Aftermath of Cyclone Michuang in Chennai
The choice to stop electricity supply to areas where cyclonic winds can damage power cables and cause live wires to drop into flooded streets appears logical and sensible.
But there is another side to this, especially when the practice is carried out as a ‘preventive measure’, extended across a wide area, and continued well after the natural event has passed or an accident has been reported.
Homes and neighbourhoods plunged in darkness can be dangerous by themselves.
That an elderly relative can trip, fall, and break a hip is a worry as it can be as life-threatening as suffering a heart attack.
In 2021, Tamil Nadu had 13.8 crore people over the age of 60 years.
Of Chennai metropolitan area’s estimated 12 million-plus million population, 5,00,000 people are above this age, and over 50,000 are aged 80 or above.
There are also the security and safety concerns of having no electricity in domestic households.
Accidents and injuries are more likely to happen in the dark.
Simple tasks become fraught, and even dangerous.
Reptiles and insects could crawl into the house.
The choice to turn off the electricity supply during a cyclone, and to keep it that way even after the rain stops, has to be looked at in the backdrop of the facts given above.
Decision-making in any crisis can be emotionally challenging and psychologically stressful.
When the scale of these decisions is large, and the nature of a disaster is cataclysmic, the process also becomes an extreme test of intellectual and analytical judgement, as well as that of personal strength and confidence.
The potential cost of mistakes looms large in a decision-maker’s mind, which tends more often towards conservative options being preferred.
The dangers from inadequately considering the ‘flip side’ can lead to equally serious (even if less dramatic) complications due to inaction.
Shutting off the electric supply in the event of a storm can be life-saving.
But, restoring supply promptly afterwards is also vital to save lives and safeguard against terrible individual consequences.
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