Wednesday, August 31, 2005

The fury of nature unleashed ...

Last month was Mumbai flooding, and now its New Orleans reeling under the onslaught of Hurricane Katrina. Similarities can be drawn of course between the two situations - the main one being those of big coastal cities hit hard by heavy rain.

The big difference though is that in Mumbai, the water will recede once the rain stops. In New Orleans, its the opposite. The natural tendency is to flood the city since its below sea level, and once the levees breached and the water started to unload into the city, the crisis seems to be spiralling out of control. Governor Kathleen Blanco has officially ordered the city to be completely emptied out. It seems like the only way out of this (I am using my own logic here, may be completely off) seems to be to completely pump out the water from the city OR reclaim all the land flooded by the city. The other alternative (I'm getting big time into doomsday theories) might be to just lose the city. I'm sure that alternative is not an alternative, no one believes it will come to that. But here is certainly one case where even after the storm has passed, the nightmare has only begun.


Image taken from Yahoo News

But things are looking pretty bad from what media reports are saying. The problems associated with disease due to contaminated drinking water, debris, and other hazards are starting to become really grave. For those left behind in the SuperDome, life is getting really miserable. And it maybe a while before things return to normal ... same goes for places like Gulfport and Biloxi in Mississippi. There are several ways to help out - your local TV and radio stations must be broadcasting places to give contributions - monetary or in the form of food, blankets, clothes etc. If not, there is always the American Red Cross - every little bit helps. Hopefully, things will get better really soon ...

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