Paris Watch
France Rings in New Year, Still Scarred by Storms, Oil Spill
By KIKI YOSHIDA
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嵐と石油流出でフランスは大打撃
年末、ヨーロッパを大暴風雨が直撃。フランスでは91人が死亡し、一時は340万世帯が停電している状態でした。また12月中旬にはタンカーが沈没して大量の重油がフランスの海岸を汚染。ミレニアムを迎えたフランスは大変な復旧作業に直面しています。
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The moment the clock struck midnight and it became Jan. 1, 2000, the Eiffel
Tower turned into a magnificent monument of light celebrating the new
millennium. Jubilant crowds celebrated at the site, and many people watched
on television. Indeed, it was a big moment of celebration. But there were some
people who spent that night without even a power supply.
During the last week of December 1999, a pair of deadly storms hit Europe,
claiming more than 100 lives in floods, avalanches and other
weather-related disasters. In France alone, a total of 91 people have died.
Winds recorded at over 200 kph were the worst recorded in European history.
An estimated 150,000 French citizens had no power or telephone in early
January. EDF (Electricite de France) hired several companies to help repair
its severely damaged transmission network, and some 1,200 technicians from
across Europe are now setting to the task.
At the worst point of the electricity crisis, about 3.4 million houses,
which corresponds to 10 percent of EDF's users, had no power. Many customers
were also left without the use of their phones when telephone lines
collapsed, including about 5,000 subscribers who were still without
telephone connections in mid-January.
I still remember the sound of the horrific rainstorm that night. I stayed
awake in bed and had an ominous feeling. It didn't sound like an ordinary
storm at all. However, I didn't know that the country had been damaged so
badly until I received a call from my friend the next morning.
She asked me if everything was all right. I did not know what was going on at
first, but soon I learned what she meant. When I turned on the TV, I was stunned to see what had happened.
In Paris, six people were seriously injured when they were crushed under
falling walls or roofs. Three huge cranes were blown over. Nearly all
commuter train services to and from the suburbs were shut down, along with
seven of the city's 14 metro lines. Police barred cars and pedestrians
from the Champs Elysees, warning people of the danger of collapsing roof
tiles.
The storm damaged some of France's most famed monuments as well. The Notre Dame Cathedral lost six of its bell towers. And some 10,000 trees in the
garden at Versailles were toppled. I heard that a pine planted by
Napoleon Bonaparte in 1812 was among those victims. Many other monuments
dating to the French Revolution were also damaged.
The storm damaged 300 million trees in total, according to the National Forest Office. Experts estimate it will take a century to completely
restore the forests.
The storm also slammed trees fiercely to the ground in Paris. When I see
their bared roots, it chills me to the bone to think of the power of
nature. In fact, the storm lasted only a few hours. But look at what it did!
Prime Minister Lionel Jospin unveiled an aid package worth $630 million
(¥66.1 billion) aimed for the nation's quick recovery.
The storm is not the only reason for the nationwide feeling of sadness that I
sense.
On Dec. 12, the oil tanker Erika broke in two in gale force winds. It was
loaded with over 30,884 tons of heavy oil. When it sank, about 10,000 tons
of oil spilled into the sea, and that oil hit the coast on Christmas Day.
It fouled up the French shore from the tip of Brittany southward to La Rochelle and reportedly was France's worst oil spill in the last 20 years.
People continue to clean the seashore to remove the sticky black oil.
About 300,000 seabirds have been killed and roughly 30,000 rescued. Seeing the
birds caught by Erika's oil on TV, I had a feeling of deja-vu, remembering
news reports of the Gulf War. Birds are always victims. Environmental groups
estimate at least another 100,000 birds will die. The local oyster industry
was also hit hard, to say nothing of the tourism.
Destructive winds and the massive oil spill have caused not only damage to the
land but also an empty feeling among people. The most important thing is how
we get out of it. After trouble, especially the menacing kind, we have the
chance to become wiser than before.
Every incident contains its own lesson, I believe. It is we who will find
meaning and learn from it. Our living standard is surely getting better thanks
to modern technology. However, we are so little, compared with nature.
Anything could be destroyed in an instant.
Europe is not used to this kind of storm. Some pundits have said that it is
somehow related to global warming. If so, that is due to the destruction of
nature. But who's to blame?
It is stupid to forget nature's power and its influence in our daily life.
Human beings have been looking for the way to live in harmony with nature
for such a long time, but it seems like we haven't really found the answer.
Now we are in the year 2000. I have no doubt that coexistence is the key to
a peaceful life toward the next century.
Shukan ST: Feb. 4, 2000
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