As the dust settles following Tuesday night’s nationwide blackout, many will be assessing the damages they have suffered as a result of the power surges and fluctuations.

For most homes, the damage incurred involved food that had thawed out and had to be thrown away. But for others, it was worse, as electronic items shorted out or simply did not work anymore once the power came back on.

For businesses, it was worse. It is coming up to Santa Marija weekend and many reported not only material damage – in terms of spoilt food and electrical equipment – but also in loss of takings as many people decided to simply go and try and wait it out by the sea, where at least, there was a breeze.

The more resourceful of business owners, tried to make the best of a bad situation, by trying to offer a dining under the stars and firelight scenario. But all in all, whatever is said, it is very worrying to think that in 2014, a whole nation can be plunged into darkness.

Many people thought that the problem was caused by the infamous ‘Boiler 7’, but it was not. The problem was caused by a faulty cable which then led to the Marsa Distribution Centre blowing up. Then, it all went haywire. It was a series of events. Delimara was switched off as a precaution and then the whole system folded as everything had to be rerouted through other power distribution centres.

This government has promised to diversify Malta’s electricity production outlets and it is becoming ever more clear (whatever the best solution is deemed to be) that this is absolutely necessary. This is not the fault of one government or another, it is the fault of successive administrations trying to patch up old hardware that is well past its sell by date. It is also a problem of Malta and Gozo having no failsafe solution when the electricity trips.  Some have tried to turn this into a political debate. It shouldn’t be. For years on end, every year, we have always suffered at least one massive power cut.

And this brings us to the point in question – Malta very sorely needs that ‘Plan B’, being linked to the European mainland to be able to bring emergency power in when the local system breaks down.  A turbine is a turbine – it needs to warm up and it needs to gain momentum before production can go back into the grid. And that is even before any damage assessment is made and power is rerouted from other sources to make up or the shortfall caused by something local tripping – as happened in this case in Marsa.

But there are a couple of other salient points. While everyone was finger wagging because their evening was spoilt, there were Enemalta workers working against the clock in difficult and dangerous conditions to bring power back. It took them a long time, but they did get everything up and running.

One more thought also should be considered. We complained till we were blue in the face about this incident – what were the people of Gaza feeling when bombs rained down around them and hospitals were working without power because the power plant was knocked out of commission. Now that is food for thought.