The Planet In Crisis

Late in 2008 things looked bad enough when the finance world experienced a universal melt down in the credit industry, with huge banking organizations tumbling. The resounding fall of the leaders echoed right around the earth, with aftershocks that lasted for years, as whole economies struggled to recover. Nature then seemed to want to have its say.

In the picturesque garden and second largest city in New Zealand, most people living in Christchurch, had never experienced even the smallest tremour in their lives, until the Darfield 7.1 magnitude quake of 4th September 2010, in a previously unknown fault line. Although the quake created widespread damage there was virtually no loss of life.

Numerous seismologists now say the 7.1 earthquake was comprised of three or four separate quakes. A 6.5 in the Charing Cross Fault, 7.0 in the Greendale Fault, 6.2 near Hororata and a 6.5 on a fourth fault line that is hypothetically believed to run between West Melton and Burnham.

A new fault line opened up as the aftershocks continued and included a 6.3 earthquake on February 22, 2011, leaving 166 people confirmed dead, with over 200 still missing. The earthquake caused horrific damage to the heart of Christchurch, including severely damaging the iconic Christchurch Cathedral.

Beginning in December 2010 and including a flash flood, in early January, a series of floods least killed 35 people in Queensland, Australia. Three-quarters of Queensland was classed a disaster zone. This was followed by Victorian floods in the southern part of Australia.

The area was struggling to recover when Cyclone Yasi crossed the Queensland coast, causing widespread havoc, on February 3rd. Miraculously there were no deaths or serious injury reported, though entire communities along the coastal were ravaged.

Across the planet a widespread Arab Wave Revolt held the entire Arab world at ransom, from Lebanon in North Africa to and Syria in the north-west, to Oman in the east, with major battles taking place in Libya, involving the United Nations.

Portugal, Ireland and other European nations were either on the brink of bankruptcy, or bankrupt.

Britain saw a quarter of a million people rally on the streets, protesting against the austerity measures of the government, with some rebels among the crowd trashing shops in the Piccadilly area.

Next came the 9 magnitude earthquake in Japan, on the 11th March 2011. It was the fifth largest quake since 1900 and the sort of great tremor that is expected to hit once a century.

A stunned world watched as a 10 metre wall of water decimated an 800 km stretch of Japanese coastline. The tsunami then raced across the Pacific Ocean at the speed of a fast jetliner, before smashing into Hawaii and the Unites States West Coast, though there were no reports of major damage. The death toll climbing to around 25,000 people.

More was still to come, as specialized teams struggled to contain the damaged 4 reactors at Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant.

Japanese nuclear authorities finally declared that the Fukushima disaster was worse than anything they had ever imagined could have happened. It was finally declared equal to Chernobyl nuclear disaster, at a rating of 7.

The World War II atom bombs survivors are afraid that a new generation is going to have to face what they faced.

Not one person in the reach of modern communication remains unaffected by these events. People are demanding what's next?

Many people postponed their travel arrangements in the infected areas. In Australia people turned to the islands of the South Pacific, such as Vanuatu for a brief break from the world of woes.

Life moves on, in spite of what happens around us.