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| Waverly Station. Copyright@2013 Catherine Rodgers |
I woke up this morning to the news of the Moore, Oklahoma weather-related disaster. Tornadoes devastated a twenty mile long by one mile wide suburban area in less than an hour. Sirens rang just before 2pm Central Time and sixteen minutes later the tornadoes hit.
Sixteen minutes is a long enough time to make a difference. There are so many questions to ask.
How could this have been prevented? How will the survivors find a new life now? Why weren't more shelters built in a known tornado area and why didn't more people "leave the station" and simply get out of harm's way?
I'd hate to err on the side of insensitivity, I realize that most of the people affected by the storm had no choice in the matter but I want to believe that they did, in each moment, have a choice.
I found a lesson plan for disaster management within the The New York Times May 16, 2013 Language Arts Lesson blog by Karen Schulten. The plan includes the film based on the David Foster Wallace 2008 Kenyon College Commencement Speech. In the opening scene two small fish swim past a big fish going the other way who says "How's the water?" and the two young fish reply "What's water?"
Awareness is essential to knowing exactly what choices you have and making them quickly.
I found a lesson plan for disaster management within the The New York Times May 16, 2013 Language Arts Lesson blog by Karen Schulten. The plan includes the film based on the David Foster Wallace 2008 Kenyon College Commencement Speech. In the opening scene two small fish swim past a big fish going the other way who says "How's the water?" and the two young fish reply "What's water?"
Awareness is essential to knowing exactly what choices you have and making them quickly.
