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Twin tragedies in California
r I 1 HE gigantic
I headline printed A across the entire front page of the Los Angeles Times on November 10, 2018, all in capital letters, was meant to grab the attention of the readers. "A STATE OF EMERGENCIES," it declared. The banner of the Press-Telegram
was less dramatic but gave the readers some clues regarding the twin tragedies that befell California this month: wildfires and mass shootings.
The lead story of the Press-Telegram was headlined "Two Tragedies Shake Community." A few inches below, the big bold caption was "SOCAL IN FLAMES", which anguished over the numerous fires that have now engulfed SoCal, an abbreviation for Southern California.
The trauma that is now haunting not only SoCal but the entire nation is gun violence and mass shooting, a repetition of a unique American phenomenon. The latest massacre involves a lone gunman who bought a gun and went on a rampage and took it out on innocent bystanders. On the night of November 7, barely 24 hours after the midterm elections ended, the gunman entered the Borderline Bar and Grill, a popular country music bar frequented by students and young people, and shot and killed 13 individuals including himself. The incident happened in Thousand Oaks, a city located in Ventura County about 40 miles from downtown Los Angeles.
The following day, strong winds and dry conditions whipped up several wildfires, which have been simmering for a few days
but were contained, before they got out of control and by Friday evening burned through more than 35,000 areas, including scores of homes and other buildings, forcing tens of thousands of residents to flee the rage of the wind-whipped fire. There have been at least 31 deaths as of November 12 and more than a billion dollars in property damage.
Admittedly, wildfires are regular events in California and often engulf hundreds of square miles at a time. The most recent one, which is happening now while I am visiting Los Angeles, has caught the attention of many of my friends and relatives in Bangladesh, not to mention I have been getting calls daily from my octogenarian mother-in-law.
California, which is the most populous state in the USA, is also one of the most disaster-prone due to wildfires, landslides, flooding, winter storms, severe freeze and even tsunami waves. While earthquake is the disaster perhaps most closely associated with California, damage from wildfires adds up and is cumulative. Studies show that Florida has taken the greatest hit from natural hazards, according to Susan Cutter, director of the Hazards & Vulnerability and Research Institute at the University of South Carolina. However, when it comes to property damage and economic cost, California comes in second for dollar losses, thanks to a combination of earthquakes, flooding, storms and fires. "California kind of has it all," Cutter says. By Cutter and her colleagues' estimate, Los Angeles County has sustained the highest amount of damage, while Cook County, Illinois, where Chicago is located, saw more deaths than any other American county. The reason is that while hurricanes are the most expensive disaster, severe weather has claimed the highest number of fatalities and
California is quite vulnerable to those. This state is home to many beautiful national parks, which are filled to the brim with amazing trees! Nature also offers another curse, episodes of droughts can predispose areas to forest fires; lightning and human activity, like campfires, can also start them. The risk of forest fires is particularly high all over the northern part of the state. Whether fire or
earthquake, mudslide or drought, natural disaster is an inextricable part of the Californian experience.
In contrast, gun violence is an integral part of the all-American experience. Two questions often asked around the globe are, "Why is there so much gun violence?’, and "Why can't you prevent it?" As with many puzzles
of American society, these are difficult to answer in a few words. Investigators believe Long, 28, used a legally purchased ,45-calibre Glock 21 with an extended magazine during the shooting, and they are trying to figure out why he did it.
Recent incidents show that there is no pattern to the gun madness in the USA except that a single individual armed with an automatic gun finds a suitable congregation.
movie theatre music festival, club, political gathering, or a house of worship. What motivates the killers to choose the target? Once again, sometimes they can be identified as hate crimes, but more often than not, the targets and the victims are random. Tragically, after each mass shooting we see a familiar sequence: mourning hand-wringing and resignation.
The scenario is very well recognised here; and abroad. The gun lobby argues that the Second Amendment to the US Constitution protects the rights of individuals to carry fire arms. The National Rifle Association (NRA), which represents gun owners and has an unlimited war chest, has thwarted any attempt to institute any changes to the right to keep and bear firearms. Their reasoning for opposing any changes to the gun laws starts with the hackneyed cliche: "Guns don't kill people-people kill people!"
It is a foregone conclusion that the recent midterm elections will not change the balance of power in Washington which is aligned in favour of the gun lobby. Democrats, who are in general less beholden to the interests of the gun industry and gun owners, might be in charge of the House, but the Republicans increased their majority in the Senate. Some incoming freshmen in the House of Representatives are warning their colleagues against overpromising or politicising a tragedy.
When Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, was asked last Friday if the Senate would take any action after another mass shooting, he did not blink his eyes before replying that it was "highly unlikely there will be restrictions passed." Some minor changes at the margins might happen, including stricter enforcement of laws on background checks, concealed weapon, banning of bump stocks, and red flag laws which will allow the authorities to take guns away from individuals with mental issues.
Fortunately, fire disasters are easier to address than gun violence. The wildfires that have ravaged the state in historic proportions these last two years have pushed the policy debate over fire prevention to the forefront
Dr Abdullah Shibll is an economist, and Senior Research Fellow, International Sustainable Development Institute (ISDI), a think-tank In Boston, USA. His new book Economic Crosscurrents will be published later this year.