Letters: Pilgrimage disasters

This refers to the editorial "Succeeding on Phailin" (October 14). What irony. We have the capacity to plan and stand up to nature's furious Phailin. The situation is so remarkable that out of the 1 million affected, only 18 lives were lost - one deceased in 50,000! But we are unable to face our fellow men's follies. Pilgrimage disasters are neither the will of god nor the retribution of nature. The needless temple tragedy in Madhya Pradesh (MP) resulted in a fatality ratio of one in 20. All vulnerable religious sites need to be covered under an National Disaster Management Authority genre of protection. A list of such places and the standard operating procedures must be put in place. There is no point wearing the proud plumes of Phailin, only to be left with mud on the face at MP, on the same day.

R Narayanan Ghaziabad

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