Preparing for the storm

In America, everything is big. For five days, the entire country was focused exclusively on Hurricane Irene. It was labelled "historic" and unprecedented, and the public was prepared for the worst-case scenario. While the experts also misjudged its scope, the American media and politicians clearly nurtured the hysteria. In the end, there was damage, some serious, and more than 40 people reportedly died during the storm - but Irene's effects were not nearly commensurate with the massive preparations for it ahead of time.

The media, however, continued to report on the hurricane as if it really were as frighteningly powerful as was predicted. It was reported that while the number of casualties was significantly lower than expected, the death toll was constantly rising. The television networks linked every death from North Carolina to New England to the storm. It took hours before they began to admit that, despite initial reports, while the storm was bad, it was not as bad as predicted.

Despite the hysteria that enveloped the U.S., a thing or two can be learned from its preparations for the storm. First of all, most Americans actually heeded the authorities' instructions. In Ocean City, Maryland, for example, a city of 200,000, fewer than 300 residents remained after authorities urged them to leave the city for safer ground.

Second, the Americans have contingency plans in place, and actually implement them when emergencies occur. For example, all public transportation in New York was halted. That's the plan, so that is what they did. And that is only one contingency plan; the city also has plans for what to do if an even stronger hurricane hits.

Third, American leaders and service providers are capable of admitting, ahead of time, that they are not prepared for every scenario. The day before the hurricane hit, for example, electric companies called their customers to apologize for any power outages that might occur, and promised to do their best to resolve any problems as quickly as possible. America's politicians also admitted that, while they did their best to prepare, no one could have predicted what would actually happen.

On the one hand, the approaching storm made Americans a bit hysterical. On the other, it also left them well prepared. It may seem like a strange way of doing things, but this may be preferable to the calm, cool, "everything will be fine" approach in Israel, which is not supported by any real planning. Perhaps the gap between the American way of doing things and the Israeli approach has to do with one major difference: When the U.S. confronts natural disasters, it's okay to openly admit that their ability to deal with it is limited.

Such a calamity is bigger and stronger than man. However, problems between peoples and nations seem like they should be more easily solvable. Perhaps this is why it is hard for us to understand why we can't deal with our internal challenges as well as our complex relations with our neighbors, but we take for granted the inability to deal with the forces of nature.

In any case, while we should not necessarily imitate American history; instead, we should adopt that country's ability to properly prepare ahead of time for dealing with foreseeable crises.