ALL FLOODS AND EARTHQUAKES CAUSED BY HUMAN ACTIONS?
PRAVDA
July 17 2012
Russia
Any cataclysm causes a great deal of rumors and the most controversial
speculation. For example, victims of the earthquake in Armenia
in 1988 sincerely believed that right before the shocks a silver
plane appeared in the sky and something was dropped from it. This
is a simple property of the human psyche – to try to explain blind
violence of nature by human actions and find the cause that triggered
the cataclysm. You cannot flog the ocean for drowning the ship.
The events in and around Krymsk go far beyond the standard reactions
of shocked people to a disaster. The city in the Krasnodar region,
without exaggeration, has become a ground for testing political
strategies. It is already clear that there are organized groups of
manipulators using the emotions of the locals in their own interests.
The rumors of draining water from the reservoir as the cause of the
catastrophic floods that enveloped the city are easily explained. This
is very similar to the silver airplane in the sky of Armenia that was
witnessed by thousands in various parts of the country. The people
were genuinely indignant when rescuers tried to appeal to their
common sense.
It is more difficult to explain the emergence of a statement of
a Krymsk resident Julia Andropova on the morning after the flood
(July 7) that said: “Yesterday at 21:53 Krymsk took the hit!” The
woman, referring to her father who worked at Neverdjayevskaya power
station, revealed the details of how the floodgates were opened and
a catastrophic wave was directed at the city – “to save Novorossiysk.”
Novorossiysk is separated from Krymsk by a mountain ridge, the
Neverdjayevskaya station does not have locks that can be opened,
the electricity supply to Krymsk was resumed on July 8-9, cellular
communication was restored on the 9th, but these details have not
been taken into account. The statement was very popular online, and
was quoted by electronic and print media, the rumors have returned
to the city endowed with many details and backed up by the authority
of the media.
Today, despite all rebuttals, despite the fact that an independent
group from Krymsk has circled Neverdjayevskaya dam reservoir on an
airplane, the attempts to fully refute the belief of the people that a
wave was directed at them intentionally, have failed. People started
talking about other reservoirs in the region from which the water
could go to town. They began to look for other causes of flooding,
understanding that the “Novorossiysk” theory had failed. Other
theories included “drained water from the site of Grushevka Rosneft”,
“tried to save Putin’s dacha in Praskoveevka,” etc.
Social networks played a significant role in spreading these rumors.
Suffice it to say that bloggers are still looking for lies in the
reports on the absence of locks at the Neverdjayevskaya station,
saying: “We were lied to, locks must be there”. It seems that if social
networks existed in 1988, the man-made theory of the earthquake in
Armenia would have become self-sustaining throughout the country.
Yet, not everything has to do only with the specific network
conspiracy. The events have obvious features of a planned political
campaign, and for the first time in modern Russian history, it goes
far beyond the blogosphere and some opposition media.
Earlier this week, leaflets were spotted in Krymsk depicting laughing
portrait of Putin and the slogan “Your problems only amuse me!” This
could be perceived as an idiotic act of a citizen obsessed with
politics. However, on July 9 unidentified vehicles in the streets were
announcing to the local residents that the second wave of floods was
coming. Allegedly, the dam at the reservoir Neverdjayevskaya broke
down and another multi-meter wave of water was approaching the city.
These “warnings” have generated a serious panic in the city, people
rushed to the roofs of the houses, traffic jams emerged on the exits
from Krymsk. Local authorities tried to calm the citizens down for
hours, let the police cars on the streets urging people not to give
in to provocations, explained that there was no second wave and the
reservoir was fine.
Provocateurs were not found. In a dilapidated, panic-ridden city,
the search and identification of criminals has become a real problem.
However, the mere appearance of such “warning vehicles” is remarkable.
It means only one thing – there is an organized group of provocateurs
in Krymsk seeking to undermine the situation, politicize the
disaster, and direct anger and frustration of people in the direction
advantageous for the manipulators.
It is hardly likely that anyone really plans to raise a wave of
protests in the small town in Kuban. Most likely, the spin doctors in
Krymsk are training, testing the actions in crisis situations. The
destroyed city was turned into testing grounds, which makes this
situation even worse.
Anton Ponomarev
Pravda.Ru