Everyday we are confronted with explosions of outrageous dimensions. When I received this wonderful catalogue of Dutch countryside paintings from the 17th century today, I found the depiction of a dynamite depot explosion in Delft, Netherlands, on Monday, October 12, 1654. 80.000 to 90.000 pounds of gunpowder exploded and huge areas of the town got destroyed. The explosion could be heard on the island of Texel 130 km away. Hundreds of people lost their lives.
Is this explosion so different from the one that took place in Enschede, Netherlands in 2000? And so many others we hear about almost everyday. I think, it is only the speed of the news that makes us aware of all the catastrophes around the globe everyday so incredible fast that has changed, the tragic of the disasters remains the same. And the speed of the spreading news makes us numb. This may have changed too during the past centuries.
On May 13 about 100 tonnes of fireworks and other explosives detonated after a fire in the factory of S.E. Fireworks in the northern Dutch city of Enschede. The blast was felt up to 30 kilometres away. In a split second almost 400 houses were reduced to their foundations and another 1,000 damaged.
