The Citizen, 1996-07-10, Page 5THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 1996 PAGE 5.
Mother Nature
says, 'Howdy'
It was the weirdest thing. There I was,
sitting in my own living room, reading a
magazine, when suddenly my chair
shuddered. I looked up in time to see china
figurines dancing an impromptu samba on
the fireplace mantel. The curtains on the
window swished in time. It lasted maybe
five or six seconds, then it was over. The
curtains stopped rustling. The figurines
stood frozen. My chair pretended nothing at
all had happened.
My first earthquake.
I've been a flatlander most of my life,
growing up on the stolid Precambrian Shield
that muscles over most of Ontario. The earth
doesn't move much back there.
Then, last summer I moved to the West
Coast, and the rules to the game of life
changed. Suddenly, I was working in a
building which carries plaques assuring me
that it has been "earthquake-proofed".
And I was crossing daily, bridges
festooned with all kinds of extra doohickeys
and gewgaws that I'd never seen on bridges
before. They were cables and rods and
suspension mechanisms designed to make
sure those bridges remain standing even if
the earth around them doesn't.
The West Coast is majestic and thrilling
and temperate of climate, but it is also the
earthquake capital of Canada. Dozens of
mini-quakes nudge this part of the country
Blow them out
of the water
Have you ever eaten in a restaurant where
you can go to a lobster or fish tank and pick
out the one that you want to eat? You make
your choice, in goes the net or the hand and
out comes your dinner.
That is considered to be one of the
attractions of the restaurant, although I
would prefer that my meal and I do not meet
beforehand. It used to be bad enough in
Spain when I lived there that any time I
ordered fish in a restaurant, it arrived with its
head still on. The sight of these two glassy
eyes staring at me disturbed my enjoyment
to a considerable degree.
One time when I was in Basle,
Switzerland, I was invited out to lunch by
one of my clients who was in the seafood
business. On the way to the restaurant he
informed me that he was, in fact, bringing
our lunch with us. The owner had expressed
an interest in it and we were to be the first to
eat it. It turned out to be delicious, but the
thought of being a guinea pig put me off a
bit for a while.
Some fish arc considered to be a delicacy
in some places and not worth eating in
others. The one that comes to mind is carp
which is widely eaten in central Europe
while just as widely avoided in other
every week. The one I felt was "moderate" —
a 5.5 on the Richter scale.
The experts say we can expect The Big
One sometime soon. Those same experts say
it could be three thousand times more
powerful than the one I felt.
Earthquakes are like having kids, getting
audited or contracting a serious disease —
you don't think about it much until it
happens to you. Then you think about it
quite a bit.
I found out that the same week I got
goosed in my living room, earthquakes
happened in southern Italy, the Solomon
Islands, central Japan, the northern
Philippines, central Iran, western Turkey, the
Greek islands, Algeria, southern Alaska and
various parts of central and southern
California.
Mother Earth is a restless sleeper and she's
apt to rumple the eiderdown suddenly,
frequently and utterly without warning.
Earthquakes and their offspring —
tsunamis, landslides, floods and fires —
knock off about 20,000 human beings every
year. The biggest killer ever hit China on
Jan. 24, 1956. It killed an estimated 830,000
people.
An earthquake is Mother Nature's way of
saying Howdy.
Not surprisingly, humankind has come up
with a lot of explanations for earthquakes. In
ancient Indian mythology there was a belief
that the earth rested on the head of a giant
elephant named Muha-Pudma. When Muha-
Pudma flicked its ear — the earth quaked.
Ancient Tibetans believed a legend that
the earth sat on the head of a cosmic frog.
By Raymond Canon
countries.
Some fish we have never heard of are in
the former category. These include
humphead, Napoleon wrasse, highfin and
polka-dot grouper which are all the rage in
Honk Kong and frequently seen in glass
tanks the likes of which I referred to above.
These fish are caught in the reefs which are
in the vicinity of Hong Kong and are then
put in the tanks for the restaurant's patrons.
They do not come cheap.
Those who are prone to eat such fish
might be a little more hesitant to do so if
they knew how the fish got from the ocean
to the tank. Fishermen with scuba gear go
down to the reefs, break off the coral to get
to where the fish are to be found and, when
this is done, they squirt cyanide at them.
This stuns the fish which are then brought to
the surface and put in a floating tank. Many
die in the process but enough are kept alive
to make it to the restaurant.
You might look askance at the use of
cyanide, but it remains in live fish for only a
very short while and provides next to no
direct threat to any diner. The harm comes in
what cyanide fishing does to the reefs: it is
threatening to destroy them and empty them
of fish.
Before cyanide fishing came into vogue,
fishing fleets from Hong Kong used no less
than dynamite with which to get the required
amount of fish. As a result of this practice,
Other cultures had us perched on the
forehead of a colossal tortoise.
And just in case you think this Muha-
Pudma mumbo-jumbo is too primitive for
smooth, sophisticated Westerners like you
and me, should point out that after a
significant earthquake in England in 1750,
sidewalk entrepreneurs did a brisk trade in
'earthquake pills'. They were absolutely
guaranteed to protect you from any future
tremors.
The fact is, for all our scientific advance-
ment and technological expertise, when a
major earthquake strikes, we'll be just as
helpless as any terrified Neanderthal in his
cave.
Maybe more so — the Neanderthal didn't
have to worry about flying glass, exploding
gas tanks and downed electrical lines
sparking and hissing.
And there's nowhere to run to. There's not
a nation in the world or a province in this
country that's immune to earthquakes. It's
just that some places are more prone than
others. Like the place I live.
You do what you can. You prepare your
little 'earthquake kit' — flashlight, first aid kit,
a sleeping bag, emergency rations, extra
clothes — and then you Avail.
As for the Big One, the experts say it's not
a question of 'if. Just 'when'.
So we wait. And make two wishes. Wish
number one: when the Big One comes it
happens far out at sea, and the damage is
minimal.
Wish number two: that the next time 'the
earth moves', it's because we're in bed with a
loved one.
some of the reefs in the vicinity of the
British crown colony (which reverts to
China next year) no longer exist.
However, one expert has expressed the
opinion that in the long run dynamite is less
damaging to reefs than is cyanide. He claims
that a dynamited reef will come back to life
eventually; a reef dowsed with cyanide kills
the reef by allowing bacteria and algae to
establish themselves which effectively does
the trick.
Twenty years ago cyanide fishing was
unknown; it has now spread from Hong
Kong to Indonesia, Papaua, New Guinea and
other islands in the South Pacific.
The Hong Kong authorities have declared
cyanide fishing to be illegal, but so far there
has not been much done to enforce the ruling
either at home or when Hong Kong boats
have been identified as far away as
Indonesia.
With the use of long lines, dynamite and
now cyanide, it is obvious that conservation
is not a key word in South East Asia.
However, there is a glimmer of hope since
the Philippines have taught some of their
fishermen to carry out their catch with nets
that are not damaging to the reefs.
Nevertheless, if fish can command a high
price there does not seem to be any length to
which fishermen will go to supply the
demand.
The
Short
of it
By Bonnie Gropp
The fun of observation
There are those who believe life was not
meant to be observed, but rather
experienced. I, on the other hand, find some
of the most interesting experiences of my
life have occurred through observation.
To me it is the watchful one who learns,
the contemplator who discovers hidden
gems. While I do not live a sedentary
lifestyle, I also adhere to the practice that
running through it in the fast lane, has you
missing an awful lot of good stuff. After all,
you can not stop to pick a daisy, savour its
fragrance, yet keep your heart rate
accelerated.
Being an observer means sensory
enlightenment. After climbing the mountain,
take the time to feel what it means to be
closer to heaven, to reflect on the
omnipotent perfection around and above
you. Swimming laps is far more pleasurable
when you actually think about the coolness
of the water, its refreshing smoothness as it
glides across your skin.
Being an observer is noting the little
quirks and patterns of human nature and the
world around it. It was an observer, who
must have first pondered, "Why do we park
in a driveway and drive on a parkway?"
A family outing this past weekend allowed
me abundant opportunity to observe. One
specific, yet otherwise insignificant bit of
frivolity, actually unravelled a common
thread in many people.
The outing was to an amusement park,
where the highlight for our kids seemed to
be the bumper cars. Finding little enjoyment
in the long lines and the jostling of my
vertebrae, I opted to stand at the sidelines
watching. An interesting pattern soon came
to light. With each new group of drivers, as
the 10 or so'cars, carrying passengers, who
were for the most part strangers to each
other, began the first round, there wale a
general attempt at courtesy. Though the
concept and design makes it close to
virtually impossible to avoid people, it was
amazing to see the numbers that would try.
A collision brought abashed countenances
and a hasty, "Oops, sorry."
However, with each bang and bump,
people's boldness seemed to improve and as
a slightly mischievous smirk replaced the
earlier shyness, drivers began to show no
mercy for the others in the circle. What had
begun as cautious fun began a steady
transformation to reckless abandon as people
pinpointed their target,' tracked them down
and took aim. The "Oops, sorry''s were
replaced by "Ah-hahrs. Bodies were jostled
and courtesy was bounced out, as cars
careened off each other, forwards and
backwards across the floor.
And speaking of going backwards, bumper
cars do, of course, but what about geese?
While travelling this past weekend I, as well
as two other members of my family, became
mesmerized by a strange looking bird
crossing the sky in front of us. As we got
closer, rather than looking less like what it
had at first appeared, it began to look more
so. I'm not sure which was funnier — seeing
what seemed to be a goose heading north,
while flying south, or the looks on our faces.
Which is another aspect of observation.
Things are not always as they first appear. If
you let them, they'll make a fool of you.
Arthur Black
International Scene
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