I live in Puerto Rico and this week we had a Tropical Storm/Hurricane warning emitted on the island because Tropical Storm Emily could have passed over the island. As soon as this storm began to evolve the media jumped on it and cautioned the entire island about the possibility of it making landfall and advising everybody to be prepared. The storm was supposed to make landfall by August 2, 2011, which was Tuesday. By Saturday the hardware stores where out of 8x4 wood panels because everybody began to by them just in case they had to board up their houses. The supermarkets had canned goods and water flying off their shelves and the gas stations were full of cars filling up their tanks just in case. I am all for being prepared but the problem that I have with this scenario is that the media began causing hysteria even before the atmospheric disturbance was a tropical depression; it was just a bunch of random clouds. Once it came closer they went into overdrive saying what the consequences of landfall could be and how we would be six months without light or water in some areas of the island. Giving information so that the public can prepare themselves is one thing but sensationalizing it to sell papers or boost your viewership is another. The government did not do any better in the situation. They gave the day off on Tuesday, which is understandable since they believed it would pass over and they wanted to keep their employees safe. The problem is that the Tropical Storm did not pass over Puerto Rico and the government also gave the following day off since some areas might be flooded. I do not mind that the government closes when it is necessary but what is the use of closing the government offices in areas that are not flooded.
Thankfully Puerto Rico has not seen a hurricane pass over it in over a decade and hopefully we will not have to see that type of destruction in the following years. The last one that did pass over us caused a lot of damage, pain and suffering. My heart goes out to those that do have to suffer because of the atmospheric disturbances all over the world and hope and pray that this hurricane season be one with as little damage as possible to the people.
Hurricane image by: Kakela from http://www.flickr.com/photos/kakela/9658243/sizes/m/in/photostream/
I was going to ask if you've been through any of the past hurricanes. I'm from California so I wouldn't know the first thing to do if a storm hit. I agree with you that it isn't helpful for the media to stay on top of the story just because it's news. It's a fine line between being informative and just stirring up stuff and I think the "news media" has pretty much forgotten that part.
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