In recent weeks, the awesome power of natural forces has been amply demonstrated. Down in the very English city ofChristchurch, where you can still take a punt on the River Avon, it was a shock to see such loss of life and destruction. The beautiful country ofNew Zealandlies on geographical fault lines and this is reflected in the building regulations that are applied there.
After any such damage, people try and rebuild, knowing the risks of the area that they live in. At the end of the day, what else do you do? There must though be some concern at apparently increasing geological activity with 14 significant earthquakes in the 20th century, but seven already in the twenty-first century.
The events in Christchurch were bad enough but eclipsed in magnitude by those off the coast ofJapan. I am sure that many of us will have seen videos of the tsunami resulting from this massive earthquake. It was horrifying to watch the sheer destructive power of the tidal wave that swept away everything in its path. Years of human endeavour were just brushed aside by a torrent of water which at times seemed to be making disarmingly slow and calculated progress.
Our hearts go out to the people of Japan and New Zealand. There is a strong international aid effort to which our West Sussex County Council has contributed a team of people. The Japan disaster occurred while members of this team were returning fromChristchurch. A further team, including some of theChristchurchmembers, has now gone toJapan. It is heartening that we have been able to make such a direct contribution from our part of the world and we wish our local government colleagues well in all that they are doing.
We have our own challenges from natural forces. The recent spells of snowy weather caused widespread disruption to transport and the pattern of our daily lives. Before that, and particularly in the year 2000, we had significant flooding inCrawley.
In response, local government has been sharpening its response to winter weather conditions and Crawley Borough Council has been investing heavily in flood prevention projects, including that atTilgatePark. These are measures that insure as best we can against future problems, although we are generally not very good at noticing successful prevention, as compared to a failure to achieve this.
Our troubles, while significant, do not approach the impact of events inJapanandNew Zealand. When showing our support for those damaged nations, it is appropriate to remember how lucky we are.
Councillor Bob Lanzer, Leader of Crawley Borough Council
15th March 2011