Monday, April 27, 2015

"Samaritan wanted"

"Condemn none: if you can stretch out a helping hand, do so. If you cannot, fold your hands, bless your brothers, and let them go their own way." Swami Vivekananda.

First of all, my prayers are with the injured and the victims of the recent Earthquake in Nepal. Nature fury is unpredictable despite human efforts in research and scientific development. What has happened with our neighbor country Nepal is truly heartbreaking. However, let us not forget them in our daily prayers and together we can help rebuild Nepal. If anyone would like donate relief fund for Nepal earthquake, please visit Paytm site: https://paytm.com/ where in you can donate any amount in the denominations of Rs. 10, 20, 50 and so on. To be clear, I'm not a representative of Paytm or promoting it but I thought it is a good platform for donation based on my experience.

On the other hand, it seemed all major news channels battling in order to gain the highest TPR rating while reporting the latest updates of Nepal earthquake. And I'm really appalled to see some of the TV news anchor reporting enthusiastically with every shades of competition as if the unfortunate incident is drama (usually known in India as “Tamasha”) just in order to attract more TV news audience. At this juncture, I'm not sure if the news channels are reporting news or selling news or spreading panic and anxiety at large. Of course, journalist’s duty is to report news but with integrity of journalism and to instill sensitivity with calmness to audience regarding the updates on the casualties, injured, and the latest updates on the earthquake aftershock.

Panic and anxiety are best known to be the root cause of our error in judgement. And to deal natural disaster with panic, it will always do more harm thereby risking our life unnecessarily. The aftershock of earthquake will continue to hit some parts of India at regular intervals as confirmed by the experts. However, know that the experts have also mentioned we do not need to worry about it. It is true that nothing can prepare you better at the time of disaster except your wise decision and calm demeanor. I wish if the news channels were more sensitive rather than instilling fear to public at large. Therefore, I checked in the internet and I have found the precaution steps to be followed during an earthquake or aftershock. See the screenshot below:


Screenshot courtesy: http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/natural-disasters/earthquake-safety-tips

Most importantly, the news channels should provide information on how the TV audience in India can help or donate relief fund rather than just providing the videos and the pictures.

Thank you. Have a good evening!

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