“We
learn geology the morning after the earthquake”
--Ralph
Waldo Emerson
Since
the beginnings of recorded history, mankind has struggled with the
destructive forces of nature.
This conflict between man and nature has included our responses
to everything from a single event killing large numbers to the efforts
of medical science to prolong life and fight disease.
Hurricanes,
tornadoes, earthquakes, volcanoes, cyclones, drought, floods,
landslides, wildfires, typhoons, avalanches, meteorites, diseases and
the latest, tsunami, headline the world's natural disasters.
Our
preparations for such disasters and our proactive efforts to avoid the
worst results have often been severely lacking.
We fail to plan for deadly events that have a high probability
of happening; and we ignore the steps that could be taken to prevent
the worst outcomes.
In
1998 three American high school students created a Web site about Natural
Disasters.
They got their information from available sources on many types
of nature's devastation, including five links on tsunami.
If secondary school students can do this, it seems
incomprehensible that adults who are responsible for others’ safety
have failed.
Recognizing
the possibility of a tsunami wreaking devastation both Hawaii and
Alaska have warning systems.
These get tested once each month so that everyone remains
familiar with their purpose.
Despite
the examples of preparation for tsunami in both Hawaii and Alaska,
none of the places hit by the latest tsunami were even
vaguely prepared.
A natural disaster that need not have had such a devastating
effect wasted more than 150,000 people according to UN humanitarian
chief Jan Egeland!
The
death toll eclipses a cyclone that struck Bangladesh in 1991, killing
138,000 people.
The places hit included Thailand, with 13,000 dead and
Indonesia, with an estimated 80,000 dead.
Both Thailand and Indonesia are Member States of the
International Coordination Group for the Tsunami Warning System.
There would appear to be no excuse for their failure to use it.
The
other places hit included Sri Lanka, with a reported death toll of
28,500,
India with 14,488 dead, Malaysia, Maldives, Somalia, Myanmar,
Tanzania, Seychelles, Kenya and Bangladesh--all of whom should have
had a warning system.
According
to Tsunami Society President Professor Tad Murty of the University of
Manitoba: "There's no reason for a single individual to get
killed in a tsunami, since most areas had anywhere from 25 minutes to
four hours before a wave hit.
So, once again, because of indifference and corruption
thousands of innocent people have died needlessly"
(Calgary Sun, 28 Dec 2004).
Close
to a 9.0 magnitude undersea quake triggered the tsunami.
U.N. officials said up to five million people were without
basic services.
About 5,000 foreign tourists--mostly Europeans--were still
missing at the time of writing this.
According
to Fox News, “The United States, Japan, Australia and other nations
pledged millions of dollars to help the relief effort, and some sent
military transport planes and helicopters to carry medical teams and
emergency supplies.”
Why didn't they spend that money sponsoring the installation
and maintenance of warning systems that could have saved many, if not
most, of the lives lost?
ABC
News reported, “The apocalyptic destruction caused by the wave
dwarfed the efforts of governments and relief agencies as they turned
from rescuing survivors to trying to care for millions of homeless,
increasingly threatened by disease amid the rotting corpses.”
In
May 1922, the most powerful earthquake known to the world - measuring
9.5 on the Richter scale in Chile - generated a giant tsunami.
In the following years, the U.S. Geological Survey prepared an
18-page booklet with lessons on how to survive a tsunami.
Last updated in 1999, the booklet has been available on the
Internet.
Every country near an ocean in which a tsunami could be
generated should have distributed this booklet.
When
are we going to wake up and get proactive--take preventative
measures--to reduce the carnage caused by "natural
disasters"?
The
Disaster
Warning Network reports, "Tsunami events are easily sensed
with modern technology and early warnings of this event would have
saved the vast majority of lives lost in this disaster."
A
current site as of January 2004, hosted by the Department of Earth
and Space Sciences at the University of Washington, provides broad
coverage of information about tsunami.
The site covers "real time tsunami information bulletins,
how tsunami are generated and propagated, how they've affected humans,
how people in coastal areas are warned and how you can protect
yourself.
While
the latest tsunami happens to be the great concern of the moment,
other natural disasters have been the source of past carnage; and they
will continue to plague us wherever there are faults to spur
earthquakes, pressure to unleash volcanoes, storms to flood the land
and the winds of hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones.
With
access to the Internet, you can certainly discover just about all you
need to know about the causes and the behavior of any of the natural
disasters.
Most importantly, you can learn about the kinds of warning
systems that exist for your protection.
Fact
Monster has a useful collection of descriptions of major disasters
of nature along with histories of the worst.
If you're unfamiliar with the numbers who died from the worst
catastrophes of nature, you'll find this site informative.
"Natural
disasters come in many shapes and sizes" says the Natural
Disaster website.
"In order to be prepared you have to know about different
types of disasters. Most are related to the weather but some are
geological."
Until
very recently, the only warning of earthquakes was possible just
seconds before the temblor started.
That was at least enough time to turn off gas and get under a
desk or table.
However, several scientists have said that it may be possible
to predict earthquakes sooner by studying chemical changes in undersea
water.
It
has been possible however, to predict the potential for earthquakes
along fault lines; and people should know whether or not they're
living on or near one of those fault lines; and if they're willing to
take the risk, they should make sure that the buildings they live and
work in have been strengthened to withstand quakes, and they should be
prepared to move quickly when things start shaking.
The
best website about recent earthquakes (1995 - 2004) happens to be the
journalists" site Poynteronline.
Not only does Poynter have full coverage of the major
earthquakes around the world since 1995, it has links to a dozen
sources of information.
On
May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens erupted violently.
For 2 months the volcano showed signs that it was waking up
from its 123-year sleep.
Earthquakes beneath the mountain increased.
Steam and ash erupted.
And a "bulge" grew on the mountain's steep north
side.
All these warning signs signaled that magma was moving upward
inside the volcano.
Yet, many people ignored the warnings.
The
Smithsonian Institute's Global
Volcanism Program has put together an outstanding source of
information about volcanoes, providing complete documentation of all
1555 volcanoes that erupted during the past 10,000 years.
According
to most sources, tornadoes are the most violent storms on earth.
Though most of them--about 1000 each year--happen in the USA,
they also occur elsewhere.
USA Today has created a website guide
to tornado safety.
“Hurricane”
and “typhoon” are two names for the same thing - a tropical
cyclone with winds of 65 knots (75 m.p.h.) or more.
When these storms occur in the Western Hemisphere (in the
Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea, and the Gulf of Mexico), we call
them hurricanes.
When they occur
in the North Pacific Ocean west of the International Date Line, we
call them typhoons.
For
detailed information about hurricanes, typhoons and tropical cyclones,
visit the Atlantic
Oceanographic and Meteorology Laboratory website.
If
you live in an area where natural disasters have happened or might
occur, an excellent starting place to learn about nature’s threat
and how to protect yourself is The Open
Directory Project.
It provides coverage of all types of natural disasters and
hazards with many links to related sites.
There's
no escaping the damage and destruction inflicted by natural disasters;
but the advances of science and technology in registering early
warnings of most cataclysms leaves no reason for these events to be as
destructive of life as they have been.
If
survival is truly one of humankind's prime movers, then the knowledge
we have that makes it possible to survive natural disasters should be
readily available to all.
