Nobody Expected...

The problem of tropical storms is that they occur every summer like clockwork and people usually survive them. They are scary and damaging, but to a well-built city, they are not normally very deadly. Over the years we get complacent. And then, once in a few years one exceptionally bad storm would hit square on and people would die. Katrina is but an example of it. Every year, millions are displaced by storms worldwide, thousands die. Governments know that and have plans ready for it. Third world countries cannot do very much themselves, so they ask for help when danger approaches. Storms are nice that way--we know they are coming days ahead of time. This is what made watching the news on Katrina’s aftermath so shocking. While it is human nature to be complacent, it is the government’s job to be vigilante and ready for the worst. The incompetence of every level of the US government has been outrageous for the last week or so. If China can evacuate nearly a million people before a far less powerful storm hit, why can’t Louisiana and Mississippi? I am used to watching soldiers from Taiwan, China to India chest-deep in water saving people and repair dams. But the so-called “greatest army in history” is nowhere to be seen. Perhaps most damning is George Bush’s answer to why the government was so unprepared: “nobody expected the breach of the levees.” He said it as if it were an excuse. I don’t know what is worse: that the President did not expect what all experts had expected for decades or that he knew but chose to do nothing. I hope all levels of my government is watching and learning. One day there will be a major earthquake here in Vancouver and monster storms in the Maritimes. I don’t want my government to say, “nobody expected…”