There is no injustice involved in the case of sacrificing hundreds of lives to save the hundred thousands in a city. Whether it be by moral, economical, or safety situations, diverting a hurricane away from a major city to rural areas is always considered a much lesser impact to the country.
Morally Right
Many men and women protests against diverting natural disasters into different areas. They argue that its a way of murder, against some sort of religious will, and/or possible failures that may make the situation worse. Yet philosophy of this kind will not span between the world’s righteous acts and its wrongs.
Murder is a word that can not be used in the situation. A more liable analagy is the sacrifice of a little for many. For an example, in the time of the Persian war, Spartans were being attacked on their own land and was outnumbered. In response to the situation, a quick council decided to send 300 men to hold off the invading army to buy time and save all the other men, women, and children living there. Was this not a good choice made by the council? It is the same situation here. Is it not better to save the many citizens?
Religion may be strongly felt and believed, but philosophies about it may be incorrect. The most common first-hand thought about religion is that the scientists are trying to “Play God” or changing his will. The act of diverting natural disasters is far from trying to be a god. By science, it is quite possible, and if the act is considered worthy of a god, then there really is no such thing as a divine act. Changing his will is completely out of question. What kind of a god would take a hurricane to destroy a major city? If there is such one, we will and must divert his will.
Possible failures is one point that is on many peoples’ minds during the occurence. They often ask, Will modifying it make the situation worse? What will happen if it fails? Will we just waste tons of money trying with no effect? There are many more questions that people ask themselves and each other about the project. The only answer to all is that if we don’t try, there is no chance on improving the situation. Even if the failure brings upon a worse catastrophic event, the rewards for success is worth many more times than a simple failure. The technology would in turn save countless of other lives in the future.
Economy
Financial crisis is a problem that the United States is burdened with today. A natural disaster like the hurricane is unavoidable, but should effect the country in the slightest way possible. The destruction of a local area is no match for a major city. In fact, a major city’s destruction may mean the destruction of the local areas anyways.
When people speak of a major city or cities, they think of many skyscrapers with freeways and cars rushing around for business. This is not incorrect, but what this picture lacks is the importance of all these constructions. At least several thousands of businesses are conducted in the area of a major city and connections it holds makes it an important part of the entire country. As a city, it serves as an important import and export center and is often an extremely large trade center. Losing such a place would cause a great deal of financial chaos with bankruptcies, and lead to an extreme rate of unemployment.
The value of the lives can not be considered null by any perspective. There is a stated average of at least $200,000-300,000 to raise a child to an adult. A major city contains at least 150,000 people living or visiting it. The least amount of loss there could be to losing the city is set at $30 billion, and that is only the minimum. Not everyone in the city is a child, and a major city usually has the multiple of 150,000 people in population. With this to account for, the population loss of the city may grow up to $500 billion!
Safety Situations
During the strike of a hurricane, warnings are given to all that live close or around the disaster area. Evacuation is essential to life saving and must be carried out efficiently for the procedure to be effective. Yet there is a major problem in the evacuation of a major city.
In heavily populated areas, panic causes major traffic jams throughout the city. Waterways are blocked by the hurricane and the airports are can not fly well in the blowing wind. Control throughout the city would be impossible and the only ones that escape the disaster is the people of the outer skirts of the city. The attempted procedures for rescue would be rendered quite useless.
Rural areas have the advantage to much less jams during the time of disasters. With the population of usually a tenth of the major cities, there are much more open space for roads to be constructed. The much smaller population would not cause a jam to the traffic and much more lives can be saved from the disaster. In fact, some areas have no people living there at all!
Through almost any problems that it can create, a natural disaster is always best struck at a point not of a major city. The lives lost, economical drain, and destruction that it causes will never be worse in a rural area compared to a large city. There is no question about whether it is right or wrong. If a hurricane is to come towards our major cities, it will never be wrong to divert the worst outcome.
