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
HlaMin 