2020: The Worst Year?

At the start of each and every year, we think it’s going to be the best year of our lives and look forward to it. 2020 was the beginning of a new decade, which gave it an extra touch. However, the universe had different plans. 6 months into 2020, and we can’t wait for it to get over.

Here are the top 5 events that took place till now, to which one might agree that 2020 hasn’t been a good year.

 

 

Australian Wildfire:

2020 started off with a fire! Literally. The 2019-2020 Australian season, also known as ‘black summer’, started in June 2019 with several intense and uncontrollable fires, primarily in the country’s southeast. The fires, which peaked during the months of December and January, have since been controlled and extinguished.

Australia is no stranger to bushfire, however, this year’s situation is unprecedented. More than half of the Australian population has been affected directly by the bushfire crisis. The bushfire burned approximately 25 million hectares of land, about 2,000 homes were lost and hundreds of thousands were forced to evacuate, also killing at least 33 people. Over 1 billion animals are believed to have perished and the overall damage and economic losses is estimated to reach $100 billion.

 

 Floods in Jakarta:

Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia has been crippled by flash floods, caused due to overnight rain in the early hours of January 1^st, dumping nearly 400 millimetres of rainfall. This disaster is believed to be the deadliest flooding to hit Jakarta.

The heavy downpour that hit the capital, nearly affected 400,000 people and the death toll stood at 73. Thousands of people were forced to flee their homes and many parts of the city had been left without power.

The floods have paralyzed the transport network, damaged thousands of buildings, including the submergence of the state-run Cipto Mangunkusumo hospital, the country’s largest hospital and the Presidential Palace.

 

Ukrainian Jetliner Crash:

On January 8^th, Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 (PS752) was scheduled to fly from Tehran to Kiev, but was shot down by missiles launched by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) shortly after it’s take-off killing all 176 passengers and crew onboard.

The incident occurred during tensions between Iran and USA, where USA carried out a drone strike killing Iranian major general Qasem Soleimani.

Iran had launched retaliatory missile strikes on US positions in Iraq for the killing of Major Soleimani. Iran was on the highest state of defensive alert and mistook the airplane for a ‘cruise missile’ and decided to open fire.

Iran has admitted ‘unintentionally’ shooting down the plane and described the crash as an ‘unforgivable mistake’. The aircraft was carrying 176 people, including nine crew members and fifteen children who were unfortunately caught in this crossfire.

 

Coronavirus Pandemic:

The outbreak of Coronavirus or Covid-19, is certainly the worst thing to happen not just in 2020, but in the entire 21^st century causing significant human suffering and global economic disruption.

The virus originated in Wuhan, China and has spread rapidly all over the world, with 6.2 million active cases and claiming the lives of 373,000 people, as of June 2^nd. Countries such as USA, Brazil and Italy have been hit heavily by the novel virus.

This pandemic has had a huge impact on the world, forcing nation-wide lockdown, severely demobilizing the global economy, leaving millions and millions of people unemployed.

Coronavirus has definitely had a bad effect on the day to day life of the human society and on the world economy as well.

Protests in the US:

Racism has always been one of the biggest issues in the US and has heightened especially after the tragic death of George Floyd causing protests across the country to put an end to racism and police brutality. Some of the protests have been peaceful while most of the protests have been intense and violent.

Curfews have been imposed in many states due to the protests, and yet people are hitting the streets, expressing their anger and frustration over the systematic racism. Some protests have taken a violent turn, which includes looting and vandalizing stores and setting buildings and vehicles ablaze.

Riot teams have been deployed all over the country to demobilize the protests, but they responded to the protests with a hefty dose of brutality, proving the protesters right.

Law enforcement agencies have been seen using tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets, injuring the protesters, even the ones who were protesting peacefully.

The unrest in the US has drawn global attention on this matter, with many countries expressing sympathy and solidarity.