Living Through Nature Disasters

[springrite]

I don't know why, but I have this habit of running into natural disasters. Take earthquakes. I have been lived through 10 earthquakes magnitude 6.5 or above, often arriving within 24 hours of it.

Right now, I am in s small town in China. This happens to be the place that a Typhoon decided to change its course and come onshore at. Right now I am in my hotel room. The wind outside is 50 meters per second. The sound outside is deafening. The rain? Well, the sky is falling, only horizontally--the strong wind caused that. It should be like this for another 48 hours. We still have electricity.

This certainly does not rank at or even near the most frightening natural disaster I have experienced. The Tangshan earthquake was worse. But it is my first experience with the strongest of typhoons.

I hope there's no major loss of life. But in a way, I am glad I am here.

[Gurn Blanston]

Interesting, Paul. I have been through a couple of smaller earthquakes, in the 5 area, and in the last few years, 2 major hurricanes. The last one took the roof off my house but no other damage. Also 2 near misses (within 100 meters) of tornadoes, one of them huge! I am fatalistic about natural phenomena. It will be what it will be. And like you, I make the most of opportunities to see nature at work, I consider it my chance to live a little (hard logic to understand, but I bet you know what I mean). 

[springrite]

Interesting, Paul. I have been through a couple of smaller earthquakes, in the 5 area, and in the last few years, 2 major hurricanes. The last one took the roof off my house but no other damage. Also 2 near misses (within 100 meters) of tornadoes, one of them huge! I am fatalistic about natural phenomena. It will be what it will be. And like you, I make the most of opportunities to see nature at work, I consider it my chance to live a little (hard logic to understand, but I bet you know what I mean). 

Glad to know someone else with a similar view of life. Too many people want to escape from life and experience as little of life as possible. I don't actively seek out these things. But I don't shun it.

[Gurn Blanston]

Glad to know someone else with a similar view of life. Too many people want to escape from life and experience as little of life as possible. I don't actively seek out these things. But I don't shun it.

Yes, exactly. I have heard so many people say "oh, I need to go somewhere else to live, this is too dangerous...". But anywhere you go there is always going to be something. Simply prepare for it, and then live with it. Life is so much more interesting that way.

[Leon]

I don't know why, but I have this habit of running into natural disasters. Take earthquakes. I have been lived through 10 earthquakes magnitude 6.5 or above, often arriving within 24 hours of it.

Right now, I am in s small town in China. This happens to be the place that a Typhoon decided to change its course and come onshore at. Right now I am in my hotel room. The wind outside is 50 meters per second. The sound outside is deafening. The rain? Well, the sky is falling, only horizontally--the strong wind caused that. It should be like this for another 48 hours. We still have electricity.

This certainly does not rank at or even near the most frightening natural disaster I have experienced. The Tangshan earthquake was worse. But it is my first experience with the strongest of typhoons.

I hope there's no major loss of life. But in a way, I am glad I am here.

A least you have power.  Speaks well of the Chinese electrical grid.

[Scarpia]

I guess they are low on the scale of natural disasters, but in the last three years there have been four events which knocked the power off for multiple days (up to 4 days with no electricity).  Twice we were under snow up to a meter high, and twice the temperature was above 37 centigrade.  (I much prefer the winter variety.)  It seems like "100 year storms" come about once per year, these days. 

[Gurn Blanston]

I guess they are low on the scale of natural disasters, but in the last three years ago there have been three events which knocked the power off for multiple days (up to 4 days with no electricity).  Twice we were under snow up to a meter high, and twice the temperature was above 37 centigrade.  (I much prefer the winter variety.)  It seems like "100 year storms" come about once per year, these days.

I've been noticing that too. And nice to see you again, Scarpia. You are now officially a hundred year storm...

[Scarpia]

I've been noticing that too. And nice to see you again, Scarpia. You are now officially a hundred year storm...

Thanks for the welcome.  Does that mean I am supposed to tear up the place?

[Gurn Blanston]

Thanks for the welcome.  Does that mean I am supposed to tear up the place?

Nah, just that it's been a year since you were here last.

[mahler10th]

I don't know why, but I have this habit of running into natural disasters...earthquakes...wind outside is 50 meters per second...typhoons...

Unfortunately I too am glad you are there, just in case you thought of 'running into' those conditions over here instead.  Hope you get through, sounds bloody awful.  Stay safe.   0:)

[springrite]

I think the eye of the storm must be getting close because the wind is dying down. Well, that means I do not hear things crashing into each other any more. So the wind must be less than 30 meters per second? Soon it should be quite, for an hour or two, and then round two comes for another 24 hours or so.

[springrite]

Thanks for the welcome.  Does that mean I am supposed to tear up the place?

Welcome back, Scarpia!

Yes, we do need you to tear the place up. Too many Cavarodossi types around for too long! Ha!

[kishnevi]

I think the eye of the storm must be getting close because the wind is dying down. Well, that means I do not hear things crashing into each other any more. So the wind must be less than 30 meters per second? Soon it should be quite, for an hour or two, and then round two comes for another 24 hours or so.

Stay safe!  But if the winds are really going to maintain themselves at that strength for so long, that's either a very slow moving storm or a very large one (in terms of area covered at any given moment).

I've lived through several hurricanes over the years--comes with living in Florida.  I can actually say that the eye of Katrina passed within a couple of miles of my house and almost passed over my place of work.  Of course, at that point it was a "baby" hurricane, Category 1,  crossing Florida on its way to the Gulf Coast and history.    The eyewall of Wilma passed over my house a few months later.  That basically meant I got the worst of the storm without the temporary calm caused by the actual eye crossing over.  That was the most nerve wracking storm for me, since on one side of the house (we live in a townhouse) the heavy wooden gate on the back patio was being torn off its hinges (me praying fervently that it would not crash into the sliding glass door of the living room once it was torn off--that prayer was answered) while on the other side, I could see one of the roofs across the street being torn off in great patches of shingles and hear a roof on my side being torn off--and having to wonder if it was my roof or a neighbor's.  (It turned out to be the townhouse two doors down from me. The people renting it quickly moved out.   Between storm damage and mortgage foreclosure, that house remained empty and unoccupied until this past winter,when someone finally bought it and moved it.)

BTW, for those not experienced in large scale power failures, please note that if the power failure lasts more than a day or so--and sometimes merely for a few hours--cell phone transmission towers lose their power when their batteries run out, meaning your cell phones may be useless until the power gets turned back on in your area, even if you can charge it in your car or other portable source of energy.

[springrite]

The worst is definitely passed. The wind is probably half of what it was, and rain is not very strong now. With more than a million people evacuated, and considering the severity of the storm, it is amazing that no one has reported died in the storm. There are many rescues, mostly from people who were evacuated but returned to their homes and were then trapped. There were about 2000 homes destroyed or severely damaged, roads are under water, and the rivers are all at their banks. But no loss of life. For the most part, the power stayed on. What an amazing job by all concerned! Bravo!

I will try to get into the nearest city tomorrow. I will leave at 9 am. It took us 2 hours to get here. I hope to get back in 4 or 5 hours. Then I will stay overnight there and take a train out the following day and resume my lecture tour, with just one lecture cancelled.

Unbelievably, last night's lecture on parenting went as scheduled, because we have booked the place and there is no way to reschedule. About 100 of the 200 people with tickets came. I was moved.

"With the weather the way it is, there is no good reason to leave your home, ladies and gentlemen. There is only one cause that would compell a sensible person to go out in this weather to attend an event. And that cause is: I am doing this for my child. That is what being a parent is all about. I am deeply moved. ANd I will do my utmost to ensure that years from now, when you think of today, what you will remember is not the storm, the rain, the wind, but about the day that you became a better parent..."

[springrite]

Stay safe!  But if the winds are really going to maintain themselves at that strength for so long, that's either a very slow moving storm or a very large one (in terms of area covered at any given moment).

The speed is average (15km an hour), but the size is big. It is roughly the size of Texas or France.

[eyeresist]

Yes, exactly. I have heard so many people say "oh, I need to go somewhere else to live, this is too dangerous...". But anywhere you go there is always going to be something. Simply prepare for it, and then live with it. Life is so much more interesting that way.

Isn't that a Chinese curse? "May you live in interesting times."

[springrite]

I needed to get to Ningbo, the closest big city, in order to get out of the area and continue my tour. The distance is 80km, or 50 miles. When I came in, it took about 80 minutes.

Today, I left at 8am. I finally arrived at 3pm. With roads closed, roads barely passable but much of it under water, with cars and trucks that took in water and died sitting in the water, we went this way and that way and back and forth. I am exhausted so I took a nap as soon as I got in.

Oh, I got a drink of water first. I didn't dare to drink much on the way because there's no place to ...uh... go, and there are two ladies on board.

I hope I have little problem tomorrow from the hotel to the train station.

[Gurn Blanston]

Isn't that a Chinese curse? "May you live in interesting times."

Well, possibly a curse (Paul could tell us) but from my POV, a blessing instead.   And life hasn't let us down recently, since there has been a non-stop parade of interesting things; as recently as yesterday evening (why I wasn't here, BTW) a storm came through and took out several trees and my electricity, yet left one of the quietest of evening behind. We sat out on the porch and watched the stars put on their evening show for us. No extra charge for those meteors!

[springrite]

Well, possibly a curse (Paul could tell us) but from my POV, a blessing instead.   And life hasn't let us down recently, since there has been a non-stop parade of interesting things; as recently as yesterday evening (why I wasn't here, BTW) a storm came through and took out several trees and my electricity, yet left one of the quietest of evening behind. We sat out on the porch and watched the stars put on their evening show for us. No extra charge for those meteors!

A blessing for sure. When I called my dad, he also said "you were missing a typhoon in your life, weren't you?" He knew.

BTW, I have heard that interesting Chinese saying in English so many times but I still do not know what the original was.

[eyeresist]

Well, possibly a curse (Paul could tell us) but from my POV, a blessing instead.

The many thousands homeless or dead might disagree