Prayers don’t move mountains, the fury of nature does. The landslide in Wayanad stands as a testimony to this. Disasters whether man-made or natural or man-made turned natural is always testing human beings in different parts of the world. It could be floods, tsunamis, landslides, terrorist attacks or wars; they all greatly dent people’s livelihoods.
During any disaster, all social media networking sites are bombarded with different kinds of posts. Videos, social messages, opinions and inferences make people scroll to endless posts about the disaster. The pain and suffering the survivors go through, the relief measures, digging up the dead or the lone survivor make us think about the short lives that we have on this planet.
People who read these messages may feel sad and sympathetic towards the victims. Some are antipathic too, spewing venom in all directions showing hatred. Sympathy would not help the people who are suffering from loss and pain while hatred is more detrimental. Empathy in action can help.
Broken Promises
You will find religious people posting messages in social groups to pray for the affected and the dead. Would prayers bring back the dead? Would it ease the pain of the affected? Do we have any historical evidence of ending pain and suffering through prayers?
Remember that death, pain and displacement of people due to disasters and wars continue to exist, irrespective of all the religious interventions and ongoing prayers. Most of the prayers are just broken promises.
Instilling hope is a good way to manage difficult situations. We can hope for a better future and must work towards it. Just praying and expecting things to happen does not work. If it does, it is just plain luck.
Creating a support system, providing physical help, rehabilitation, and peace talks can only help in these situations. Nothing else does.
The natural calamity
In Wayanad, two landslides happened one after the other in the wee hours due to the incessant rains. People sleeping in their homes were swept away, not knowing what had happened. Over 300 people lost their lives and got wiped off the face of the earth in a fraction of a time. We can only imagine the pain of the survivors due to the loss of their loved ones and the disappearance of their assets.
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Nothing can replace the pain and suffering that they are going through. No amount of prayers or rituals can change the situation. The trauma will continue as they go through various stages of denial and despair. Very few might eventually learn to accept the change and come out of the trauma.
I am always intrigued when people say; this is all god’s doing and planning. One early morning the man upstairs thinks, let me play a game. Let me change the terrain of Wayanad. I don’t want the innocent people, animals and plants to continue living there. He spells the magic word and it just happens.
Is it the god’s doing or the man’s doing? What could be the god’s plan here? Irrespective of the warning about the Western Ghats being ecologically sensitive, we went ahead destroying nature. Human greed has brought this calamity upon us.
What can help?
Genuine efforts to rehabilitate people out of these disasters is the only way out. Enormous funds are required for this kind of massive relief and rehabilitation after a calamity like the one in Wayanad.
Each individual can help in two ways. One is to support by being there in person and lending a helping hand, which could be difficult for many. The second way is to contribute in cash or kind. As a society, we can contribute to a fund or be a part of a group helping the survivors.
Relief and rehabilitation is mostly provided by the people appointed by the government and other non-profit organizations. Some politicians or orgnaizations may take advantage of this situation to make wealth for themselves. Beware of them! Greed knows no bounds. Some may refrain from contributing to the cause citing corruption, which may not be the ideal thing to do in this situation.
Religious institutions and non-profit organizations do mobilize people and funds to help the victims during these kinds of disasters. We should appreciate these deeds more than a prayer.
I found the chief minister’s distress relief fund, a convenient place to start contributing. https://donation.cmdrf.kerala.gov.in/index.php. Please go ahead and do the deed. It would be much appreciated than a word of prayer.
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