Eric Holthaus tweets an eye-opener:
Cyclone Phailin is set to become the strongest India has ever seen http://t.co/mAKhmgwW7g http://t.co/lNgBNOZb0P
— Quartz (@qz) October 11, 2013
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He tells the story with intense power, beginning (interestingly) with the NOAA image.
Yet it's possible he buries the lede, as at the end of the story he casually mentions:
India has already evacuated
more than a quarter-million people in advance of Phailin’s
landfall, amid reports of price gouging for vegetables and other
supplies.
Whether or not this is enough to prevent disaster, it's amazing we haven't heard of it.
Budget troubles, apparently.
Update one day later: In fact, this morning the NY Times put the evacuations in the hed:
With Mass Evacuations, India Braces as Powerful Cyclone Heads for Coast
Point being that we can't stop a huge storm from coming on-shore, but we can prepare for its arrival. Adaptation, in other words. That's the real question for the 21st century. Will we adapt?
Kit Stolz 