Muhammad Saad Abdullah

Semester 6 – Electrical Engineering

We all know that this world is temporary. Everyone in this world is mortal. During life span, everyone experience many incidents either small or big but I think we (90’s Generation) have never experienced a year like 2020. This means that it is a year that contains a series of big happenings in this world. Here’s the list of happenings that occurred so far in 2020 and got maximum media attention globally.

• Bushfire in Australia
• Earthquake in Turkey
• America killing Iran’s Suleimani
• Flood-Hit Indonesia
• Death of famous KOBE BRYANT in a Helicopter crash
• The coronavirus pandemic outbreak

Bushfire in Australia

In the state of New South Wales alone, almost 150 fires continued to burn, many out of control, with light rains offering little relief and blazes again touching the suburbs of Sydney. "We're in uncharted territory," New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said. "We can't pretend that this is something that we have experienced before. It's not." In January 2020, it was estimated that over 1.25 billion animals have died in the 2019-2020 Australian bushfire season. Many people living nearby lost their homes and some died also.

Earthquake in Turkey

At least 36 people died and more than 1,607 have been hospitalized in eastern Turkey after an earthquake rattled the region on Friday evening, according to state broadcaster TRT Haber. The 6.7-magnitude quake struck near the town of Sivrice, in eastern Elazig province, causing at least 10 buildings to collapse, Interior Minister Sulyman Soylu said: At least 45 people have been rescued from collapsed buildings, AFAD said, adding that 1,521 buildings have been inspected, with 76 found to be collapsed and 645 heavily damaged. Preliminary reports say the earthquake lasted 40 seconds.Fifteen aftershocks have been felt in the wake, with the strongest registering at 5.4 magnitudes, Soylu said. The quake struck at a relatively shallow depth of 10 km (6 miles), according to the US Geological Survey (USGS), which enhances the shaking felt at the surface.

America killing Iran’s Suleimani

The killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite Quds Force, marks a major escalation in the stand-off between Washington and Iran, which has careened from one crisis to another since President Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal and imposed crippling sanctions. The United States urged its U.S. citizens to leave Iraq “immediately." The State Department said the embassy in Baghdad, which was attacked by Iran-backed militiamen and other protesters earlier this week, is closed and all consular services have been suspended. Around 5,200 American troops are based in Iraq, where they mainly train Iraqi forces and help to combat Islamic State militants. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned that a “harsh retaliation is waiting” for the U.S. after the airstrike, calling Soleimani the “international face of resistance.” Khamenei declared three days of public mourning for the general’s death.

Flood-hit Indonesia

Reports say that the death toll from severe flooding and landslides that struck the Indonesian capital Jakarta over the New Year’s holiday has risen to 66, the state-run disaster management authority announced. A total of 169 areas across Indonesia were reported last Wednesday to have been overwhelmed by floods, with 63 reported in Jakarta, 97 in West Java, and nine regions in the western Banten province. The BMKG recorded rainfall intensity on New Year's Eve at 377 millimeters (15 inches) per day, the highest since 2007 when it reached 340 mm per day.

Kobe Bryant’s Tragic Death

Kobe Bryant, the 18-time NBA All-Star who won five championships and became one of the greatest basketball players of his generation during a 20-year career spent entirely with the Los Angeles Lakers, died in a helicopter crash Sunday. He was 41. According to American news outlet TMZ, Bryant's daughter Gianna Maria-Onore was also among the victims killed in the crash. Bryant retired in 2016 as the third-leading scorer in NBA history, finishing two decades with the Lakers as a prolific scorer with a sublime all-around game and a relentless competitive ethic. History will remember him!

The coronavirus pandemic

ALAS! How much worst can a year be? I think not much in which the entire world is under lockdown due to this Sinister Disease. No one can tell how this virus out broke, Some people say that its America’s plan to ruin china but it ruined the entire world including America and some say that it broke from Wuhan( The place where 1^st case was reported) Lab. But we As a Muslim can say that ALLAH (S.W.T) is angry with us and it is a type of Punishment for us from Almighty ALLAH. We cannot tell whether life will return to its normality or not only ALLAH knows better.

There is no vaccine/cure for this disease by date, many pharmaceuticals and biological companies are trying day and night to create a vaccine or a Cure for it. The mortality rate is not much but it’s dangerous because it spreads from humans to humans. The people who are recovering whether they have a good immune system and will power because one cannot get recover unless there is a proper treatment i.e. medicines etc. Plasma therapy has come to light that the plasma from a healthy recovered COVID-19 patient can help to cure the serious people of the disease.

The time-period of this Virus is 14 days after this it dies automatically. This means if a person completes a cycle of 14 days until he/she has no severe symptoms than the virus dies as the body manages to tackle it making antibodies. Taking plasma and injecting to other who is suffering has been positive so far as it helps to make antibodies to tackle the virus but it has a disadvantage that the recovered person may have other disease and it can also make the other person who is receiving plasma suffer from that disease.

There is no medicine by the date that can cure this disease, however, A drug from US GILEAD SCIENCES (RAMDESIVIR) has proven worthful against this disease that it cannot cure immediately but it can lower the time period of a person to recover from 14 days to 8,9 days. Several Companies have made a vaccine that is under clinical trials and many companies are sure that they will have a complete working vaccine with no side effects by the end of the year or by fall 2020. Normally a vaccine takes 12-18 months because it has to go under many trials to see whether it is safe or not. CHINA has done successful trials of the vaccine on monkeys as they were injected with vaccine and then high doses of COVID-19 and they did not get COVID. While other monkeys that were not given vaccine caught severe symptoms of the virus. Germany, U.k, U.S, Australia and some other countries have started clinical trials of a vaccine to humans.

Let's see how far we are from a safe vaccine may it is not too late as the entire world is under lockdown the economy and GDPs of many countries has severe drop since many years and the countries like Pakistan may suffer from lack of things as the economy goes down, Millions of people could lose their jobs due to this. The precautionary measures are to wear a mask and wash/ sanitize your hands regularly. Don’t shake hands or hug each other, don’t go outside until its very necessary. Although the places of gathering like cinemas, parks, worship places, and marriage halls are closed by the order of government to avoid gatherings.