The earthquake occurred in Australia in summer 2015 in Melbourne. It had taken the lives of 200000 people. In thirty-five seconds the life of millions of people was destroyed; the earthquake caused chaos, sufferings, and losses only. The consequences of this natural disaster were terrible because the country was not ready for it. The exposed geology of the Australian continent presupposes the possibility of earthquakes.
The earthquake turned to be the consequence of human activity in Australia. The losses turned out to be the result of deforestation of hillsides, poorly constructed houses, and lack of accessible medical care. The engineering design of most buildings was completely ignored by seismic ground motion. The extensive seismic activity in the earthquake belt that runs through Indonesia, New Guinea, and its offshore islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, and the Tonga-Kermadec zone provides an abundant source of seismic probes for the structure in the lithosphere and the upper mantle beneath. Thus, the negative consequences were largely due to the fact that Australia was not prepared for the earthquake. This continent has a fairly low level of seismicity and only a few high-quality seismographic stations. The study of the structure beneath the continent has therefore depended on the deployment of portable seismic instrumentation.
It should be emphasized that natural disasters do not happen for any particular reason. They are provoked by human deeds. The same thing happened in Melbourne. One may think that nature is the only perpetrator. Though, it is not so. People caused deforestation, overgrazing, overdevelopment of the coastal zone, shipping pollution, and over-cultivation of the country.
It was already mentioned that 200000 people were killed and 300000 were injured. A great number of people died because of inadequate medical attention. It turned out to be so vulnerable to a natural disaster because of its poor public infrastructure and civil unrest. Melbourne was devastated by the moderate earthquake measuring 6 on the Richter Scale. The lives were lost and buildings were completely devastated. Police stations, hospitals, and emergency rooms were destroyed and it resulted in the lacked ability of the staff personnel in rescuing the injured people.
Melbourne was in chaos after the earthquake because office workers poured out of the buildings. They experienced a lack of organization. The police officers were making certain effects to evacuate the injured people, but it was not enough. The disaster response was hampered by disrupted telephone service, damage to critical buildings, and blocked road access. Moreover, there was not a concrete emergency plan. Even the critical enterprises lacked it. They were not ready and could not take the necessary actions response to a disaster. Hospitals were not prepared to fighting the consequences of the earthquake. They did not conduct the practice of the necessary procedures and assignments during the practice periods in order to train the workers to perform their duties without confusion. As a result of such negligence, the hospitals were unable to cope with the problems, which arose during the evacuation and treatment of the injured people. They were unprepared and could not conduct the first aid.
It might be stated that results of disaster were so acute because of a great number of chronic problems of a public and political character. The officials made an attempt to respond to the emergency services; however, lack of preparation and inability to stick to the earthquake building design standards resulted in an increased number of victims. Thousands of people have died because of the inability of the government to organize the work in a proper way. In Australia, disaster preparedness had to be the priority issue for the government. Despite the fact that officially, there exists a number of defense forces, public health services, police, fire, and emergency services the lack of preparedness was the major mistake of the officials. They failed to follow the disaster plan, hence provide the necessary response to the disaster.
In this regard, there are several important lessons to be learned. The first is that natural disasters happen due to human activity. People reap what they have sown. Destruction of forests has resulted in horrible natural disasters. The second lesson is that countries at risk should be prepared for such happenings. In other words, the Australian government should have a natural disaster action plan. And last, but not least, the government should make certain actions aimed at promoting recovery of the country, and not just wait for international humanitarian and financial aid.
Thus, this earthquake was not just a disaster, which caused a great number of deaths and injuries. It was a litmus test for Australia, which showed that its preparedness towards natural disasters is really low. Earthquake is quite unpredictable; however, it does not mean that the government should stop preparing its units for it. The devastating consequences confirmed the fact that Australia is ready for natural disasters only theoretically. In practice, the situation seems to be quite different. It demonstrates that certain changes should be introduced immediately. There is no time to wait until the next disaster will take half of the Australian population. The government should think about the number of victims, which could be rather lower in case of their decent preparation. They are responsible for tears of mothers, children, and wives. Today, nothing can be made to return those, who passed away, but certain measures should be adopted to decrease their number in the future.