Since my childhood years, the weather has been a major source of concern for me. I spent some time in Jamaica, therefore I had to think about earthquakes frequently. Because every now and then at least once or twice each year there was an earth tremor. Some people stood still as the shaking and trembling of the earth’s surface occurred, and others did something crazy like running indoors. But there was no major catastrophic event such as the collapse of a bridge or motorway. Which is an event that actually occurred in California.
On October 17, 1989, the San Francisco Bay area was jolted by the Loma Prieta earthquake. The quake’s epicenter was near Loma Prieta Peak in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The magnitude 6.9 quake was the most powerful the state had experienced in several years. The Loma Prieta earthquake was triggered by the mighty San Andreas Fault, where the massive Pacific plate slips northwestward. During the quake, the epicenter slipped up to two meters. The Loma Prieta earthquake caused 63 deaths, 3,757 injuries, and about $6 billion in damage. Many casualties occurred as parts of several transportation routes, including the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and a busy freeway, collapsed. (NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC: Loma Prieta Earthquake, October 17 1989 CE).
While earthquakes definitely remain a major threat to our peace and tranquility. Cyclones, hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, and snowstorms have recently grabbed our attention. In fact, while residing in Jamaica with my pregnant wife in 1980 we were forced to endure the onslaught of Hurricane Allen which struck the Island on 3-4 August 1980. At the time we were living in the Village of Seaforth, Saint Thomas, Jamaica, West Indies. During the morning of August 3rd, many of my neighbors were boarding up their windows, purchasing water, and gathering food items for a possible catastrophic eventuality, which everyone dreaded. I left home and drove around the vicinity in my Volkswagen car, just to observe the transpiring events. There was one major change that I couldn’t ignore. Powerful gusts of wind had commenced sweeping through the area. I was standing in front of a small shop gazing across the road at a gigantic Tamarind tree. Which was located in the middle of the vacant commons, where it had stood for decades.
Suddenly the limbs and branches were swaying uncontrollably in response to a powerful invisible force. Could all of this be mere molecules of violent air I mused? The next thing I knew was that the very large and cumbersome tree was suddenly uprooted from the soil where it had been firmly anchored and thrown to the ground. When I witnessed this phenomenon I was afraid. I got into my car and quickly drove home to be with my wife. I didn’t bother to board up any windows and now that I reminisce upon my past, I remember that all of the windows were glass louver panes. We ate dinner in a sober and subdued mood. Every now and then I looked outside through the windows to witness the increasing ferocity of the approaching storm. Darkness gradually descended as per usual and then the rain also came. But on this occasion it was violent. Right through the night the angry gusts of wind and the violent rain lashed everything in the area with unceasing fury. I could hear sheets of zinc being ripped off their roofs and flung against every available obstacle, that stood in their way, as they flew through the air. At midnight everything seemed to reach a crescendo. The sound of the raging tempest was one continuous shriek.
I feared for the worst. Although the house in which we lived was brand new and built out of reinforced concrete, mortar-filled blocks, and steel. We offered many prayers and eventually, I took my wife into the smallest room in the house, the bathroom. She sat in the tub and I cringed somewhere on the floor. During the course of the night, I fell asleep and awoke many times until finally, the day dawned. We were both still alive and very grateful to God for our survival. Since we had claimed multiple divine promises during the frightening and turbulent darkness that seemed to be unending. As we are assured in scripture,
“He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.” Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler And from the perilous pestilence. He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings, you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler. You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, Nor of the arrow that flies by day, Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.” Psalm 91:1-6 (NKJV).
Some recent weather monstrosities in North America. Have reminded me of the many dreadful hours that I spent during that long night of terror. Huddled together with my pregnant wife, as we feared the worst but dared to hope and pray for a good ending. Actually, the eye of Hurricane Allen had passed 20 miles off the eastern coast of The Island of Jamaica. But the carnage and destruction that it left in its wake were staggering. When I finally exited the door of my house, what I witnessed was a fitting testament to what we had experienced during the hours of darkness. Although there was absolutely no damage to our building, our neighbors weren’t so fortunate. The road was impassable. Trees, light poles, electrical wires, sheets of zinc, and other debris were scattered everywhere. I was able to make my way out to the main Seaforth Road. I wanted to check on my church just to see what had been its fate. Miraculously, it was still standing, unscathed. A large edifice, erected for the worship and the glory of God. What a wonderful consolation?
These weather abnormalities have now become universal in scope, and although no region of the world has been spared. The most advanced economies seem to be receiving the brunt of these cataclysmic manifestations. The US has recorded 55 fatalities, with a further four dead after a bus rolled over on icy roads in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Of the US deaths, 25 are from Erie County in the state of New York, where the city of Buffalo has been hit hard by the blizzard, its numbing cold, and heavy “lake-effect” snow – the result of frigid air moving over warmer lake waters. The National Weather Service said that nearly four feet of snow fell at Buffalo’s airport by Sunday, and that snow was falling at the rate of two to three inches an hour south of the city. The region’s storm victims include people found stranded in cars, left freezing in white-out conditions while would-be rescuers struggled against the weather to help. (SKY NEWS: US Bomb Cyclone, At Least 59 Dead As North America Gripped By Devastating Winter Storm, Tuesday 27, December 2022).
(TO BE CONTINUED)
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