The figure entitled Threatened demonstrates a heartbreaking scene of some people. The viewer can find absolute helplessness and panic in their faces. People from Srumbung village, near Mount Merapi in central Java, lament and receive the most disparaging and maddened form of nature with trepidation and wonder. Watching the pale faces, one can acquire the real pain and fear that haunts one’s mind. The people lost everything that they had earned in their past life. Lose of their family member haunt their lives. One can hear the cry of those people and understand the real pain they have. Through their pale voice, one can hear the horrible sound of the dreadful volcano. Small children wander in the streets, and the moaning of those in search of their dead relatives is heard after the heavy explosion. They are standing in a remote area where one can see the barren land. The smell of dead bodies and fire contribute to difficulties for one’s body. Fear in the face of the villagers and the deadly hot clouds of ash, fragments, and gash created by the heavy explosion are witnessed everywhere. The study entitled Volcanic Eruption, Mt. Merapi, Central Java, helps the viewers to understand more about the horror. The report informs that; “Merapi’s last major eruption was in 1994 when heat clouds killed more than 60 people and 6000 others were forced to evacuate. It also erupted in 1976, killing 28 people and leaving 1176 people homeless.” (Volcanic Eruption, Mt. Merapi, Central Java 1).
The sufferings and pain of migration are visible in the faces of the people in the picture, and the viewer cannot avoid the pathetic stature of the outsiders. The picture gives the pathetic stature of people suffering from poverty and diseases. Volcano destroys their homes and farmhouses making their lives more terrible. Continuous storm spreads ash into the face of the people, and one can see the white color in hand after a mere touching of anything in this land. The cursed people lost vast areas of a paddock of wheat and other crops, and the remaining part is covered with gray ash, and the whole landscape is turned with white color. Standing for a long time, one feels difficulty in breathing and pain in the lungs. The viewer feels agony and sympathy towards the poor children who are suffering from severe heart diseases as a result of the ash produced by the volcanic eruption. The hard breathing of the small baby reveals severe health problems in that region. His skin was pale, wrinkled, and one felt extra cold in it.
Lack of food, medicine, and failure in satisfying the primary needs of the people of the calamity-affected area is extremely miserable. Local authority complains that the ongoing earthquake prevents the rehabilitation programs, and the death rate increases day by day in the affected areas. One can see an unknown fear haunting the people continuously in their life. The destructive fire washed out their existence, civilization, and their dear ones making them refugees in their native land. The people are living in temporary shelters and tents without proper sanitary facilities or freshwater. People’s murmuring sound makes one think about the seriousness of starvation. Hunger and thirst attack infants, youth, and mothers making them unable to console themselves and their children. The picture also depicts the fact that the deadly smoke and ash changes people’s physical and mental life. The photographer reveals his excellent craftsmanship in this picture by portraying the image of helpless people. Also, the picture, in all ways, gives a complete illustration of the hazards and panic caused by the eruption of Mount Merapi.
Works Cited
Volcanic Eruption, Mt. Merapi, Central Java. Emergency Situation Report. 2006. Web.