Dictatorship of Nature: The Only Laws that Apply Equally to All

It’s 3:54 CET(UTC+1), 26 November 2019, Albania was hit by an earthquake of magnitude 6.4 with an epicenter 16 kilometers west-southwest of Mamurras. I woke up in tremendous turmoil, told my sister not to move, and unintentionally started to think for my life. After 40 seconds, everything stopped. The walls now were quiet, but neighbors’ screams and panic filled the void instantly.

My sister tried to call our parents. I tried to call my fiancée. We both failed. Then I tried to call our parents, but there was no connection. Thought of uncertainties made me unaware of the aftershocks that continued. After some time, which felt like eons, we managed to get information that everyone was ok.

Later in the day

Later in the day, I learned that this earthquake was one of the biggest and most devastating in Albanian history. Later in the day, I found out that my parents’ home in La?, the place where I was raised, was unsafe for living from now on. Later in the day, I found out that many citizens had lost their lives and many of them were still under the rubble in Durr?s and Thuman?. The horrendous breaking news and continued aftershocks made the daily routine impossible to start. The whole country was hurt, in every dimension. Stories of survival vs stories of tragedy were in the mind and heart of each citizen, which within the first day ignited the biggest solidarity effort that the Albanians have ever lived since the Kosovo war in 1999.

Aftermath

According to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the total number of people affected was 202,291 in the provinces of Durr?s, Tiran?, and Lezh?. 51 Citizens lost their lives, and +3,000 were injured. Damage assessment results of inspected objects per prefecture (as of 10 January for Tirana and Lezhe, 21 January for Durres) showed 47,169 buildings were affected by the earthquake and 5,080 of them were marked DS 4/5 and scheduled for controlled demolition.

Dictatorship of Nature

Most of the time, we think of ourselves in a position of power, where the majority elect a legitimate government, which then shapes the life of the citizens with the common good as a guideline. Human civilization, more efficiently western democracies, have managed to improve the quality of life through human rights, technology, and statehood development.

Unfortunately, nature was not considered a vital element of human life throughout history. Since 2 million years ago, mankind has been the apex predator according to the American Journal of Biological Anthropology. Once we rose to the top of the food chain, we did not care for nature anymore. We did not need nature anymore to survive. If yesterday, a healthy tree was a safe place to sleep at night, today a healthy serves as a decoration or a unit to feed the wood industry.

It is not strange to see today politicians and citizens argue against environmental policies because we are predecessors and beneficiaries of hostile behavior against nature with the only focus on profit and gains. But as we bathe on the advantages of technological advancement without considering the effect on nature, we are subject to an intensely increased natural disaster event due to it.

Climate Change

It is scientifically proven that the increased frequency and devastating power of droughts [2], wildfires [3], hurricanes [4], floods [5], landslides [6], earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions [1], are caused by deforestation and emission of CO2.

Natural Disasters do not recognize nationality, citizenship, social status, and financial income. Their manifestation does not recognize borders, political systems, or religious beliefs. You can be the role model of your society, and do everything right in your life, but you can do nothing to save your or the lives of your loved ones, if you are in the wrong time, in the wrong place.

What to do

Since we as mankind, are yet again threatened by nature, we need to develop a new massive collaboration as we did 2 million years ago, when we rose to the top of the food chain. Likewise, cooperation as communities, societies, and countries is needed to develop a new level of interaction and organization to recognize and confront climate change as the biggest threat to our existence. A multi-national organization that mobilizes with all the technological and financial capabilities available to counter the effect of climate change with the main purpose of protecting human life. Unfortunately, we are too late to change our behavior against nature, but we can develop systems of reaction to give more tools to our survival instinct.

References

[1] Blackett, M. (2023, August 14). Climate change could be triggering more earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Here’s how. Https://www.Weforum.org/Agenda/2023/08/Climate-Change-Trigger-Earthquakes-Volcanoes/.

[2] Damania, R. (2023, September 11). What You Need to Know About Climate Change and Drought. Https://www.Worldbank.org/en/News/Feature/2023/09/11/What-You-Need-To-Know-About-Climate-Change-And-Drought.

[3] Environmental Protection Agency, U. S. (2022, July 1). Climate Change Indicators: Wildfires. Https://www.epa.gov/Climate-Indicators/Climate-Change-Indicators-Wildfires.

[4] Colbert, A. (2023, June 1). A Force of Nature: Hurricanes in a Changing Climate. Https://Science.Nasa.gov/Earth/Climate-Change/A-Force-Of-Nature-Hurricanes-In-A-Changing-Climate/.

[5] Climate, D. G. (2023, August 3). How climate change is disrupting rainfall patterns and putting our health at risk. Https://Climate.ec.Europa.eu/News-Your-Voice/News/How-Climate-Change-Disrupting-Rainfall-Patterns-And-Putting-Our-Health-Risk-2023-08-03_en.

[6] Lee, J. (2022, October 5). NASA Study Finds Climate Extremes Affect Landslides in Surprising Ways. Https://Climate.Nasa.gov/News/3218/Nasa-Study-Finds-Climate-Extremes-Affect-Landslides-In-Surprising-Ways/.