Where Is Safe?

Friday August29,2009

Where Is Safe?

My 5 year old granddaughter didn't get off the bus yesterday afternoon and, for a short period of time, the world suddenly became a scary, dangerous place. There were frantic phone calls made to the school. The school then called transportation and the appropriate bus driver was contacted. It was discovered that our little chatterbox was still on the bus happily talking with her friends. She had no idea that she had missed her bus stop and caused her parents to go crazy with worry. Everything was resolved quickly and the bus returned to deposit her (still talking) at her destination.

As I consider this episode, I can only think how lucky we all are to live in a time of almost instant communication and rapid transportation. These modern conveniences were valuable in the tracking down of a missing 5 year old. They are also useful tools in identifying a approaching disaster and alerting the public of the need to evacuate.

It wasn't that long ago that people did not get the option of whether or not to evacuate. There was no sophisticated weather equipment to detect an oncoming dangerous weather system. Certainly there was not any quick way to broadcast the news of danger to the general public. By the time people were aware of the storm it was already upon them. There only choice was to hunker down and try to survive.

I don't know where safe is anymore. If you look at our recent weather systems almost ever part of the country has had to face some type of emergency. Out west the extreme heat and winds have whipped up the wildfires. The central and southeastern United States have been pounded by violent thunderstorms, tornadoes, and rain. The poor people along the entire eastern seaboard have been battered by the Atlantic hurricanes and tropical storms.

What to do? You should be grateful for the modern tools we have at our disposal and use them to stay informed. Then at the first sign of danger, you will be prepared to put your individual evacuation plan into force.

Additional evacuation information is available at www.wineandchocolateplan.com