Writes Brendan O’Neill in the Christian Science Monitor: “What is the lesson of the terrible earthquake that struck southern Iran last week, which leveled much of the city of Bam and left tens of thousands dead?
“For many, it is that man should more closely observe the ‘rule of nature.’
“Reporting from the wreckage of Bam, The Sun, Britain’s bestselling tabloid, said: ‘Once again, nature reminds us how puny we really are.’ Others have said that it was ‘Mother Nature’s fury’ that laid Bam to waste, as if nature were some sentient, spiteful force stalking humanity; indeed, one report claimed that ‘nature remains terrorism’s equal ... in tearing lives, property and families to shreds.’
“This is a strange way to make sense of what happened in Bam. It wasn’t man’s folly, or the Bam residents’ ignorance of the ‘rule of nature’ that allowed the quake to have such devastating consequences. Rather, it is the fact that the people of Bam are forced to live at nature’s mercy that leaves them open to such terror. It is the developing world’s reliance on nature, rather than its ignorance of nature, that makes it potential prey for this thing we call ‘Mother Nature’s fury.’
“The lesson of Bam is that the developing world needs to develop - and fast.” MORE
