As increasingly violent police riots erupted all across Europe, security officials clashed with immigrants in New York, and documents were leaked in southeast Asia, Australia seemed like the only region of the world not plagued by domestic terror. Then just last week, on Apr 15, Australia experienced its worst domestic terror attack in decades when a crazed man went on a massive killing spree in a Sydney shopping mall. Although the criminal was later subdued and taken down by police, the motive of the attacker remains unclear. Now nowhere in the world seems safe against rampant terror attacks.

“The event is climatic as hate crimes such as these have been quite low in Australia, and many were unprepared for the calamity it brought,” James Lee (10), avid news follower, said. “The Australian has vowed to increase its security measures in response to this attack.”

Equally disheartening was the casualties list of the attack: nearly two-thirds of all victims were women, leading many to believe that this may have been a hate crime. “Oh, my God, it’s all about women,” Mary Aravanopoulos, survivor of the attack, said. This is the most concerning fact about the crime, never before has there been a crime of such a scale. However this is highly unlikely as the event was an isolated one.

“It seems like the security issues around the world are increasing in ferocity,” Donghyun Kim (11), global news enthusiast, said. “First it was Europe, now Australia, who knows if Asia could be next?”

The fear seems justified, especially after considering that these relatively peaceful countries have been seeing increased violence over the years that come in unpredictable patterns. With such rampant destruction and violence, it is justifiable.