Hi again everyone, this is being written on thurs 27th August, the same day (although they’re a number of hours behind), when Hurricane Laura is due to hit the Louisiana and Texas coastlines. Check out the BBC link at https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53921285. Interesting to see how this fits into out PDRM/DRMC discussion so far:
– Half a million people have been advised to evacuate
– There are also warnings about power (water/electricity/telecoms) being disrupted; as well as water/wind damage ptentiallly disrupting logistical routes
– There is a danger from a powerful storm surge. you may remember that is was largely storm surges in cyclones in Bangladesh during the 1970-90s which killed tens of thousands of people; as well as that from Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar in 2008
– Intererestng on the sometimes emotive languagfe being used, and this relates to messaging (which we discussed in last night’s Zoom). Terms like ‘unsurvivable storm surge’ and ‘catastrophic’, are highly emotive, and quite frightening. At best I personally think it’s better to pre-fix these by ‘potentially….’. Intereesting also regarding in bushfires in Australia. in NSW they use the term ‘catastropic’ for highest risk rating, whereas I prefer the Victorian ‘Code Red’. Maybe it’s partially because I’m Ango-Australian, and I tend to understate things!
