Just two questions: Do you think the people in N.O. saw Katrina coming 3 weeks before she crashed the party? Do you think the people in Indonesia and Thailand even knew they would be met with such a fate hours before the tsunami came?
2006-12-31 06:30:06 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
With a name like Optid, you should be able to look a little deeper. Thank you for participating.
2006-12-31 06:34:31 · update #1
The only control we have is the control over how we choose to react in each given set of circumstance.
2006-12-31 07:12:32 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Fairly but not completely because sometimes things just happen.
As for Katrina, my husband is from New Orleans. He still lives there with his family in fact (we're working on a visa to bring me down there. More job op's there than here).
You know what? They DID know it was coming, they just didn't know when. That year was a terrible terrible year for weather in the Gulf Coast. They'd been having warning after warning about Hurricanes. Most died or turned right before they hit. And they weren't small storms either. A cat 4 turned just before it hit. There were cat 2's and 3's. But all blew themselves out or turned.
So yes, they knew it was coming. The year was just too bad. Its a good thing it didn't hit at the cat 5 that it originally was or the whole coast probably would have been wiped off the map (New Orleans along with it).
They knew. But they weren't prepared because so many hurricanes go through the area that didn't do any damage. You get used to it after a while and you become complacent
Its why the damage was so bad. And why so many people died. Because everyone, gvt and civilian, didn't think it would actually happen.
2006-12-31 14:42:14 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Humans are in control of the choices they make, but not always the circumstances they find themselves in. It is helpful from a motivational standpoint to tell people that they are in control of everything and that whatever happens is a result of a conscious choice, but this is a little naive. People cannot always predict the future; things always look clearer in hindsight.
The people in Thailand and Indonesia did not know a tsunami was approaching and certainly didn't know that their death was imminent. These people made no "choice" that resulted in their death; it just happened. The people in New Orleans had more information about the approaching storm, but when you live in an area where a certain weather pattern is that common, you tend to underestimate the possibility that the next one will be significantly more destructive based (erroneously, perhaps) on past experience. Even so, many people just couldn't get up and leave for various reasons - lack of transportation, pets or family members who couldn't be moved, lack of resources or a place to go, etc...
To some degree, we must tell ourselves that all our choices are our own, and that the outcomes are always a result of a conscious decision, in other words, that we are responsible for the situation in which we live. But in truth, this is just part of the story; there are often intervening circumstances which make it easier for some people to "choose" the right path and harder for others. If this were not so, then impoverished people in third world countries would find it just as easy to "choose" to be rich as someone born with a silver spoon in his mouth like George W. Bush.
There are ways to take control of one's life and the circumstances which surround us, but it's usually much easier for someone who is already in a position of advantage, wealth, and power.
2006-12-31 14:39:25 · answer #3 · answered by magistra_linguae 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Ok let me explain.... yes people are in control of their life but nobody is in control of their death... people can control the circumstances of their life in order to minimize the risk and circumstances of death. No the people in New Orleans did not know that Katrina was coming 3 weeks before but they did know that that area is vulnerable to hurricanes and that hurricanes kill people, in that way people can control the circumstances of their life e.g If you dont want to die in a hurricane dont live where hurricanes strike, like Florida.
Now the people in Thailand didnt have warning either.... but if they only had the knowledge, if the people had known that earthquakes cause tsunamis and if they had knowledge of the previous tsunami caused by the eruption of Krakatoa they would have known the danger and instead of curiously examining the receeding trough before the tsunami they would have recognized it as a sign of impending doom. and of course if you dont ever want to die in a tsunami simply dont live on the coast where throughout history some of the most devastating tsunamis have occured...
People seem to forget easily... even now people in the same places in Sumatra and Java have forgotten the even more powerful tsunami caused by the pyroclastic cloud during the eruption of Krakatoa in 1883, and even now Anuk Krakatoa is due to have an eruption of similar magnitude, indeed Krakatoa has consistently erupted causing devastating effects for thousands of years and yet people still choose to live in its shadow even after the latest tsunami that claimed 230,000 lives. Even though logic dictates that if disasters happened there before because of a certain ever-present natural phenomenon, disasters will happen there again and will once again kill people. It is the same as people who live under the shadow of Vesuvius even though it has killed countless people over thousands of years and is due to erupt again all efforts of warning people to move back from its slopes have failed and it is likely that the 3,000,000 people living around its base will suffer a horribly high death toll when it erupts again. Yet they still live there, just like people living right over the San andreas fault, they know that there will be more earthquakes and they may die but they keep living there.... People on Vancouver Island have been warned as well of the possibility of a devastating tsunami but they shrug it off and keep living in danger.
The point is if you want to control your life and make sure you dont die in a natural disaster, then dont live where natural disasters are common occurences. Move away from the danger and in that way control your life....
I know I dont want to die in any of the aforementioned catastrophes that is why I live where there has never been a tornado, hurricane, earthquake, volcano, tsunami, or anything else remotely like those disasters. The worst I get is thunderstorms and blizzards which I prefer to other more dangerous phenomenon.
2006-12-31 15:16:42 · answer #4 · answered by Kelly + Eternal Universal Energy 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The people in New Orleans saw on the news that the hurricaine was coming. People were still evacuating when it hit. As for the tsunami, I don't think they had warning.
2006-12-31 14:32:49 · answer #5 · answered by IMHO 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't see why this is in the 'Religion & Spirituality' section, really.
Natural disasters can sometimes be predicted, and sometimes not. You remain in control of your life no matter what hits.
2006-12-31 14:33:07 · answer #6 · answered by Anita 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Control..ultimately..no. But, I have some influence.
2006-12-31 14:42:13 · answer #7 · answered by Toolooroo 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
no to both
2006-12-31 14:31:47 · answer #8 · answered by glamour04111 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋