Disasters in the Foreign Service

Floods, Earthquakes, and House Fires. Since joining the Foreign Service, I've known people who have had to deal with each of these disasters. It's an interesting thought, but "what types of disasters happen" may be as good a reason to bid or not bid on a post as any other. I mean, if you're terrified of Tornadoes (let's be honest, who isn't?), maybe living in Kansas isn't for you. The same applies for every other type of disaster, because... you name the disaster, there's a Post where that's the primary danger. I guess it makes sense why so many people in this job have insurance on their household goods (and others are sorry they don't, when something happens.)

This post is just my round-about (and much delayed) way of telling my friend, "I'm sorry your house burned down."  

Flooding in Chennai. Emergencies in the Foreign Service.

I've been out of communication for awhile, due to the extreme flooding in Chennai (pictures below, courtesy/stolen from https://www.facebook.com/robertdilinger). I have a handful of posts backlogged, and I'll start posting them now, but before that I think I should comment on the recent situation in Chennai.

This is my first major natural disaster. I grew up in Florida, so there was always the threat of hurricanes, but it never manifested (while I lived there). In every sense of the word, this was a disaster. The death toll is currently in the 300s and there are an estimated 1.5 million displaced (at time of original writing... probably changed by the time I actually finished and published). That's as many people as the total population of San Diego or Philadelphia. Many of local staff and some of our American officers were flooded out of their houses.

I (personally) was very fortunate to be largely unaffected. We lost internet for a week and experienced regular power outages, but our house remained high and dry. I live on the corner of some major roads and my car was able to drive through the water on them (even at their highest). I did have a brief scare when a car passed me in the other direction and his wake lifted my car up and put it down a meter (yard) to the side. I guess I can market it for resale as half boat / half car!

Back to my regularly scheduled programming.