‘Death by a thousand blows’

Abstract

The collapse of the Azure Window might have impacted Malta like a cataclysm ... but environmentalist Alan Deidun argues that our natural heritage has more to fear from the gradual impact of smaller, more insidious threats. There can be no doubt that the event of the week was the sudden disappearance of one of Malta's most iconic landmarks: the Azure Window in Dwejra, Gozo. In a classic 'chronicle of a disaster foretold', it was something we all knew would happen sooner or later. Yet when it did, the ensuing shock and sense of national loss was nonetheless almost palpable. Some even read a 'message from Mother Nature' in the event... as though we had been warned that we tamper with the forces of nature at our own risk.