At a time when humanity is undergoing the severest test in the post-World War era, natural calamities too are increasingly claiming scalps across wide swathes of the planet. From Bangladesh to Britain and the Philippines to France, the death tolls from extreme weather condition have risen or are rising. In fact, Europe is experiencing temperature rise at twice the global average. When parts of Bangladesh in the southeast are inundated and struggling to survive the calamity, Spain and Britain are overwhelmed by wildfire following the deadly heatwaves. The June heatwave claimed 10,650 lives in 27 European countries with Both France and Britain recording more than 2,700 deaths each.
If Europe suffered the record-breaking temperature, disaster-prone countries like Bangladesh and the Philippines have their own share of miseries arising out of natural calamities. Floods and landslides are the cause of such miseries for both countries and the death tolls in one of these two countries have almost reached the three score mark or in another exceeded it. The casualty figures are likely to rise further. Heavy rains under the influence of a low in the Bay of Bengal have triggered the flood in the hilly districts not habituated to such disasters. One of the most disaster-prone countries like Bangladesh, the Philippines faces typhoons, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions because of its location within the Pacific Ring of Fire and the Pacific typhoon belt. No surprise that the Philippines is still under a State of Natural Calamity declared by its president in November 2025.
Many other countries are also experiencing fallouts of extreme weather. All because of the influence of El Nino under the influence of which the Pacific's surface water becomes warmer, altering global atmospheric circulation. This may cause severe drought in Australia and parts of Asia, flooding in the Americas and a temporary rise in global temperature. This year the El Nino is quite active and the heavy rains of the last week in Bangladesh are an outcome of this.
The unmistakeable signs of hostile climate are manifest but unfortunately the world leaders are preoccupied with narrow and selfish concerns. Avoidable wars are raging in several parts of the world, thanks to the tunnel vision of leaders more equal than others. The two World Wars have left a most important lesson for the mankind but those leaders are unlearning it at the cost of the detente worked out by the signatories of rival blocs at the culmination of the World War II.
If the armed conflicts have pushed nations to the brink, trade wars have also led to economic turmoil disrupting socio-political order in both developing and developed countries. It has triggered a severe backlash at the human values, compassion, generosity and empathy---the hallmarks of humanity. The poor, immigrants and refugees can no longer count on humane treatment of the rich, natives and international organisations. Driven by selfish interests, locals now consider immigrants and refugees intruders snatching jobs and other facilities that are their own preserves.
Under President Trump, the United States has been maintaining an unapproachable distance with the United Nations and its sister organisations. It has cut back or is withholding its contribution to such organisations, rendering the UN a lame duck. Both macrocosmic and microcosmic visions of societies and nations are inimical to the well-being of the masses. Social disparities are turning more vicious than ever before.
But this was the time when collective efforts based on cooperation and coordination should have been invoked to fix the climate-induced hostile phenomena. The irony is that the extreme weather is a creation of man. Temperature rise is a direct consequence of burning fossil fuels. Nature itself is not responsible on its own to lead to temperature rise. So when there was a need for limiting the use of such fuels, there is an unhealthy competition to control their sources. With the competition gaining intensity, nations are becoming desperate to ensure smooth supply of these fuels.
Thus the macrocosmic competition has a fair reflection in the microcosmic societal affairs. People are more isolated now, lacking in trust in others. At certain levels, where desperation for procuring food is intense, crimes are on the rise. Ethics and fellow feeling have become a casualty. Overall, the unfolding of an Orwellian society looks inevitable. The nightmarish vision should have moved the world leaders to forge closer international cooperation. In its absence, the world is drifting towards conflicts, the flare-up of which can lead to the planet's destruction.
