Calamities

by Hla Min

Updated : May 2025

Classification

One classification states that there are three kinds of calamities :

• Due to scarcity of food / Famine
• Due to deadly weapons / War
• Due to diseases / Epidemic / Pandemic

The degree of severity may vary with place and time.

COVID-19

The past few months saw the intrusion and destruction of an invisible enemy in many countries.

An old soldier who survived the gunfire on D-Day (in June 1944) recently succumbed to COVID-19.

The casualties in the USA has topped 100,000. A newspaper devoted the whole front page and several pages for 1000 representative obituaries from around the USA.

The history / nature of the Pandemic is still not known fully.

There are many unanswered questions:

• In two neighboring countries, one has a high number of cases while another has very low number of cases. Why?
• Trade off between loss of lives (by not following social distancing) and economic loss (e.g. due to lock down, shelter in place, circuit breaker)
• There is a study of the effect of prayer (by practitioners of different religions / faiths) on the recovery of patients
• A short time frame to come up with effective vaccine