Emergency Warnings – Tsunami
A week ago, we were all a-twitter. You see? We received a tsunami warning. There had been a 7.0 earthquake in Northern California – about 3 hours north of where we live.
We technically live not near the coast but we are quite close to the bay in the Bay Area.
This was the first tsunami warning we had received. So, while the tsunami warning made sense, we also had no idea on what to do with it. So, we did the only thing that humans in modern times do: Took to the phone and tried figuring out what others thought.
What is a yellow warning? We live a few miles from the shores of the bay – could that mean a sudden inundation?
Responding to Warnings
There are times when mass communications (by that I don’t mean communicating to the masses, I mean masses of communication) make sense, but this was not one of those occasions. Everyone said different things, people worried. Staying away from the bay seemed like a good option, but apart from that, no one had any idea on what to do. Should we head to the hills like we’d read long back somewhere?
So, we all did a lot of hand-wringing and sent more messages. Ultimately, the tsunami warning was revoked, but not before letting us know exactly how unprepared we were in case of a real emergency.
When that alert had come it was up to us to determine the next course of action. For one thing, we were a couple miles inland, so what was required of us? That’s when I realized the old fears I had for our little family when we both worked on the other side of the bay. I had wondered what might happen in case of an earthquake that stranded us all on the other side of the Bay. But a Tsunami could just as well have done that.
The tsunami warning was lifted, and in a few hours, people went about their business as usual. Which is to say traffic snarls were everywhere, week-end parties and events did not bother to acknowledge that which could have been life altering.
It is a testament to the human temperament that we can so flippantly treat that which could have been a disaster with a wave of the hand.
🦌 Emergency Drills -Earthquake, Fire
I volunteer in elementary schools from time- to-time. The experience is a wholly enriching one as I get to work with children – which is refreshing. They are inventive, imaginative, kind and un-jaded in their outlook towards life.
I got to experience an earthquake and fire drill with them one day, and I cannot tell you how impressed I was by their skill and competence. Even when scrambling under desks – they looked out for each other as much as possible. When they filed out into the fields nearby, they kept to their classrooms and straight lines, and I was more than impressed by them on more than one occasion that day.
I had seen firsthand how incompetent adults could be, when the tsunami warning came, and it was refreshing to see children knowing how to handle fire and earthquake warnings.
I suppose natural disasters are called that for a reason. They are erratic, chaotic, and tend to surprise humanity every time even with emergency warning systems, safety drills and the like. The school systems managed to highlight these things and taught me a thing or two: keep calm and fall back upon training.
Nourish-n-Cherish 