It seems I only post about natural disasters this year.
The current typhoon which has closed all schools in Nagoya today has once again seen incidences of people being washed away by swollen rivers. The most tragic example happened yesterday when an 8 year old boy on his way home from school was lost to river flooding in Tajimi, north of Nagoya.
My wife commented during the Typhoon a couple of weeks ago, "Why is it that people always get washed away during typhoons?" The sad fact is that of those who have been lost over the last two days, the majority have been men in their 50's to 80's. It is not only sad because of the loss of life, but also because they perhaps should have known better.
In one exemplary incident, a retired man announced that he was 'just off to have a look at the condition of the river', and wasn't heard from again. This sparked a conversation at work today, and the fact that it is on the whole only old men getting washed away lead one senior teacher to the conclusion that nobody else is daft enough to go and stand by a raging river in a typhoon.
Commiserations to the families of those lost to the typhoon, and words of warning to the over 50's in Japan, for this will not be the last typhoon Japan sees. Just remember that thousands of tons of muck laden raging river can be dangerous, and that curiosity is sometimes best left to the cat.
