Be prepared before the Day after Tomorrow: Hurricanes,Tsunamis, Earthquakes and Floods
Teneisha Johnson
Licensing Officer at Cayman Islands Department of Vehicles and Driver's License
The Cayman Islands is susceptible to a number of natural disasters. Many of these including hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis and floods.
With the beginning of hurricane season fast approaching, it is especially important that residents are educated and prepared. Having foresight and planning ahead can save your life and the lives of others.
Hurricane season starts 1 June to the 30 November
National Hurricane Plan
The Cayman Islands plans to test its National Hurricane Plan this week with an exercise dubbed ‘Hurricane Kali’.
The annual hurricane exercise is scheduled to take place Thursday and Friday, when all agencies involved in responding to hurricanes will test their response and recovery processes.
‘Hurricane Kali’ is a tabletop exercise focusing on the response and recovery activities following an ‘All Clear’.
More information on improving preparedness and signing up with a CERT Team or as a shelter volunteer is available at visit www.caymanprepared.ky.
Population and Resource Limitations
Fear of the voracious appetite of a fast-growing human population lies at the heart of many worries about the environment. The following editorial from the world’s leading scientific journal states:
“The humans were so few, and the land so vast, that previous insults to mother nature could be quickly absorbed without any serious consequences. That is no longer true.”
Approximately half of the leading scientist’s concerns have to do with the behavior of the human population, and the other half involves the sources of pollution and other environmental problems. See my previous article:
With the rise of the Industrial Revolution, the birth control movement and new technological advancements, families now have the opportunity, capability and choice of managing their own resources and birth rates.
There is no doubt that as humans spread around the globe, they will displace trees, wolves, bears and even lakes to make way for farms, highways, cities and various human settlements.
However, would you say that economic growth and industrialization are the road to environmental ruin?
Economics
According to 18th Edition of Economics by Paul A. Samuelson and William D. Nordhaus, no such simple conclusion can be reached from the historical records.
They state that one important finding is that pollution trends tend to follow an inverse u-shape curve across different stages of economic development.
Inverse U-Shaped Economic Curve
Apparently the rising part of the curve occurs because urbanization, accompanied by the growth of highly polluting industries often replaces agriculture in the earliest stages of development.
For more on what I’ve learnt on Agriculture see my previous link:
However, here is the best part! As incomes rise, countries tend to invest in pollution abatement and their economic structures evolve towards services and away from heavy industry, reducing pollution. This would explain the inverse u-shape pollution curve.
Important Natural-Resources Economics
Important natural resources include the land, water and our precious atmosphere.
The land gives us food and wine from fertile soils, as well as oil and other minerals from the earth.
Our waters gives us fish, recreational activities and a remarkable and efficient medium for transportation.
Our precious atmosphere yields breathable air, beautiful sunrises and sunsets, and flying space for not only birds but all of mankind’s various airplanes.
Our natural resources are important and deserve to be governed wisely and protected.
Do Not Boast About Tomorrow!
James 4:13-17 New King James Version (NKJV)
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; 14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” 16 But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.
Heavenly Wisdom vs. Demonic Wisdom
James 3:13-14 New King James Version (NKJV)
13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth.
Why you may ask? Because of the Untamable Tongue
James 3:1-12 New International Version (NIV)
1Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. 2 We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check. 3When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 4Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. 5 Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. 7 All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. 11 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 12 My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.
Demonic Wisdom (James 3:15-16)
15 Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.
Heavenly Wisdom (James 3:17-18)
17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18 Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.
The Spirit of Truth vs. The Spirit of Error
1st John 4 - New King James Version (NKJV)
1Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
2 By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world. 4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5 They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. 6 We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.