Published: May 18, 2008 12:00 am            

VASICEK: Vocabulary of disaster

Is it my imagination, or are massive natural disasters becoming more commonplace?

In December of 2004, nearly 300,000 people perished in the tragic Asian tsunami. It is hard to imagine that about 6 times the population of Kokomo was wiped out so quickly.

Less than two weeks ago, the cyclone in Burma (Myanmar) claimed more than 100,000 human lives! And the latest news is that an earthquake in China has claimed more than 10,000 victims (although that number will probably grow – sadly – by the time this column is published).

Tragedies are certainly not new to Planet Earth, but it does appear that something is changing. Whether we are living in prophetic “end times” or whether our planet is making some cyclical adjustments (or both) is certainly a matter of opinion. But I have to admit that I do not remember having to learn “the vocabulary of disaster” in years gone by. This is not business as usual, at least not during my lifetime.

When I was a kid, I never heard the term “tsunami.” We would refer to the phenomenon by the inaccurate term, “tidal wave,” but we only had clues about the nature of the beast. Authorities discourage us from using “tidal wave” because changing tides have nothing to do with it. Instead, “A tsunami is a series of waves created when a body of water, such as an ocean, is rapidly displaced. Earthquakes, mass movements above or below water, some volcanic eruptions and other underwater explosions, landslides, underwater earthquakes, large asteroid impacts and testing with nuclear weapons at sea all have the potential to generate a tsunami,” according to Wikipedia.

Throughout my life, I rarely heard the term “cyclone,” but when I did, it usually meant a tornado (or at least I thought it did). According to Pradeep Jain, “Technically, a cyclone is any kind of circular wind storm. But now, it is only used to describe a strong tropical storm found off of the coast of India. Hurricanes and Typhoons are the same thing, but in different places. On the coast of Florida it is called hurricane. In the Philippines, it is called typhoon. Hurricanes occur in the Atlantic and typhoons, in the Pacific. Basically, hurricanes and typhoons form over water and are huge, while tornados form over land and are much smaller in size. A tornado is a violent windstorm characterized by a twisting, funnel-shaped cloud. In the United States, twister is used as a colloquial term for tornado.” (Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1317404.cms.)

In past years, I never understood much about levees. I know the lyrics to that old song, “Waiting for the Robert E. Lee.” They include, “... go down to the levee, I said the levee.” And I remembered the lyrics from “Bye, Bye Miss American Pie.” They went something like, “drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry.” After Hurricane Katrina, the word “levee” became part of everyday language. The levees, you might recall, did not adequately keep the flood waters from creating havoc in New Orleans.

Back in 1973, when I was in high school, I went on a 10 day tour of five European countries during Spring Break. The Netherlands was one of our stops. Besides country windmills and the canals of Amsterdam, another unique feature of that nation was its dykes.

So, what is the difference between a dyke and a levee? A levee holds water back when it is at flood stage. A dyke holds water back all the time. If the dyke were removed, the land would be immediately flooded because the land itself is always below the level of the water. If global warming continues and our water levels do rise, Americans may have to take up the Dutch art of dyke building!

While discussing the nuances of these words, we also note that these terms recall a sad track record of massive death and destruction. Let us hope and pray that this surge in disasters will soon dissipate. Our prayers and thoughts are with the survivors who must seek to rebuild their lives and grieve their dead.

Ed Vasicek is pastor of Highland Park Church and a weekly contributor to the Kokomo Tribune.

        

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