by Dee Cain

Created on: July 24, 2008   Last Updated: July 25, 2008

Give scientist the control of the path of hurricanes is giving them the license to play God. There are so many moral implications to consider that they would fill volumes. How would the direction of the hurricane be decided? Should it be sent east or west? If the hurricane is headed to Corpus Christy, Texas, do we send it to Mexico? What kind of international incident would that create?

The answer would be for the governing bodies to come up with a strategic plan for total evacuation of the people potentially impacted by the hurricane in the first place. Modes of transportation need to be assessed and escape routes planned. The capability for an area to handle the displaced people upon arrival and the return to the affected area after the storm passes. Agencies with satellite offices opened in the area affected for faster and easier access for those people who need assistance.

We saw the failure of government response before, during and after the 2005 hurricane named Katrina. While thousands left the area, there were still too many people left behind with no way out. Systems need to be set in place to see this does not happen again.

What is the deciding factor in determing where the hurricane should hit, saving lives or the cost of rebuilding a major city? If the answer was saving lives, then how do we determine who's life is more important, the city dweller or the rural inhabitants? Looking at the map of the coastline of the United States there are an abundance of major cities. If a hurricane is diverted away from one then another will be in it's path. In between these cities are communities which fight to survive everyday. There are some that are growing fast as people leave the major cities to escape the violence of the area in which they live. So how do scientist rate the value of their lives, property and businesses?

Usually a decision like this comes down to money. While the reason expressed to the people would be concern for public, the underlying factor would ultimately be which would be less expensive to rebuild. As seen in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina the expense for rebuilding the infrastructure of a major city was enormous. Still 3 years later that city has still not recovered. It will take years if not decades for New Orleans and the surrounding communities to once again be structurally sound enough to support the number of inhabitants who lived there before the hurricane.

If a hurricane was headed toward the southeast coast of Texas, how could

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