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Wednesday, 31 October 2012

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By comparison WE HAVE STORMS IN a teacup ...!

When the superstorm Sandy slammed into New York, the world’s most powerful financial district and the place for the movers and shakers of the world, went literally dead.

There was no power, no systems working in New York. A moment of nature’s fury could stop any man made technologically advanced system in seconds and that’s what exactly happened with Sandy which left a path of destruction and debris.

In life, storms can come unexpectedly, forcing us to retreat and change our course. Those are the times when we need to be thankful for all that we have, count our blessings and learn the art of being content with what we have.

A storm can destroy what has taken years to build, in seconds.

There is no shelter that nature’s fury cannot reach, there is no weapon that man can form against such things.

Storm Sandy forced people to change their plans and stay indoors - this, in a city with skyscrapers that only electricity powered lifts can reach and systems that never shut down. New York learnt the lessons first hand, lessons that have taught others much about the helplessness of having to sit through it.

Sky high buildings

We know the fury of the tsunami first hand. There was little anyone of us could do as the waters lashed Sri Lanka’s coastal line in 1994 and left hundreds dead.

Superstorm Sandy causes flooding in New York City. Picture courtesy: KTAR

We can never trust in the systems we create - mortal man will always remain limited. We need to know it and understand it before we go on trusting those systems and expecting those systems to keep us safe and secure. Man’s trust in technology and expertise can let us all down when we least expect it to. In the face of a storm, a tsunami or an earthquake, technology can be as helpless as we are. New Jersey coastline was hit with 80 mph winds when Sandy reached the shore, hurling never-seen-before surge 13-foot high.

The seawater threatened the city’s subway systems and the electrical system that powers the world’s key financial district, Wall Street.

Traders did not trade and the street remained shut, remind us once again that you could have all the power and the wealth of the world but a storm could render you helpless in a matter of minutes. The storm also left at least 3.1 million people in New York without power. Those in the penthouses located on sky high buildings may have panicked.

Almost 50 million people faced the fury of the storm, as it hit their neighbourhoods.

We see more and more natural disasters throughout the world that threaten to destroy cities and technologically advanced nations.

The tsunami that struck Japan reached higher than they expected it to and destroyed cities they thought the waters could never reach.

It is foolish to underestimate the power of nature’s fury but many people seem to think they can get away with it. The power of Sandy collapsed a construction crane on top of a luxury high-rise in New York City, leaving it dangling dangerously 74 floors above the street. Weather forecasters believed that the winds at the top the building may have been close to 95 mph.

Crew members

When the storm hit North Carolina, a replica of the 18th century sailing ship HMS Bounty built for the 1962 Marlon Brando movie Mutiny on the Bounty sank - its 14 crew members were rescued by helicopters that spotted their rubber lifeboats bobbing in the midst of 18-foot waves.

Sandy would not be the last such storm the world has seen.

There are likely to many more, given the wanton destruction mankind has committed on the planet.

The seas will rise higher and the temperatures will go down or up into the extremes.

There will be many more storms and disasters, earthquakes as fault lines falter and ice caps melt.

It is time however we took our cues from nature and set about bringing in change.

 

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