I.

Title: Raging Planet: Flood

II. Director: Mick Rhodes

III. Summary:

The flood is the worlds biggest natural killer. Water gives us life but it can also be deadly. There are two main kinds of flood; flash floods are sudden and unexpected. They tear down rivers and smash into pieces anything they encounter. Flash Floods are catastrophic and deadly. The other type are big slow floods that rise over a long period of time and theres usually plenty of warning and people can prepare for it. As more and more rain falls, water rises and floods gradually engulf the land. These big slow floods happen in every country in the world. Eventually rivers break through their banks. Roads are swamped, crops are ruined, commerce comes to a halt. In America water kills on average 138 people most in flash floods. In Athens, Greece January 12 1997 in one evening 2 inches of rain fell in three hours. Hundreds of homes, businesses and shops were flooded and central Athens was without power for several hours. But in Corinth 50 miles west the result was more sudden and devastating, a flash flood. In South Africa Christmas Day 1995 continous rain has filled two rivers to their bursting points and the flood struck just 20 minutes later. That Christmas afternoon more than 130 people drowned. In other countries floods are very devastating that it blocks the roads and causes landslides preventing rescue supplies to be given to citizens. Beacause of this they use helicopters to give supplies to citizens and rescue others who are stranded in the flood. Ironically in most cases, they need drinking water the most in supplies. But there are parts in the world that floods actually give life where floods are needed to survive. In India there are just two seasons, 8 months of dry followed by 4 months of very wet season. In the dry season the part soil turns to dust, water is precious. The people pray to their gods and do religious acts to have rain. Once the rain comes they celebrate. For others, they coexist with floods and make it a living by selling fishes they caught from the flood. For some countries, they could not afford high tech systems that can prevent flood or warn them of upcoming floods. They use man power to build some barricades preventing water to go through.

But even high tech systems can fail and when they do it can be devastating. In the great Mississippi flood of 1993 50,000 homes were destroyed and 48 people died that summer the rainfall was 2 to 3 times more than normal. Though it had a devastating effect, the U.S. government easily rescued civilians using their high tech systems, boats and helicopters. If global warming continues, wheather paterns around the world will be disturbed and there will be climate change. Floods may become more savage, more common, more unpredictable than ever before. Around the world sea level will rise and more and more lives will be lost by our raging planet.

IV. Reaction: When I watched the film it was like a wake up call to me that these kinds of natural disasters happens because of what we do illegaly like illegal logging, throwing trash anywhere which blocks our drainages, air pollution from cars and factories, and etc. I felt sad watching the film because so many people died because of what we are doing to our planet. Yes we have advanced technology but sometimes they can fail and the results would be catastrophic. Floods are very dangerous and it now usually happens because of climate change ang global warming. Even rich countries are being devastated by flash floods even with their high tech systems that can detect and prevent upcoming floods. When it comes to natural disasters no one is safe, even if you are rich or poor. In the middle of the film I was shocked about people wanting for rain to come but then I realized that it is beacause there is only 4 months of wet season and 8 months of dry season in their country. I was also happy about some countries adapting to the rainy season because mostly its raining in their country and they made it a living by the fishes that are in the flood and selling and exporting them to other countries. This video was taken many years ago and now its 2011 and yet were still experiencing these kinds of events because theres no change. We only tend to make safety precautions after experiencing these kinds of events. But still after experiencing these kinds the past decade we are still experiencing it today even with more advanced technology. It is time for us to make a difference and change the way how we live and start taking care of our mother earth. We should not wait for another disaster to happen and should start making a difference today.