100 mph wall of tsunami chased them, sweeping away everything in its path. Witnesses have been speaking of the terrifying moment when the quake struck. There is nothing more terrorizing than being surrounded by huge buildings that could come down on your head. It was horrifying. More than 2000 people have been reported to have died and thousands have been injured. The figure of the causalities may increase significantly after the final count. On Friday night, huge fires burned unabated across large parts of the country as damaged oil refineries and gas lines billowed black smoke into the sky. Half the country was without power, with four million homes in Tokyo alone being cut off. Two high-speed bullet trains were missing along with a cruise ship carrying 100 passengers that were swept away. One of the train was carrying 400 passengers. No country in the world is better prepared to withstand earthquakes than Japan. There are seawalls lining stretches of Japan's coastline. The building codes in Japan are known as the most rigorous in the world. Can we imagine the extent of devastation, had any other populous country like Bangladesh been hit by the 8.9 magnitude earthquake that shook Japan on Friday? Millions of people in Bangladesh may have died. Japan has spent billions of dollars developing the most advanced technology to protect against earthquakes and tsunamis. The Japanese, who regularly experience smaller earthquakes and have lived through major ones, know how to react to quakes and tsunamis because of regular drills. Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the world's most seismically active areas. But Friday's quake surpasses all the past quakes: the Great Kanto quake of September 1, 1923, which had a magnitude of 7.9 and killed more than 140,000 people in the Tokyo area and the 1995 quake in Kobe that caused US$100 billion in damages. How many people in Japan have been traumatized by this Friday's tragedy? The exact figure of the clinically traumatized people in Japan will perhaps never be known. But billions of people all over the world have been terribly shocked at the plights of the Japanese. The tragedies that are striking the humanity due to natural calamities, one after another, may be divine messages, warning us to behave ourselves. "These are the times that try men's souls," said Thomas Paine in 1776. Paraphrasing Thomas Paine we like to say that this is the time, in 2011, for our soul-searching to study the behavior of the Earth under immense pressures of all the artificialities and reach the correct decision on how we should treat our fragile planet. It is time to ask ourselves: Are we overtaxing the bearing capacity of this planet? Is not the time high enough we stopped destroying nature? How long should we wait and how many billions of lost souls should wail before we realize that the tools we have been using to bore the delicate surface of the Earth and the gases we are spewing into the atmosphere are agitating our Mother Nature beyond her patience? Our hearts go out to the victims of the Japanese earthquake who have perished and who are now groaning in pain. We are scared! We are helpless. We are speechless. What can we do for our friends in Japan? We are not wealthy enough to send to Japan sacks full of money. But we are of course praying for the people of Japan, the country that always provides Bangladesh with the largest aid. The writer can be reached at e-mail : maswood@hotmail.com