Many of you are God-fearing folk. Readers of this column and indeed The Media Line in general are a mix of devout Christians, Muslims and Jews, along with members of other faiths mixed in with atheists and agnostics. For the sake of this particular item I am going to put aside thoughts of divine retribution and look at the facts on the ground (and air) and leave you to draw your own conclusions – theological or otherwise.
A couple of years ago on a Thursday night, a couple of hundred people had gathered in a Jerusalem hall to celebrate the union of a man and woman. The video evidence shows the food was good and the celebrations were aplenty.
Later, the scientists said the vibrations of the music and the jumping up and down of the dancers were at exactly the wrong frequency. More than 20 people were killed when the dance floor simply collapsed leaving a gaping hole in the hall and in the lives of those present, especially the bride and groom.
In the last week of December 2003, anywhere between 20,000 and 50,000 people lost their lives while sleeping, cooking, reading, working in Bam in southern Iran.
A week later, some 150 people on board a Boeing 737 left Egypt bound for France, most of them families who had enjoyed a week or two in the sun. Most of their bodies will never be found.
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Truth and understanding
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What do these things have in common?
The probable element of human failure, or perhaps, incompetence.
The architects behind the Palkal building design in Israel were blamed for the Versailles tragedy in Jerusalem.
Bam was a town built on ancient roots, in a distant region of Iran, presumably with little in the way of standards monitoring and planning regulations.
All the Egyptian investigators and authorities put the crash of the Flash aircraft down to a technical fault. Now I am being very cautious here because the investigation is still under way, but it is interesting to note that many of the world’s horrific airplane crashes hit companies with a lack of investment and often it is human error that leads to disaster.
Where is all this pointing?
The Middle East is a region where corner cutting is all too often the norm. Ask any seismologist or architect in Israel (supposedly the most modern of Middle Eastern states) whether Israelis will survive unharmed any major earthquake that is waiting to happen. In no uncertain terms they will tell you that throughout the country building standards fall well below the standard. Israel sits on a fault line, but no politician believes that day will come during their term in office. If that is the case in Israel, then think of the situation in Iran, Egypt and as we have also witnessed, in Turkey.
From building standards to airline safety, and indeed security, the Middle East lags behind many other developed and developing areas.
Governments and private companies seem unwilling to take on the responsibility of protecting their own people.
Life is all too cheap in the Middle East.