Back to Nomadic Style?

 

I've been following the news about the recent floods in western Europe ( Germany, Belgium, Holland).  Total surprise, although  these countries are said to have  excellent warning systems. It appears science cannot predict the flooding with exactitude. People in Germany describe their cities and villages, as being now like battlefields.

We all know, of course, about climate change and global warmingׂ (Siberia's forests are burning - 38 C degree!), but precious time is wasted on theory, and not on practical issues. I believe we cannot prevent natural disasters , that's God's domain;  but we can perhaps learn ways to save our life.  

Education is vital here. First of all, people should be well aware of the fact that weather can be deadly; not only  a topic for  daily small talk.  Secondly, if possible, don't choose to live near a river or any other body of water. Thirdly, we'll probably have to adjust in the near future to a nomadic sort of life, as climate change will make us be on the move - albeit not with horses, but with vans, ,cars, cycles.

Covid -19  might also put us on the move as people who lose jobs due to restrictions are looking for all sorts of possibilities to earn a living.

By the way, in Israel, we're  facing a fourth virus Wave which will  possibly lead in a few weeks to  a fourth lockdown! It is the travelers to and from abroad that are being blamed.The airport is considered  'the gate to corona'

Without traveling abroad, israelis are dead people; the country is  a sort of ghetto surrounded by hostile neighbors. So, they'll keep on traveling abroad, and Covid-19 along with them. Sad.

 

A Neighborly Hand

I tend to compare Climate Change with an experienced army general. The later knows he cannot successfully fight a war with the tactics and strategies of the last war. He has to surprise the enemy.

Fires were not new to australians, and yet they got surprised by the highly devastating nature of the last fires.They needed all the help they could get (The neighboring countries New Zealand, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea were the first to offer help). 

In Israel, we don't have much rain . but 2-3 consecutive days of strong rain, some ten days ago, almost destroyed an entire city (Naharyia) in the north of the country.  The city was heavily hit by floods, and that came as a complete surprise.
The official explanation to the stunned citizens was that the severe flooding was perhaps due to the Gaaton river(crossing the town) being diverted to build a mall?!

Naharyia floods (web picture)

It would seem Climate Change is here to stay. So, there are two main urgent needs:
1.  lots of smart rescue plans to save lives (both human and animal).
2.  good neighboring country relations based on reciprocity and cooperation.  
Nations are more than willing to help other nations in distress, but sometimes because of distance, it takes precious time till the planes with the experts and equipment arrive at the scene of the disaster.  So, where possible, good neighbors are top priority.

Nine years ago we had a deadly fire on Mt Carmel (44 fatalities) We badly needed help and we got it from many countries. It was really heart warming.  Here's the list with the helping countries (it appeared on the internet):

Azerbaijan – 2 helicopters
Bulgaria – 1 plane and 92 firefighters
Croatia – 1 plane, 8 firefighters and fire repression materials
Cyprus – 1 plane and 1 helicopter
Egypt – fire repression materials
France – 5 planes and fire repression materials
Germany – 1 plane, 7 experts in firefighting and fire repression materials
Greece – 7 planes, 34 firefighters and fire repression materials
Holland – 5 experts in firefighting
Italy – 1 plane and fire repression materials
Jordan – 3 truckloads of firefighting equipment and materials
Palestinian Authority – 21 firefighters and 3 fire engines
Russia – 3 planes and 22 experts in firefighting
Spain – 5 planes
Switzerland – 1 plane, 3 helicopters and a team of 14
Turkey – 2 planes
UK – 2 helicopters
US – 5 planes, 11 experts in firefighting and fire repression materials

Among the countries that offered assistance which wasn't required: Australia (was ready to rapidly deploy a team of 5 incident management experts and 20 tons of fire retardant), Austria, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Romania and Ukraine.

It's mutual. We always offer help to other nations in disaster cases. I especially remember the earthquakes in Azerbaijan and Turkey. Israel had  an important assisting presence there.