What Will It Take To Make Us Better Prepare For Life's
Disasters?
In this world of live TV broadcasting, it's likely few have
missed witnessing the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina.
An overwhelming sense of helplessness permeates the lives of
thousands of victims in New Orleans and other affected areas of
Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. You need cold steel in your
heart and ice water in your veins to not be mournful of
their plight.
The pattern of Katrina prior to its cataclysmic route was coined
by some to be "nothing to worry about" as it whirled 95 miles
per hour gusts through portions of Miami eventually causing
about 100 millions dollars of estimated damage. And, this was
before it locked its sight on New Orleans.
Why do people pretend certain things won't happen to them? Like
dying prematurely ... or becoming disabled ... or running out of
food and water.
Even when a crisis situation is up close and in our face we tend
to quickly dismiss it. For example, the car accident scene we
just passed as paramedics were placing severely injured
passengers into the ambulance. You could see pools of blood on
the street and twisted metal with broken glass strewn everywhere.
Then, once beyond the accident scene we began accelerating to
speeds excessively over the posted limits.
Why don't we take these real life experiences seriously enough
to prepare for the worst?
On Aug. 24, 1992, Hurricane Andrew slammed into South Florida.
It wiped out Homestead, Florida City and parts of Miami before
continuing northwest across the Gulf of Mexico to strike the
Louisiana coastline.
The storm was responsible for 40 deaths and $30-billion in
property damage. At the time, it was the costliest disaster in
U.S history.
We have only just begun to calculate the cost of Hurricane
Katrina. More than likely, it will be beyond our capacity to
imagine.
During August and September 2004, Florida was lambasted by
Hurricanes Charley, Dennis, Ivan and Jeanne. The damage was
astounding and perhaps foretold of things to come - like Katrina.
So, why don't we better prepare for these dramas of Mother
Nature? Why do we quickly forget what has happened before and
most assuredly will happen again?
On September 11, 1992 (less than one month after Andrew)
Hurricane Iniki leveled every telephone pole and hundreds of
trees on the Island of Kauai in Hawaii. Fortunately no one was
killed and yet the preparation for this disaster was
postponed because it was originally forecast to be less
severe.
Planning for any disaster is filled with complications. Various
departments of local, state and federal governments often clash
due to opposing viewpoints or budget constraints.
Interesting isn't it? When panic is upon us ... when the
disaster has struck ... more often than not we rise to the
occasion. And yet, we frequently fail to prepare for future
disasters that could threaten the lives of our own family.
If we were as smart as we are compassionate, we would help
ourselves and our families by storing provisions to be used, if
necessary, for our survival. More information can be found at:
http://www.survival-center.
com.
For many, compassion seems to come easier than wisdom. Is this
because it's easier to write a check than to spend time making a
plan for our own survival?
One problem with the check is how do we know the money truly
goes to help those we care about?
Even the Red Cross admits there are times funds end up being
distributed to parties other than those designated by the
contributors.
Here's a suggestion for the current victim relief effort. Go to:
http://www.jw-media.org
and follow the commentary about Katrina. I'm confident monetary
contributions sent to these folks will actually help our needy
friends in the bayou.
By the way, I am not affiliated with either of the two
recommended organizations ... and I have a great deal of respect
for the work of the Red Cross and its recent effort to honor the
requested allocation of the donors.