Medical experts may point out, there is still the threat of the Covid-19 during an earthquake or a typhoon or any other natural disaster. The Sars-CoV-2 that causes Covid-19 does not go away when the earth shakes or the winds blow hard.
There should be advisories or guidelines to the public on how to continue to protect themselves against the Covid-19 when caught in a different kind of emergency. That was the need that got highlighted in the earthquake Tuesday.
Another concern was the preparedness of disaster management agencies and officials to address an emergency on top of the current one. An emergency situation in addition to the Covid-19 pandemic will require that disaster management officials and personnel gather their strength and resources, remain clear-headed and rely on their knowledge and skills.
They have enough on their hands with the pandemic. They will have more to worry about if there is another emergency such as a destructive temblor.
The earthquake felt in Cebu and Masbate last Tuesday is a reminder that government has to prepare for natural disasters in the time of Covid-19.
In the meantime, the number of coronavirus disease across the world has crossed 23,383,472 mark according to ‘Worldometre’, and 808,715 succumbed to the disease as of August 23, 2020.
In Sri Lanka, due to a timely and strict enforcement of lockdown and other related measures, the country was able to keep numbers down to a minimum. Strangely, the professional who led the country’s battle to successfully control the virus has now been stripped of that post and kicked upstairs.
According to the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDG) programme, 88 million out of India’s 1.2 billion population, – roughly equal to 6.7% of India’s population, lived below the poverty line of US$1.25 in 2018–19.
Today, around 808,715 people – men, women and children – have died of the Coronavirus. But the United Nations is unable to raise the US$31.3 billion to fund research to develop a vaccine to halt the march of the pandemic.
In this note, there is a compelling need to seek the guidance and miracle intervention of the almighty in order that the corona virus will evaporate to its natural death.
We cannot afford to lose our love ones at a flick of a finger. The recent turn of events, the results of daily tracker of DOH Bicol reveals that the virus already in town. Be part of the solution by faithfully following the health protocols.
