‘Natural Disasters’ is a thought-provoking piece of writing by Sohaib Zahir Sayed of class O’ levels final year! See, he’s given an attention-grabbing opening to his essay; has successfully provided information in the form of statistics, facts and figures, and has discussed the factors involved behind such ravaging natural calamities humans keep getting hit from time to time. Let’s laud our dear Sohaib’s attempt!

Natural Disasters

It was a frosty morning of December with a flurry of snow falling, covering the whole ground with a white soft sheet.

The temperature was around -2 when I, reluctantly, got out of my warm bed. After having taken a delightful warm shower, I changed my sleeping dress and came out of my room. Next, I rushed to my father’s room to wake him up because we both were to pay a visit to Aunt Saima who had had a small accident last evening, and was consequently hospitalized. Once having made sure father was wide awake, I dashed to my own room upstairs to put my mobile phone onto the charger. As I was about to pick up the charger, the wooden floor of my room started trembling raucously. I bawled” Mama, it’s an earthquake.” And spurt down to the ground floor to see whether she was safe enough.

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“At around 9:00 in the morning, northern areas of Pakistan were hit by a devastating earthquake of destructive magnitude of 8.3. It has wrecked havoc. Houses were dismantled in many areas, roads lying fractured, and numerous tall buildings were collapsed. The intricate communication system has been enormously interrupted as a result of which some of mountainous cities have got cut off from the rest of Pakistan” News anchors were busy blurting out shocking details.

In total 25,000 houses were eradicated from the face of earth; 33km of road was fractured, 8750 people died and a total financial loss of 3.7 billion dollars was estimated by the ministry of information a month later after the earthquake.

Ever since that tragic moment of my life, I have been doing some research on natural disasters and I have got quite a few answers to questions like why natural disasters occur, how they can be prevented etc.

A natural disaster is a major adverse event resulted in earth’s natural processes. There are many types of natural disasters. To list a few are earthquake, tsunami, volcanic eruptions, avalanches, floods, etcetera.

When we have a look at the history, it comes out natural calamities have been hitting humans’ puny settlements and destroying them effortlessly since time immemorial. Man has been curious to know about the reasons behind such occurrences and which is why science along with religion have been giving their answers.

Science explains that natural disasters occur due to disorder in nature’s cycle, like floods are triggered due to heavy rain showers, and heavy rain is caused by increased heat caused by man’s caustic activities like deforestation, pollution etc. that lead to furthering the damage to already injured ozone layer.

On the other hand, religions answer that natural calamities are from God’s side at regular intervals just to warn man and test his resilience, patience, and obligatory abilities. Moreover, these disasters occur when society is inclined towards sinful and evil activities that attract God’s wrath.

Although, science and religion have proved that natural disasters cannot be stopped from happening, but what one can do is to curtail its holocausts effects to some extent by reducing pollution, stopping deforestation etc. Man has developed such technology that can detect disastrous weathers and signs to help evacuate such areas in advance from humans, animals and other assets so as to save lives and avoid other losses.

We also need to rectify our manners to help us avert God’s wrath. Big powers, this day, are mostly busy suppressing those around in a race to establish their monopoly. Moreover, interest-based economy too is a form cruelty. These and other kinds of cruelty on earth, I believe, need to be mitigated sooner than later. If so happens, we will obviously be safe from being faced with such seismic disorders that result in ravaging natural calamities, and will start enjoying much peaceful a time on earth, or else such brutal earthquakes will go on hitting us even harder in future.

This world runs in an ostentatious order and we are to keep it same or be ready to face the ravaging natural calamities?

May those rest in eternal peace, who lost their lives in 2005 and in such other natural disasters. Amen!

Written by: Sohaib Zahir

'Natural Disasters' - An Essay By Muhammad Awais of O' Levels Final Year at PakTurk International Schools, Chak Shahzad, Islamabad

Natural Disasters

Natural disasters happen all over the world, and just as their names suggest, their outcome can be disastrous. Although there is no known way of stopping a natural disaster, there are numerous ways by which we can minimize the destruction and save more lives. A greater awareness about their causes can often result in better preparation.

One common natural disaster is “flooding”, which occurs when the water level of a certain river is raised more than the banks or the river and the water spills out onto the nearby areas. This is far more likely to happen when there is a great deal of heavy rain, so during wet periods, flood warnings are often displayed near areas with a risk of flood. There are other factors that increase the risk of flooding as well: steep-sided channels cause fast surface runoff, while a lack of vegetation or woodland to both break the flow of water and drink the water means that there is little to slow the floodwater down. Drainage basins of impermeable rock also cause the water to run faster over the surface.

Earthquakes are another common natural disaster that can cause many fatalities. Earthquakes are caused when tectonic plates rub against one another. These plates do not always move smoothly and can get stuck, causing a build-up of pressure. It is when this pressure is released that an earthquake occurs. Thus, an earthquake under the water can also cause a tsunami, as the quake causes great waves by pushing large volumes of water to the surface.

Tsunamis can also be caused by underwater volcanic eruptions. Volcanic eruptions are another natural disaster, and they are caused by magma escaping from inside the earth. An explosion takes place, releasing the magma from a confined space, which is why there are often huge quantities of gas and dust released during a volcanic eruption. The magma pressure builds up inside the volcano, and pours out over the surrounding area as lava.

One of the most common natural disasters, but also one of the most commonly forgotten, is wildfires. These take place in many different countries all over the world, particularly during the summer months, and can be caused by a wide range of factors. Some of the things that can start the wildfires can be totally natural, while others can be man-made; however, the pace at which they spread is entirely down to nature. The two natural causes of wildfires are the sun’s heat and lightning strikes, while they can also be caused by campfires, smoking, fireworks and many other things. The reasons for the speed or their spread is determined by prolonged hot, dry weather, where the vegetation dries out, which is why they often take place in woodland.

By:

Muhammad Awais                  

O’ Levels Final Year

PakTurk International Schools

Chak Shahzad Campus,

Islamabad

Let’s enjoy Muhammad Abubakar Mian’s response on a topic ‘Natural Disaster’ – a topic meant for story writing. There are many more worthy of getting posted here. The class was giving the challenge of following the theme of ‘sacrifice’ in their stories. So has this one. A very successful attempt, indeed!

Soothing balm on a weeping heart  .............. (Natural Disaster)

Progress in science and technology has now given seismologists (people who study earthquakes and related phenomena) the power to accurately predict where an earthquake is likely to occur. Unfortunately, they are not yet able to foresee when exactly it will happen. So when my wife, Amelia, and I bought our first house, it was not without knowing the danger of a looming disaster. We purchased a beautifully constructed Victorian style home in a small Californian suburb. Everything about it was perfect, except for the fact that it was in very close proximity to a fault line. “It’s nothing to worry about” we thought… oh how wrong we had been.

The earthquake hit without warning on the 15^th of August, 2004. It was an early Saturday morning and my wife and I had been enjoying breakfast. Suddenly, the house began to tremble with ferocious convulsions. With a burst of adrenaline pumping through my body, I took hold of Amelia’s hand and we made our way outside. I still remember very clearly the frightened look on her face as we huddled together in an open field. The tremors lasted quite a few minutes, and were followed by a false sense of tranquility. I knew there was something terribly wrong. Earthquakes usually only last a few seconds and rarely go past the one-minute mark. It was after the earthquake finally subsided did my neighbors and I realize the grave situation we now found ourselves in. This was a large scale earthquake that spread over a span of 1000 kilometers, according to reports on the radio.

Many would imagine the greatest difficulty coming from the lack of electricity. That was, however, the least of our worries. No one knew about the water shortage until the next day. Sunday evening, Mr. Jefferson, the widower living across the street, came running outside. The noise he was making piqued my interest, and I went out to see what was going on. “There’s no more water! There’s no more water!” Mr. Jefferson shouted. Slowly, as his words started to click in the minds of the people around him, terror began to fill the already heavy atmosphere. Aghast, I quickly ran back inside and locked the door. Behind me, I could already hear the others bolting their doors shut in much the same way. No one was willing to help Mr. Jefferson. Once faced with immense difficulty in such an unfortunate situation, people tend to help no one but themselves. From the window, I could see Mr. Jefferson sitting on the sidewalk. His face was already showing signs of dehydration.  

“Don’t even think about it!” my wife screeched. “We have to help him… he’ll die out there!” I retorted. “..But we can’t afford helping him.” She responded. “And we can’t let him suffer either.” I replied. Upon hearing this, my wife came to her senses and opened the door for me. I walked out onto the porch and signaled Mr. Jefferson inside. “Water…” he gasped. I can’t describe in words how very hugely relieved he felt. The expression on his face that my eyes photographed is still safe in my remote memory. I felt as if I had put a soothing balm on his weeping heart.

Once he was feeling a bit better, we started talking about how he had finished all the running water in his house. After a few minutes of deliberation, we concluded that the water in the neighborhood was disproportionately distributed. Some houses had more water available to them than others. This is when I took the liberty of explaining to him that, from here on out, we all have to be very careful with our water usage.

A radio broadcast later that night told us that the situation would not normalize for at least another four to five days. We were advised to stay inside our homes and to ration all food and water supplies. I had done my part in helping someone out, now if only other people started doing their part. If my neighborhood was any example, our community was suffering from a dire need of Good Samaritans. Without them, we may not be able to survive.

Muhammad Abubakar Mian
O' Levels 2nd Year
PakTurk International Schools & Colleges
Chak Shahzad
Islamabad