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Herat earthquake: With no legitimate or capable government, we all should take responsibility
Paiman Arman* wrote this article for the Zan Times in Persian, translated into English by Rustam Seerat.
Following the deadly earthquake that shook Herat on October 7 and killed more than 2,400 people, a new earthquake followed by two aftershocks hit the region on Wednesday, October 11, according to the UN’s ReliefWeb. According to local authorities, the early morning earthquake on Wednesday left at least one dead and 153 injured. Despite the staggering number of victims and widespread devastation, Taliban leaders have done little to respond to the needs of the survivors. Indeed, their strict rules and regulations have caused even more severe problems for the people of the region.
Terms like “natural disaster,” “wrath of nature,” and “rebellion of nature” are usually used for events such as floods, earthquakes, landslides, etc. These terms are both rooted in reality and are also misleading as they absolve authorities of their responsibility. They are based in reality because they are natural, resulting from interactions between forces and elements in nature, with no direct human will involved. They are misleading because people use those same terms to escape their responsibility for managing…
