Tornado in the Czech Republic: a bitter warning?
An unusually strong tornado for European standards has swept through the south-east of the Czech Republic, leaving several people dead and many injured as well as widespread destruction in its wake. Its wind speeds were estimated at 300 to 400 kilometres per hour. Now thousands are confronted with the devastating consequences.
The payback for destroying nature
Aktuálně.cz calls for a different way of dealing with the Earth:
“Whenever we pour concrete and asphalt, whenever we are not willing to shut down coal-fired power stations, whenever we refuse to close city centres to cars - that is when we should remember the people and their ruined houses. Up until today, we have lived in a country with few extreme climate events. But that is no longer true. Times are changing dramatically, and we are receiving more and more warnings. We should listen to them, just as we feel the grief and the pain of people ravaged by a tornado.”
Overwhelming solidarity
Also in view of the last tornado disaster in the Czech Republic, in the city of Litovel in 2004, Seznam Zprávy observes:
“What connects the two events is the enormous solidarity the Czechs are capable of showing. Yes, we are a nation of amateur football and ice hockey trainers, epidemiologists and vaccinologists who can be at each others' throats. ... Yet all this is being eclipsed once again by the incredible speed with which donations are soaring in a moment of need. By the inexhaustible number of offers of help. By a flood of accommodation, construction materials, as well as hundreds, even thousands of people willing to drop everything else and help remove rubble in remote areas of the country.”