Diksha and I are in process of planning a visit to Hawaii, in July. We had just about got our Visas through, and were to book tickets.......when Kilauea erupted.
May 6, five days back, saw the eruption of the volcano, Kilauea. It's a force so primordial, that just watching the video footage has me mesmerized. Like they said in the news "there's no point having firefighters, this is an unstoppable force".
The eruption saw flying boulders and ash plumes 200 feet into the air. Several fissures opening up around the area, spewing lava continuously.
The lava has flowed through forest and into residential areas, taking in its stride trees, houses, cars, telephone poles.....consuming everything in it's path, all disappearing into the flowing molten rock. It's fascinating to watch how it moves, fiery...fearsome..... slow....almost grotesque. And the sound is said to be so thunderous that you can feel it in the pits of your stomach.
The volcanic eruptions triggered off a flurry of earthquakes, over a hundred, with the severest being a 6.9 on the richter.
People have been asked to evacuate areas that have been effected. And what's unique about a volcano, unlike other natural calamities like earthquakes, floods, cyclones and such is that with these, people can go back and reclaim their land, rebuild, but a volcano alters the very landscape. Also that other calamities have an end point..and here we're hearing the US Geological Survey say that this could go on for weeks, months or even years.
While all this is news available everywhere, at a more personal level, the earthquake caused a crack in kamlesh aunty's house. She lives 40 miles north of the volcano.
It's as fascinating as it is scary.
I was quite naturally unsure about booking tickets. So I talk to her, fully expecting her to say they were planning on moving back to their Chicago home, and instead what I hear is "they're calling it destruction, but this is actually creation...this is how Hawaii was formed. It is just so so beautiful, you must absolutely come"
I was so stumped, I could only laugh (in nervousness I think). End of ten minutes she's like 'so? are you coming?', and I found myself saying "yes aunty, coming" ....... all well meaning advise and fear and caution flying out the window.
That's inspiration from sheer attitude !
Look at some of these pictures:
The eruptions from the fissures
Lava flow onto the roads
Through the forest
Spreading into the residential areas
Roads cracking up
The lava lake in the crater before the eruption
The lava lake that's receded in by 900 feet. And it's the pressure caused by the receding lava, that is now surfacing through fissures miles around the place.
A picture from yesterday, toxic gases, predominantly sulphuric acid, which breathed in, is fatal to man
The eruption saw flying boulders and ash plumes 200 feet into the air. Several fissures opening up around the area, spewing lava continuously.
The lava has flowed through forest and into residential areas, taking in its stride trees, houses, cars, telephone poles.....consuming everything in it's path, all disappearing into the flowing molten rock. It's fascinating to watch how it moves, fiery...fearsome..... slow....almost grotesque. And the sound is said to be so thunderous that you can feel it in the pits of your stomach.
The volcanic eruptions triggered off a flurry of earthquakes, over a hundred, with the severest being a 6.9 on the richter.
People have been asked to evacuate areas that have been effected. And what's unique about a volcano, unlike other natural calamities like earthquakes, floods, cyclones and such is that with these, people can go back and reclaim their land, rebuild, but a volcano alters the very landscape. Also that other calamities have an end point..and here we're hearing the US Geological Survey say that this could go on for weeks, months or even years.
While all this is news available everywhere, at a more personal level, the earthquake caused a crack in kamlesh aunty's house. She lives 40 miles north of the volcano.
It's as fascinating as it is scary.
I was quite naturally unsure about booking tickets. So I talk to her, fully expecting her to say they were planning on moving back to their Chicago home, and instead what I hear is "they're calling it destruction, but this is actually creation...this is how Hawaii was formed. It is just so so beautiful, you must absolutely come"
I was so stumped, I could only laugh (in nervousness I think). End of ten minutes she's like 'so? are you coming?', and I found myself saying "yes aunty, coming" ....... all well meaning advise and fear and caution flying out the window.
That's inspiration from sheer attitude !
Look at some of these pictures:
The eruptions from the fissures
Lava flow onto the roads
Through the forest
Spreading into the residential areas
Roads cracking up
As it flows
The lava lake in the crater before the eruption
The lava lake that's receded in by 900 feet. And it's the pressure caused by the receding lava, that is now surfacing through fissures miles around the place.
A picture from yesterday, toxic gases, predominantly sulphuric acid, which breathed in, is fatal to man
Fissures across roads
A video that gives a feel of it
I haven't followed news as closely as I am Kilauea.....a word I didn't know how to pronounce until a few days back.
You're right aunty.....this is indeed, creation !
a very good depiction of events. after u complete ur deg in psch-u can go into broadcasting
ReplyDeleteSweeeet. I'm guessing this is you Kamlesh aunty..... it's not just your sentences, but even your words that are getting shorter :)
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks !