[Choi Dae-yeol's Taeduk] Disasters Devour Not Only Buildings but Also Humanity

From a Volcano Eruption in Italy 2,000 Years Ago to the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake in Japan:
Great Disasters That Changed the Course of Human History
Unavoidable but Possible to Find Preparedness Measures

Downtown New Orleans submerged in water after Hurricane Katrina swept through in 2005. Due to heavy rainfall at the time, levees broke, flooding 80% of the New Orleans area. Louisiana announced 1,464 deaths one year later but acknowledged that some people were missing.

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dae-yeol] It seems generally true that one’s true nature is revealed when faced with extreme situations like disasters. It can also be seen as exposing the sides one wants to hide rather than their original appearance. This applies not only to individuals but also to groups and societies as a whole.

The attitudes of certain groups in response to past tragedies such as the Sewol ferry disaster or the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak exposed the very foundations of those groups. The fire disaster that occurred last month in Icheon, as President Moon Jae-in expressed, vividly recalls accidents from over a decade ago. In this regard, it showed that the belief that our society is progressing is nothing but an illusion.

Examining our attitude toward disasters is a valuable endeavor. This is precisely what the book Disaster: A World History by American geologist Lucy Jones aims for. The author is a research professor at the Seismological Laboratory of the California Institute of Technology and has served as a scientific advisor on risk reduction for the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

The author strives to reduce the risk in Southern California through earthquake information. Earthquakes cannot be prevented. However, earthquake damage can be mitigated. This is why she meets with the mayor of Los Angeles to advocate for earthquake preparedness projects and continuously presents scientific data related to earthquake risks to various sectors of society.

Cover of 'A World History of Disasters'

The Unjust Sacrifice of Koreans in the Kanto Earthquake
Selfishness Amid the Mississippi River Flood in the U.S.
A Perspective on Human Instincts in Response to Disasters

Natural phenomena such as earthquakes and floods are inevitable results of physical changes on Earth. While these natural phenomena cannot be avoided, the author argues that disasters can be prevented. She insists that we must acknowledge the inevitability of natural disasters and develop countermeasures accordingly. As the title suggests, Disaster: A World History arranges major disasters experienced by humanity in chronological order. The author’s approach to explaining disasters within their historical context, including the background of the era in which each natural disaster occurred, is very considerate. This allows readers to align with the contemporary perspectives of those who faced the disasters.

The book covers everything from a volcanic eruption in southern Italy over 2,000 years ago to the 1783 Laki eruption in Iceland, which is considered the deadliest disaster in human history, the 2011 Tohoku earthquake in Japan where natural disasters were compounded by human factors increasing the damage, and even future earthquakes that are “almost certain” to occur in the western United States. It not only examines the before and after of past disasters but also explores how humans think and what beliefs they reveal in response to various disasters, as well as the tendency to deceive themselves into thinking disasters will not happen to them, thus providing a comprehensive view of human nature in the face of disaster.

In 1923, the Great Kanto Earthquake in Japan destroyed 400,000 buildings in Tokyo alone and killed 140,000 people. What left an even more severe trauma was the ruthless massacre of minority groups that followed the natural disaster. The massacre of Koreans residing in Japan at that time occurred due to a combination of several coincidences. Japan was in a transitional phase from an isolated traditional society to an international nation, and society was deeply divided. Moreover, both the Emperor and the Prime Minister were absent at the time. The Emperor had been in poor health for years before the earthquake and could not appear in public. The Prime Minister had died of natural causes one week before the earthquake. There was no leader to take responsibility.

Society fell into chaos, and public anger toward the government intensified. The minority colonial Koreans became easy targets. Agitated citizens took it upon themselves to kill Koreans, and the police turned a blind eye. The author analyzes, “When inexplicable events occur, humans want to assign blame and hold something responsible. In this case, blaming a minority group reflects human nature and also reveals Japan’s ambivalent feelings toward unfamiliar changes in the world.”

A town in Tohoku, Japan, destroyed by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami in 2011. More than 18,000 people lost their lives due to the earthquake and tsunami at that time.

Four years after the Great Kanto Earthquake, in 1927, the ugly side of human nature was also revealed during the Mississippi River flood in the United States. Due to heavy rains starting the previous summer, the river rose, and the levees reached their limits. Then, attempts arose among residents to break the levees on the opposite side of the river to protect their own villages. The logic was that if the levee on the opposite side was destroyed, their own side’s levee would be relieved. Whether residents on the other side drowned was considered unimportant.

Fortunately, patrols were able to prevent attempts to blow up the levees. However, when the levee upstream actually collapsed, residents of New Orleans at the river’s mouth blew up the levee on the opposite side. In other areas, Black people were forced to work like slaves to reinforce weakened levees. In April of the same year, Black workers at a levee in a town called Mounds Landing tried to flee when signs of collapse appeared. However, patrols threatened them with guns to prevent escape, and these Black workers were swept away and drowned.

The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), which began in China earlier this year and spread worldwide, also starkly reveals the raw face of the society we stand on, just like the disasters mentioned above. The increasingly connected global society is itself optimized for the spread of infectious diseases. When the epidemic spread, countries locked down their borders. Leaders of countries with the highest numbers of patients and deaths led the way in fueling conspiracy theories. This is reality.

Although South Korea’s quarantine measures have been praised, some people died at home without even stepping foot in a hospital despite being ill. While some worked remotely from vacation homes, others had to work without even proper access to masks. This is another facet of our society revealed by the disaster. Can our society improve after overcoming this disaster?