Example:
Cause: The 2015 Tsunami that ripped through Seattle
Effect: The Space Needle toppled over and crushed 2,351 people.
Relationship: The powerful tsunami wave was so strong that it pushed over the Space Needle resulting in over 1,000 deaths.
Swamped and Scared People caught in the tsunami suffered many injuries. After the waves receded, some were caught under deep piles of debris. A trapped deliveryman named Romi called and called for help but received no response. After two days, rain fell, and he was able to collect water for drinking. Mosquitoes feasted on him at night. On the third day, more people were trudging through the murky water to look for survivors. Four men tried to rescue Romi, but they failed. Finally on the fifth day, 25 men worked four hours and were finally able to haul him through miles of debris. All around, tens of thousands of corpses needed to be buried quickly. Elephants and bulldozers were brought in to help with the wreckage.
As survivors returned to their villages, they often found that nothing remained—no familiar landmarks, no driveway, car, or motorbike. The house was gone and everything in it, including toothbrush, comb, lipstick, and frying pan. Power was out, and phones were dead. According to one survivor, “Many people were literally left with nothing—not even coins in their pockets or clothes on their backs.” They suffered from breathing problems after swallowing mud, sand, and toxic water. Before starting to rebuild, many spent days, and then weeks, looking for lost relatives.
On the first day, those nearest the earthquake were traumatized by 37 more tremors. During the next days, there were more earthquakes: 18 on Monday, 5 on Tuesday, 7 on Wednesday, 7 on Thursday, 9 on Friday. Each time the ground trembled, people who still had shelter scampered outside, “joining the others who feared that the walls and ceiling would fall in on them,” wrote Barry Bearak.
The tsunami left a huge problem of contaminated water. In Sri Lanka, for instance, 40,000 wells were destroyed and the freshwater aquifer[7] became toxic. In the Maldives, 16 coral reef atolls[8] lost their freshwater and may be uninhabitable until decades of monsoons can refresh the supply. Other countries had similar problems as the salty waves mixed with freshwater and sewers. Thousands of banana, rice, and mango plantations were destroyed by thick layers of salty sludge. For drinking, Spain and Australia delivered gigantic water purifying machines. Military ships from the United States and Singapore made freshwater from the sea, and several companies sent water purifiers, including one that could turn raw sewage into drinking water in seconds. Some purifiers were lightweight and could be flown in by helicopter to areas that lost all road and bridge access.
As people sought help for severe injuries, supplies were scarce. At one hospital only 5 of 956 health workers were available. Barry Bearak wrote, “Little in the way of supplies was kept in the emergency room—no IVs, no painkillers, few bandages. As in many poor nations, new patients were examined and then their families were sent to buy drugs, syringes, and other items needed for treatment.” When health workers ran out of anesthetic, ice cubes were used to deaden the pain. When they ran out of suture threads, wounds were wrapped in plastic snipped from seat covers or left open. The ones who had wounds cleaned but not stitched were actually lucky. After three days, those with stitches often developed fatal infections when contaminated water was trapped inside their injury.
Relief workers from around the world eventually arrived with vaccines, antibiotics, food, blankets, tents, field hospitals, building supplies, and mosquito nets. In general, health care was well planned and prevented the outbreak of diseases, but the number of dead and wounded could be overwhelming. Sometimes tourists were treated before villagers. Villagers were treated before Burmese immigrant workers. Friends and family were treated before strangers. In India, people called Dalits, “untouchables,” traditionally judged to be “less than human,” were denied aid, even fresh drinking water. Social problems that exist before a disaster get magnified or changed afterward.
