Learning from MH370

Quote

“Sometimes, when one person is missing, the whole world seems depopulated.”  Alphonse de Lamartine (French writer and poet, 1790-1869)

News

Since 239 passengers and crew took off for a routine flight to Beijing on the ill-fated MH370 five weeks ago, 26 nations have been involved in searching for the missing plane, and scores of sailors and airmen are scouring the southern Indian Ocean for the slightest clue.  Meanwhile, hundreds of angry, confused relatives are caught in the suspended grief associated with ‘ambiguous loss.’

The technical challenges have been formidable: analysing complex data from satellites to try and narrow down the search zone; racing against time to detect signals from the black box before the battery runs out; and still to come, attempting to locate actual wreckage on the uncharted seabed 4,500m below the surface.

Yet behind these technical issues are relational ones.  No defence forum exists in South Asia, to coordinate international responses to such incidents.  Thus the search began slowly and has gone erratically at times because of the lack of trust between the major nations involved. China, India and USA have been reluctant to share their radar data or high resolution satellite imagery for fear of revealing their military technology – or perhaps lack of it.  

The Malaysian government’s handling of the crisis has also been fraught with relational problems.  Their inability to separate the security and PR issues from their responsibility towards the families of the missing people meant communication was sporadic and lacking in transparency.  This was aggravated when the authorities broke the news that the plane had certainly crashed to the relatives through a text message.

It’s essential to find the wreckage now and understand what went so tragically wrong on the final flight of MH370, and steps taken to reduce the risk of it happening again.  But equally vital is to bring closure to the hundreds of friends and loved ones who are hanging in limbo between a faint glimmer of hope and the gathering storm clouds of grief. 

In time, investment in new technologies will overcome the technical challenges and limitations brought to light through this tragedy; might the same level of resources and effort be invested in addressing some of the relational weaknesses too? 

Read on…

The R Option by Michael Schluter and David Lee looks at different themes and issues from a relational perspective; read the chapter about loss here.

Walk the talk

How well prepared are you for helping people cope with unexpected loss or tragedy?  Is this something you might take time to learn more about?

The last word 
From the Bible, Psalm 34 verse 18: “The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”