The power of nature in full display in the Japan quake

by Salman Hameed

I have just arrived in Pakistan for a few days. On my way here, I had a brief stop-over in London. Just before boarding, I was standing in line for coffee where I could see television screens in the background. BBC was showing live pictures of the tsunami that hit Sendai. This was one of those instances where my jaw just completely dropped. We are now increasingly seeing disasters take place in real time - rather than seeing the pictures of the aftermath. This is horrible and incredible at the same time. Seeing a huge wave passing through the ocean is at once awesome and frightening.

Hope the death toll stays low.

I had a post about my views on Natural disasters after the earthquake in Pakistan. You can read the post here: Nature and Natural Disasters - On Pakistan's earthquake in 2005.

Will the live coverage of such large-scale natural disasters increase our sensitivity or eventually desensitize us as 'just another event on television'? I don't know. But I'm still awestruck by some of the images of the tsunami (video below).