What natural disasters tell us about societies
The natural disasters we’ve seen recently around the world have shown us much about the communities in which they’ve occurred. The images emerging from Japan, New Zealand and Australia as they’ve faced earthquakes, tsumanis, floods and fires stands on stark contrast to the mainstream media stories that suggests people of the world are not willing to work together. Some of the widely reported natural events in the past few years include Hurricane Katrina; fires across Victoria, floods across Queensland and Victoria; the earthquakes in Christchurch and Japan all of which have shown much about those societies. A few years ago an earthquake in Turkey right on the border with Greece highlighted the willingness of so called ‘combatants’ to come together to assist others. With more localised large scale incidents we get to see in essence, the true selves of the societies impacted by the event.
There is a saying that says ‘we learn much about ourselves in times of crisis’. The images on TV of Japanese people waiting patiently in line to enter a supermarket for upto seven hours says much about the Japanese people’s resilience and their understanding that this is an event that demands an understanding of the widespread impact. The images of people from across the world flying into Christchurch to assist (along with local students digging mud out of strangers homes); people in Australia driving or flying hundreds of kilometers just to get in and lend a hand shows conclusively societies with a collective focus.
What seems to emerge from these images is an assessment of resilience within the community. It appears to me that societies with a stronger focus on ‘us’ and a lesser focus on ‘me’ seem far more able to deal with the widespread devastation of a natural disaster and it could be reasonably anticipated that they’ll also bounce back quicker albeit allowing for a long range need for rebuilding.
It might seem a pity that we need to experience a sudden natural disaster to reveal our true selves. I’m thankful that for the large part in many societies, our true selves seem to be more often about ‘us’ and less about ‘me’. My thoughts are very much with those facing and still dealing with these recent events
Interesting emerging dynamic about to land on the shop fronts of Australian retailers that pose serious risks to their staff. And few retailers are ready With moderate level of vaccinations targets achieved, the NSW Government has decided to open up from a #Covid19 lockdown. It does so, relying on compliance enforcement to be undertaken by…
Read More >There’s a lot not to like about the latest spike in Victoria’s #Covid19 numbers. And the most culpable are mainstream media companies who created the social response The latest spike in #Covid19 infections can be directly attributed to Channel 7, Channel 9 and the ABC with lesser blame attributed to Channel 10 and SBS. In…
Read More >For those of you that follow me on other platforms, you’ll have seen, heard or read some of my thoughts on the lab grown proteins from firms like #ImpossibleFoods or #BeyondMeat. I’m a fan of those lab grown protein concepts arriving at that position whilst undertaking a Master of Science in 2004 in which…
Read More >Trying to understand something you’ve never experienced before can be a real challenge. In this post the #Covid19 #pandemic is explained using cars and traveling Your body is your car – it’s your mode of transport in this life. We want to treat it well and insure it and ideally we want to be able…
Read More >There’s a significant disconnect with a number of articles on ‘Hybrid Workplaces’ and it’s really disappointing to see SO MANY large consultants pump out articles that ignore reality. So this is a short take to offer an additional perspective. 1) Hybrid workplaces have existed for centuries, they are not new, though the sudden interest is…
Read More >Hi everyone – though a focus on particular those of you in Victoria, Australia who have an idea related to sports, active living or recreation that they might like to convert into a business. Sportstech & Active Living Pre-Accelerator program is being run by the Australian Sport Technologies Network (ASTN) and the Global Sports…
Read More >Old normal, new normal, normal normal. As some businesses aim to rush back to ‘old normal’ they’re likely missing a key opportunity to define, perhaps for the first time, what a new normal should look like for themselves. This Workforce Planning framework should help As a CEO or senior manager, here’s questions I’d want…
Read More >As Covid19 variants continue to emerge, the cause of which can be fairly placed at a lack of social distancing and slow vaccine rates that allow ‘mixing’ of viral strains in social settings, India is on the brink of a healthcare collapse and the implications for Australian companies, especially in the tech sector, are huge.…
Read More >What does the future hold for Australia in the next 3 months, to 3 years? Travel, work, living… Recording to the one hour session inc a Q&A Here’s the Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/pBJqFvN_yZVrktNsN2xWRE7heUTpr226GtyjJpiChG8yZA2D3qEHpACjm8TpMfxd.67Jj1DNSPserOvpZ Passcode: 1DPi*.$Z
Read More >Sometimes the words come to you readily and this small piece has me thinking about what I’d like to say at a time when maybe I’ve lost the cognitive ability to do so Before I was Me Before I was Me I used to be fit, and even quite smart; We’d chat about love,…
Read More >