Indonesia

A powerful 7.1-magnitude earthquake hit Manokawari, Indonesia, kiiling at least two people and damaged scores of homes in eastern Indonesia on Wednesday, triggering a tsunami warning and widespread panic.

The victims were believed to have been crushed under their collapsed homes on Yapen island, close to the epicentre off the northern coast of Papua province, police said.

I suppose many of us are aware of the huge tsunami which hit the Southeast Asia region. Major death tolls in Bali might have made an impact to the holiday decisions of many tourists. One of the main reasons why Indonesia is so prone to earthquakes is because it is placed in the ring of fire - a ring of many active volcanoes in Indonesia. There are about 120 volcanoes in Indonesia which are active. These earthquakes in Indonesia have affected its economy in a major way.

Indonesia is still a developing country and is still in need of constant foreign economic assistance due to these natural calamities. Many people live below the poverty line. Singapore, being a neighbour country of Indonesia, offers many forms of aid to Indonesia all year round. Everytime there is a calamity, the Singapore Armed Forces might send in troops to maintain order, or to provide medical assistance to the people.

Sometimes I just wonder why with all these advancements in technology, why is an earthquake still undetectable until when it's too late? With all these connectivity in the world, why are we still lagging behind in terms of saving lives. As I am twitting on twitter now, I'm just wondering wouldn't it be so nice if all the energy and resources put into creating such forms of entertainment for people were to be channeled into making more useful stuff like natural disaster detection devices.