The beginning of this year marked the start of a fresh decade and many around the globe looked forward to it with sheer optimism. The year that was supposed to be “the” year for many had so much in store for us; let’s just say it was all a bit overwhelming.
Here’s headline 8’s version of 2020 wrapped for all of the times it really made us question, does it get worse?
Along with the advent of a global pandemic, the world saw a series of wildfires, death of famous personalities, social unrests, and what not?
A stretch of bad events kicked off the year. Wildfires engulfed Australia with apocalyptic scenes, followed shortly by the Iranian regime shooting down the Ukrainian airliner PS752, killing all 176 people on board, during a series of escalations that nearly brought Iran and the United States to war. These events were eclipsed in January, however, when the COVID-19 pandemic began to sweep the world – wrecking havoc and killing more than 400,000 people as of early June.
Covid-19 spread across the globe like wildfire. The virus that was first seen and recorded in Wuhan, china really affected the whole world in ways unimaginable. World governments failed to recognise the threat imposed by covid-19 in its initial stages and somewhat dismissed its severity only to find out that the damage was taking place lot faster than anticipated. By March, earth was on lockdown, people were in their homes, many students stranded and daily wage earners devastated.
The year also witnessed violence in India’s capital Delhi which left more than 50 dead and hundreds injured after a Hindu nationalist rampage. Safoora Zargar, a 27 year old student activist was jailed in light of the religious violence that took over in the capital. She was jailed in the month of April despite being pregnant and covid-19 on the rise. Some say she was merely a part of the unending witch-hunt of peaceful protesters during the nationwide protests against the citizenship amendment act. Her case made quite the stir amongst human rights activists and lawyers. She received bail in the month of June.
2020 saw the Oil India Limited’s Baghjan Oil well fire in Assam which kept on burning for nearly six months. A gas well in the Baghjan oilfield had an uncontrolled gas emission on May 27 during a maintenance operation. In June, the well caught fire, killing two firefighters, while an engineer died on the site in September following electrocution. The company had to bring in experts from Singapore, the US, and Canada to contain the fire
And 2020 looked like it couldn’t get any worse social unrest exploded in the already polarized United States, following the killing of an African American man George Floyd by a white police officer. The resulting unrest was mainly channeled in peaceful protests that spread across the globe leading to the Black Lives Matter Campaign and violent clashes between police and some protesters resulted in a further political polarization in the US ahead of the November 2020, election. Meanwhile, China tightened its grip on Hong Kong through the passing of controversial new legislation.
To make things worse, a Pakistan International Airlines flight crashed into houses in Karachi on May 22, killing 97 people.
Miraculously, two passengers survived the crash.
Airbus has opened an investigation into the plane’s strange behavior around takeoff, the latest deadly plane crash in Pakistan’s long history of aviation incidents.
Then, in early August, long-suffering Lebanon was struck by a massive deadly explosion, putting further strain on the country amid a deteriorating economic crisis. The blast emanated from Beirut’s port, where 2,750 tonnes of highly explosive ammonium nitrate was being stored.
At least 157 people were killed, over 6,000 injured, and hundreds of thousands were displaced.
This year we sadly said goodbye to many notable personalities
On January 26, Kobe Bryant, one of the NBA’s all-time greatest players, was killed at age 41 in a helicopter crash near Los Angeles along with his 13-year-old daughter and seven others on board.
Black Panther actor Chadwick Boseman also lost his life in August this year aged 43 after a four-year-long secret battle with cancer.
The Indian film and television industry also lost some of its gems in 2020. From Sushant Singh Rajput, Irrfan Khan, SP Balasubrahmanyam, Rishi Kapoor to Nishikant Kamat, Saroj Khan, and Jagdeep, many celebrities left a void in the Indian entertainment industry.
The year has been cruel to the entire world and the Indian political arena is no exception. The Former President of India Pranab Mukherjee, Cabinet minister in the Narendra Modi led government Ram Vilas Paswan, Congress leader Ahmed Patel, former Assam Chief Minister, former Rajya Sabha MP Amar Singh, and many more bid adieu in 2020.
Lastly, the death of the multitudes really puts a lot into perspective. Over 1.74 million people were reported dead this year due to covid-19, out of which 147 thousand died in India.
It’s safe to say that 2020 has been nothing but an elaborate roller coaster ride with more downs than ups.