Western Courier

Issue date: 4/4/07 Section: Opinion

Media Credit: Wayon Collins

Bodies being dug out from underneath rubble; fallen trees; homeless animals; entire communities left without resources like food and water: It is a scene of destruction. By the time the news crews arrive to report the disaster, the skies are blue and everything is still. Aid is slow to arrive and the devastation continues long after Mother Nature's forces retreat.

If this scenario sounds familiar, it is probably because the Hurricane Katrina disaster is still fresh in every American's mind. It is also familiar to inhabitants of the Solomon Islands; the Western province was slammed with a massive tsunami on Monday. At time of press, 28 had been confirmed dead and thousands of others left homeless, with virtually no necessary resources.

Of course, the differences between the two disasters are numerous, and the events cannot be directly compared. Tsunamis are immense waves caused by undersea earthquakes, and hurricanes are part of a weather system; also, the damage left by the Solomon Islands tsunami is not comparable to that of Hurricane Katrina.

However, the news reports coming from Gizo and Munda - the two island towns that saw the most damage - will strike a chord with Americans who remember the feeling of helplessness that came with watching the Katrina disaster unfold. Whether 30 or 3,000 people die, natural catastrophes serve as a most unsettling reminder of how vulnerable humans are to nature's fury.

A recent report from Colorado State University forecasters predicts the Atlantic Ocean will see five major hurricanes in 2007 with 17 tropical storms overall. This is a drastic difference from the 2006 hurricane season, which saw only 10 tropical storms and two major hurricanes.

When that Category 3 hurricane made a beeline for Louisiana and destroyed the levy, all hell broke loose as the nation watched and waited. And waited. And waited. The Federal Emergency Management Agency's response to Hurricane Katrina was unforgivably inadequate. Though many people and organizations - including students and organizations at Western Illinois University - did their part to provide relief to New Orleans, it was not enough. We were forced to watch and wait.

Is America prepared for another Katrina? If CSU's report comes to fruition and we experience five major hurricanes this year, will we have the tools to control the damage? Have we learned from our mistakes?

We have a responsibility to make our voices heard. Students should be encouraging the people in charge to take these kinds of reports seriously and admit there are threats to the safety of Americans that go beyond terrorism and war.

Inhabitants of the Solomon Islands, unlike those who live in New Orleans, had no warning about what was coming. As a country, we have been guilty of ignoring nature's warning signs. Let's be the generation that changes that.

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