2011 - The Catastrophic Year So Far

Peoples,
Well, what can I say? It is only the 22nd of March, but 2011 has been an eventful year already!
In the personal realm, I've had many ups and downs and secret movements. But for now, I will focus on the Rest of the World:

In Australia, we've had floods, cyclones, storms and heatwaves. In Queensland, it all began in January with the floods in Toowoomba and just north of Brisbane. Those floods moved into Brisbane itself soon enough. In tropical Queensland, as well as expected heavy rainfall, there was unexpected flooding, and Tropical Cyclone "Yasi" - the largest tropical cyclone to ever hit Australia (category 5 of course).
Closer to home for me, out here at Ayers Rock, in the middle of the Australian desert, there has been more rain in the last three months than the average annual rainfall figures. And the rain has been coming since September last year! The "Red Centre" of Australia is remarkably green right now!
Also, Cyclone Yasi was so massive that the bulk of its storms managed to travel all the way across the continent and hit us with incredible rainfall here, in the middle of the desert. I was working outside on many of those days, so I recall it well!

In Melbourne, there have been more floods, though not reported as much as Brisbane's were in February, because of all the other shitstorms that have ravaged the world.

A massive earthquake struck Christchurch, New Zealand, and has decimated that city. I have never taken the opportunity to visit New Zealand, but as our cousins of all Australians, they will get our full support and help.

This year, up to FIVE middle-eastern/north-African coutnries have declared revolution, starting with Tunisia, then Egypt, Bahrain, Libya, Yemen, and briefly in Algeria, too. All are countries dominated and controlled by autocratic dictators or kings. The really funny thing, from an historian's perspective, is that none of these revolutions (with calls for democratic reforms) have come about as the result of American influence.

The United States of America has continued its steady slide into uselessness, as its war in Afghanistan continues with no end in sight, and its economy fails more and more.

Libya currently occupies the news this day, along with one other issue I will mention shortly. Libya is interesting for me because last year I documented with a class in Mito the audacity of the British government and the USA in extending the olive branch to the dictator of Libya, Moammar Gadhaffi. Gadhaffi, like all crazy dictators, rose to power with military support, then grew complacent over the decades. Now he parades around in multi-coloured moomoos, sleeps in an opulent "Bedouin" tent, and issues blatantly ambiguous calls for war and peace with the "West".
After several weeks of allowing Gadhaffi to slaughter his own people, the European powers and the UN have finally decided that they have a conscience, and began an air-strike campaign to level the playing field between Gadhaffi and the rebels who oppose him. I have MUCH MUCH MUCH more to say about this, but I will say it in another post.

Finally, and most wary for my heart, is the crisis in Japan.

On March 11, a date that was already significant for me (in a very good way, for personal reasons), a terrible natural disaster occurred in Japan.

An earthquake, magnitude 9.0, struck just off the coast of Sendai. A tsunami followed, and practically erased Sendai city off the map. I actually went to Sendai only last year, almost this time last year, so when I saw the images on the news, I felt different to any other catastrophe I'd seen in a while.
And as if earthquake and tsunami, tearing down buildings and homes and depositing boats hundreds of metres inland, and ripping up freeeways wasn't enough -- Japan has faced a third prong in its catastrophes: nuclear meltdown.

The earthquake ruptured power lines to the Fukushima nuclear reactor (a really, really BIG and important reactor for north-east Japan's grid). Power generation was cut, and the east half of the country has to go on electricity rations. With power to the plant cut, cooling and failsafe systems also gave out, and now, for the last week, the Japanese have been locking themselves away inside gynasiums and their own houses in fear of radiation leaks.
My ex-girlfriend is among the many trapped indoors right now, and all I really want is to bring her here, a place where there are no nuclear reactors, no earthquakes, no tsunamis.

It's starting to look like the Red Centre of the Australian desert is the safest place to be right
now, in the entire world!

Floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, cyclones, nuclear meltdowns, civil war and revolution - 2011 is certainly a dangerous year.
Everyone, PLEASE take care of yourselves, and please stay alive! I want to speak to all of you again this time next year!

Let's just make it to 2012! The we can all talk about our experiences, and recover together.

From The Tominator.