Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Disaster Area

I often read BBC headlines when I get up in the morning. This morning's headlines announced that our area, which includes the city of Cape Town, has been declared a drought disaster. This is a disaster "in the making", however I once entered a complete disaster. Hurricane Ami (pictured) had devastated an island in the South Pacific. Among other things, a 6 metre / yard high storm surge (similar to a tsunami) had hit the island. Wanting to have a look, I flew into the area on a light aircraft. They had cleared just enough runway for it to land. But the plane was mobbed on landing. I knew immediately that I was in trouble. I was stuck in a disaster zone, and I was just as much a part of the disaster as everyone else. I wasn't merely having a look. Everything under two floors high was devastated: boarding houses, shops, foodstuffs, water supplies ... everything. And dignitaries had taken the few top floors.

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