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Hurricanes, Earthquakes and Corona, Oh My.
One of the worst things about living in Florida was the experience of living through hurricanes.
I had been there only a few months for grad school when the first hurricane warning rolled through. For 4 days, it was all anyone could talk about: that damned hurricane. Was it going to hit? Wasn’t it? Where would it make landfall? How much damage might it do?
Every news program led with the hurricane forecast and the NOAA’s current tracking information. Every conversation at work, at school, everywhere was consumed by this impending doom.
In response, people did the expected thing: they hoarded food, cleaning out most supermarkets. Those who had the skills started boarding up their windows. People began calling out of work, and many began evacuating, causing huge traffic snarls even before any governmental orders.
Even as the hurricane began to make landfall, and some were ordered out of their homes, many people simply resisted. They did this either because they did not believe the predictions to be as bad as forecast, or because they lacked an option — economic or otherwise — to leave their home.
In this particular case, the skeptics were vindicated when the hurricane turned at the last minute and lost steam. Days later, once everyone had braved the traffic to return…
