Hurricane Season 2007

In 2001, when I was working as an intern in Lutheran World Federation Nepal, I had to coordinate Earthquake preparedness drama in various schools of Kathmandu. A drama group was contracted to play at 30 different schools, mostly government schools. The perquisite of school selection was based on: number of students, location, and the condition of infrastructure. My job was to ensure that the drama has all the required contents and foresee the logistics of the drama group. As we all know Nepal lies in a fault zone, very prone to a major shock, so the drama was very effective tool for disseminating the preparedness issue. The drama comprised of earthquake drills and communication mechanism with the parents in an event of a disaster. I bet everyone enjoyed the drama but I doubt if they ever created any action plan for the preparedness. I even doubt if there is any emergency preparedness and response mechanism in Lutheran, the sponsor of the event.

Considering the gravity of susceptibility, I think each and every organization/ institution in Nepal, especially in Kathmandu needs to have an emergency planning, preparedness, and response mechanism. With limited resources that we have it’s hard to reinforce the engineering aspects, but following a simple protocol of periodic drills, stocking of emergency supplies, and establishing communication mechanism for aftermath of a disaster is certainly within a grasp.
When I moved to Louisiana from Illinois, my parent’s first reaction was “isn’t that the place hit by hurricane Katrina.” I did survive the first season and now the new hurricane season is starting from June 1. Among all the tropical storms generated in Atlantic at least half dozen of it are expected to land as a hurricane. Although same numbers were predicted for last season, there wasn’t any significant storm. However last season was El Nino and this year is La Nina, so it is expected to add some effects.

Yesterday at my work we had hurricane and fire drill. We were briefed about the safety and communication mechanism in an event of a hurricane. Not only for our own safety, they also have allocated funds for us to volunteer to help others, which they had done with a great effect during Katrina. I already have a flashlight and a portable radio with me from last season but come June, I will start restocking my medical and other logistic supplies.