Hurricanes and Earthquakes

Sunday 10th September

Whether the flurry of hurricanes, typhoons and devastating monsoon rains of the last few weeks is anything to do with Global Warming is almost impossible to prove.  There are arguments that warmer sea temperatures allow more evaporation and so heavier clouds, and that warmer land means that hurricanes do not move so swiftly but continue dumping gallons of rain on the same bit of coast.  Of course, there are many who argue that even if there is Global Warming it is not because of Human Activity but more likely to be Sun-spots or a natural waxing and waning of the Earth’s temperature.

Only time may tell.  I am fairly sure that the mass industrialisation, which started in Eighteenth Century England, is a contributing cause, and that the continuing burning of fossil fuels cannot be doing any good at all.

But there have always been Hurricanes.  And Earthquakes too.  And Volcanoes erupting, which scientists now believe was the main cause for the extinction of the dinosaurs.

All we do know really is that mankind is pretty puny compared to these natural events.  Houses crumble like matchsticks, cars and boats are lifted and deposited in a jumble like a child’s uncared-for toybox.  The human suffering is unimaginable.  I have experienced a home flood caused by a burst pipe and that was bad enough.  To be completely deluged and under rivers of mud, to lose everything, not only your possessions but the very roof over your head must be appalling.  We can only help them to mop up, and rebuild and, sadly, wait for the next hurricane.  At least with hurricanes there is usually a few days warning.  With earthquakes’ there is very little if any warning.  People living along the earthquake fault lines know that they can strike at any time.

And the stupid question pops up, why do people choose to live in these places?  The answer is that for most there is no choice at all.  Billionaires like Richard Branson can choose to have a home on a Carribean island and visit it when he likes.  But for many it is simply where they were born, or in the case of most – where their ancestors were transported a couple of hundred years ago.

And like those ancestors they have no choice but to ride out the storm.