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.
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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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