Hurricane and Tsunami – A Comparison

We explain what a hurricane is, and the kind of punch it can pack in the column on the left. Some people have asked us: “Which is more devastating? The tsunami or the hurricane?” Both are ferocious and devastating, each in its own way.

The tsunami has a very long reach, as we saw in the case of the Indian Ocean Tsunami that struck on the morning of 26th December, 2004. [Download our issue on Tsunami].

By contrast, the hurricane impacts one region, causing extensive damage there. In addition, whereas the tsunami dissipates within a kilometre or so of the coastline, the hurricane can and often does penetrate deep inland; maybe the winds might lose power, but the hurricane can still deposit a lot of rain, causing extensive flooding.

This Year, Katrina

Every year, there is a storm season in certain parts of the world; that is when conditions are favourable for hurricanes, cyclones and typhoons to form. Hurricane Katrina followed an interesting trajectory.

Originating in the Atlantic Ocean, it made its first landfall on the east coast of Florida, then cut through the southern part of the peninsula, and entered the sea again, that is, the Gulf of Mexico. Here the conditions were just right for it to grow, and grow it did, to the level of a category 5 hurricane.

New Orleans is located right where these forces act on each other. That is why the city has been described as a city waiting for a disaster to occur. The region where the city is located is actually below the level of the lake, the level of the river and also the level of the sea! It is thus in a bowl. How come then the city was not drowned?

That is because of some protection walls called levees. There are levees that protect the city from Lake Pontchartrain, and also from the river. The delta provides some marginal protection from the sea.

Despite all this, the city is not quite safe. There is a constant tussle between the sea and the river; the river tries all the time to build a delta while the sea tries to encroach.

As for the lake, it is waiting to spill over. The bunds or levees, call it what you will, try to prevent that, but the cure also is a problem!

Thanks to the bund, the level of water in the lake can rise beyond natural limits; this means that if there is a breach, a tremendous amount of water can enter the town and flood it. And that precisely is what happened recently.

The hurricane caused a storm surge that breached some portions of the levees on the lake, and water from the lake began to pour into the city.

They Predicted It In 2001

It is not as if people did not know that this would happen. In fact, as early as 2001, an article in the Scientific American entitled “Drowning New Orleans” said:

"The city lies below sea level, in a bowl bordered by levees that fend off Lake Pontchartrain to the north and the Mississippi River to the south and west. And because of a damning confluence of factors, the city is sinking further, putting it at increasing flood risk after even minor storms. The low-lying Mississippi Delta which buffers the city from the gulf, is also rapidly disappearing. A year from now another 25 to 30 square miles of delta marsh - an area of the size of Manhattan - will have vanished. An acre disappears every 24 minutes."

Pollution – New Orleans New Problem

Into the bowl in which New Orleans once sat in all its glory, water first poured in from the lake and the river. This water drowned most of the city and as a result, there was a lot of oil pollution, oil from drowned trucks and cars, oil from furnaces in the houses, oil from factories, oil that had leaked from refineries that had suffered damage and so on.

Next, there was pollution from heavy metals such as lead from paint covering walls, cadmium and mercury from computers, and so on.

Added to all this was sewage, garbage from homes, hotels and so on. As if this was not enough, there was the additional complication from dead bodies, floating all over the place.

In this deadly brew, microorganisms went to work and started breaking down many of the complex molecules that formed a part of the garbage. This was facilitated by the bright sun shining from above. This molecular reduction was accomplished by the bacteria in the water, using up whatever oxygen there was in the polluted water.

Why is all this important? It is important because the water accumulated in the city is now being pumped into Lake Pontchartrain – this is how the city is being drained. But will this not harm the ecology of the lake? Some say the lake would heal itself but others argue that if water deficient in oxygen is pumped into the lake, then it would kill the fish, that is, if the heavy elements fail to do so!

Nature’s Fury - Due to Man’s Folly

What it all shows is that while scientific and technological knowledge may assist progress so-called, it also tends to push wisdom into the backburner. Right now when there is talk of rebuilding New Orleans, many people are asking: “Should we commit all the old mistakes over again? Should we not learn to respect Nature and be in harmony with her?”

We are not sure if those voices would prevail; in fact, they may not even be heard. But they need to be, and it is to stress that fact that we are presenting this article. Yes, the time has come ask seriously: How long can we go on defying Nature and acting against Her?

It is becoming increasingly clear that many of the problems that humanity is facing now have been created by man failing to live in equilibrium with Nature. For example, after the recent tsunami, it was pointed out by many ecologists that the destruction in many places would have been much less if the mangroves along the coastline had not been recklessly destroyed to make way for fish and prawn farms – this was the finding in India at least.

The Increasingly Disappearing Indian Tiger Talking of being in equilibrium, there was recently a heated debate on one of the radio channels in India about the vanishing Indian tiger. In 1939, it was estimated that there were about 40, 000 of these big cats in India. Jim Corbett, the famous British hunter, was worried about the tiger population shrinking, and initiated moves to preserve the tiger. World War II intervened, after which India was partitioned. The country then became involved with so many social problems that people forgot their national animal, and the tiger population came down to an alarming level – just a couple of thousands.

Even as late as 1950, tigers could be seen here and there occasionally. We are sure readers must be aware of how a tiger in the vicinity of Puttaparthi was killed by a British officer. The British Officer, whose jeep did not move after the killing, was surprised when Swami Himself came there and said,

"I stopped the jeep at this place, for it is a mother, whose three small cubs are at this very time loudly wailing and calling out to her, that you are carrying. Go back! Recover those cubs and gift them to some zoo where they will be well looked after. And do not shoot wild beasts again, for they have caused you no harm. Why do you kill them, surround them and lay traps to catch them. Shoot them instead with a more superior weapon, your camera. That won't maim or kill them."   Mr. Kondal Rao, who has worked on all of Swami’s water projects, says how when he was a young engineer and had to travel on work down the Godavari River on a boat, he would occasionally see a tiger coming down to the river bank to drink water. When the tiger population crashed, the Government woke up, and a serious effort called Project Tiger was mounted. After that, the tiger population did climb up to about 3000. But lately, there has been an alarming amount of poaching, and in fact in one so-called tiger reserve, it was found one day that there were no tigers at all. This was incredible – the tiger was supposed to be a protected species but it had vanished, thanks to poaching.

The Save Tiger Debate

Let us get back to the radio debate. It was a heated affair; most people were in favour of saving the tiger but the views expressed about the methods varied widely. The issue was the following: It was said that the space available for the tiger had shrunk abnormally and that therefore all humans must get out of the forests (that mercifully still remain). In the rich countries, people do not live in forests anymore but in India, a lot of tribals still do.

One idea that is being floated is that the tribals must all be moved out. Might seem like a good idea to get humans out and leave the jungle all to the tiger but there is a big problem; the tribals have been living in the forests for centuries; and there are ten million of them! How to move them all out? Where would they be located? What about jobs for them? Would they like to leave the forest? And so on.

One side argued: “Listen, don’t try to throw the tribals out of the forest. They have lived in the forest for thousands of years and know better than all of us how live in harmony with everything in the forests, including the animals.”

The other side says: “That was long ago. Nowadays, they help with the illegal logging of trees and also in the poaching of animals. They are poor, and can be easily tempted with money.”

Madhurantakam Miracle

By the way, we take this opportunity to narrate a little known tale about a big tank of water, a deluge from above, a breach threatening the tank, and prayers to the Lord which dramatically prevented the breach from occurring. See the story of Madurantakam below.

How God Guarded The Temple Tank

Madurantakam is a small town about seventy kilometres to the south of Chennai [formerly Madras], located on National Highway 45 connecting Chennai with Kanyakumari, the southernmost point of India. There is rich folklore associated with this place and it is said that Lord Rama Himself visited it, while wandering in search of His Consort Sita. There is big tank in the neighbourhood, and Rama is supposed to have had a bath there while visiting the place. In later years, a temple for Rama was duly established.

Let us now fast forward to the closing years of the eighteenth century. By that time, Madras and many regions near it had come under the rule of the British East India Company, and that included Madurantakam. Sometime in 1795, there was a deep depression in the Bay of Bengal following which there was a heavy downpour in and around Madurantakam. The then Collector named Col. Lionel Price got the news that the lake in Madurantakam was full and that there was the danger of a breach. If the breach occurred, it might result in severe damage to surrounding property.

Col. Price lost no time in heading for Madurantakam, and after carrying out the inspection, ordered that the breach be plugged. He then decided to visit the Rama temple in the neighbourhood. Removing his shoes out of respect for native tradition, he entered the temple. He found it in a dilapidated condition. Apparently, devotion had declined and that was part of the reason for the poor state of the temple.

Looking around, Col. Price saw in a corner a heap of bricks. He enquired what the bricks were doing there, piled up high. He was told by the temple priest that they were meant for constructing a temple for Mother Sita, but the construction could not be carried out because there was no money. Why was there no money asked the collector? The reply given was that the huge tank regularly breached during cyclones and that caused much loss to the people; that was why they could not raise funds for building the temple.

		Col. Price then asked, “How come your Rama is not coming to your rescue? Why does He not protect the tank, allowing you to build the temple for His Consort?” The temple authorities were deeply hurt by this remark and replied, “Next time there is an emergency, you will definitely see Lord Rama coming to our rescue.”
Aerial view of the Madurantakam Tank. Due to years of drought, there is no water. This tank is man-made and, like many others in South India, is used to harvest rain water for agriculture. The tank is bounded mainly by mud walls. In a good season, there is plenty of water in the tank, which then presents the appearance of a lake.		As it turned out very shortly after that, there was a heavy downpour and this time the situation was really serious.

Col. Price rushed again to Madurantakam, and the sight that greeted him overwhelmed him. A ferocious storm was raging and the fury of Nature stunned Col. Price. Gone was the earlier bravado and he was at his wit’s ends. It was just too much, and God alone could save the situation.

There was a big crowd of villagers taking shelter in the temple. The water level in the lake was rising menacingly and Col. Price was wondering whether he would have a watery grave here in this village while his wife and family were in far-away England unaware of his situation. While immersed thus in his thoughts, he found an elderly gentleman talking non stop about Lord Rama, His Glory and His Power.

This was a desperate situation beyond the might of the British East India Company. Though a devout Christian, Col. Price decided to give Lord Rama a try and silently prayed:

“O Lord Rama, they say You are great. In that case, please come to the rescue of all of us and save everyone by preventing the lake from breaching. If You respond to my prayers, I shall, as an expression of my gratitude, build a temple for Your Consort.”

The moment Col. Price concluded his prayer, there was a flash of lightning, and he had a vision of Rama and Lakshmana smiling! Astounded, he simply cried, “Look there!” and immediately fainted.

When he regained consciousness, Col. Price found himself in a comfortable bed in his own quarters, surrounded by his minions. He sat up with a start and demanded to know the latest position about the tank. He was told that miraculously the rains stopped suddenly, besides which the water level in the lake came down abruptly to a safe level. Col. Price felt relieved, ecstatic and most grateful to the Lord who had come to the rescue in such a dramatic fashion.

Not only Price but also the people of Madurantakam realised that it was Lord Rama who had come to their rescue. Thus it is that even today the temple deity is not referred to as just Rama but as Rama who protected the tank - "Eri Katha Ramar".

				As for the Colonel, he duly kept his promise and did have a temple constructed for Mother Sita. In fact, there may be found to this day, an inscription in Tamil and Telugu that the temple was built by Company Collector Lionel Place. [The person who did the engraving apparently got the name wrong!] There is also a small representation of the Colonel himself, apparently in his official uniform.
Statue of Col. Price	Inscription recording the donation made by Col. Price

The temple has a serene atmosphere, and is a wonderful place to visit. A unique feature is that on the walls of the temple may be found the devotional songs composed by Saint Tyagaraja, a great poet-saint of south India, in praise of Lord Rama.

That really is the message - Nature is like your dear mother, respect her and love her. She will do everything for you, but approach her with reverence and humility. This is enshrined incidentally in a most wonderful way in the 22nd hymn of the 9th Chapter of the Gita, where Lord Krishna says to Arjuna,

‘As for those who exclusively worship Me, who meditate on Me with no other thought and who are ever steadfast - I bear entirely the burden of their welfare.’

We want to draw your attention to this word of God, and the Katrina disaster has provided an opportunity to do so. By the way, Swami refers to this hymn as the fulcrum of the Gita – it occurs right in the middle!

Praying to Swami that all of us in the Sai family and the world at large would learn this lesson.