'The Vortex' details a cyclone that divided Pakistan and almost led to a nuclear war

'The Vortex' details a cyclone¹ that divided Pakistan and almost led to a nuclear war

　　Transcript²

　　NPR's Steve Inskeep speaks to author Scott Carney about the new book he coauthored called: The Vortex, which is about a 1970 storm that sparked a revolution.

　　STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

　　What's the changing climate mean for the stability of the countries of the world?

　　SCOTT CARNEY: Storms and climactic events don't just land on coastlines. They also land in the center of political systems, with all of the chaos³ that that entails⁴.

　　INSKEEP: The writer Scott Carney was curious about what those extreme events will mean.

　　CARNEY: Massive storms are going to become more and more frequent in the future. And every one of those storms is a roll of the dice⁵. And as you get more and more storms, you're rolling those dice more and more frequently, and that can spiral out of control in completely unpredictable ways.

　　INSKEEP: To understand what a storm can do to an unstable⁶ political situation, Carney and a co-author reached into the past. For a book called "The Vortex," they interviewed survivors⁷ of a calamity⁸ in 1970. A cyclone, a hurricane, came ashore⁹ out of the Bay of Bengal, and a British TV crew filmed the wreckage¹⁰ afterward¹¹.

　　(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

　　UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #1: This placid¹² scene is in the heart of an area where nearly a quarter of a million people have just been swept into the sea and drowned.

　　INSKEEP: The calm after the storm did not last long.

　　CARNEY: And that caused a domino effect of cascading¹³ catastrophes¹⁴ that ended up not only flipping¹⁵ a democratic election in the country of Pakistan, but also leading to a genocide, a war and all the way up to a nuclear brinksmanship between the American and Soviet¹⁶ navies, where we were probably about an hour away from launching nuclear weapons around the world.

　　INSKEEP: By the time it was over, Pakistan became two countries, Pakistan and Bangladesh. For Carney, it's a case history of how weather events intensify¹⁷ human conflict.

　　Well, let's start with the storm in this case. How big was it?

　　CARNEY: It was about the size of Texas, brewed¹⁸ up in the Bay of Bengal on sort of the warm ocean currents. And when it hit the coast in the low-lying areas of what is now Bangladesh, what was East Pakistan, it created a 20-foot storm surge. The only survivors were the people who could climb up to the tops of palm trees and hang on for their lives.

　　INSKEEP: The first floor fills up with water. They go to the second floor. The second floor fills up with water - just unbelievably harrowing tales.

　　CARNEY: Yeah. The man who survived in that instance - he's an 18-year-old fisherman named Mohammad Hai. And he's reading the Quran at night, praying for salvation¹⁹, with his whole family around him - you know, 20 family members. And he climbs from floor to floor to the top of his house, climbs onto the roof, you know, is trying to, you know, bring his grandmother out and his mother out and his little brother out. And the only thing he can manage to do is jump to a palm tree and save his life, but no one follows him. And the next morning, he buries 100 people in his front yard.

　　INSKEEP: That disaster struck a tense country. There was East Pakistan and West Pakistan, two territories in South Asia that did not actually touch.

　　CARNEY: East Pakistan - Bangladesh - was ruled almost like a colonial fiefdom by West Pakistan. They was - there was a lot of racism²⁰ directed towards Bengalis, who live in Bangladesh.

　　INSKEEP: A West Pakistani general ruled the country but was promising²¹ a free election, which was scheduled just two weeks after the storm. The ruling general dropped by East Pakistan to look around after the storm, flying over the devastation²² in an airplane, but then went home.

　　CARNEY: And he did almost nothing for the Bengalis at the time. In fact, one of his generals reported to us that that storm solved a half a million of our problems, meaning that they were glad that a half a million people died because they wouldn't have to worry about those votes going against them in the election. Unfortunately, it didn't really work out. As you can imagine, when you use a disaster as a political tool, you get people very, very angry. And the end result was that Pakistan's election flipped²³ so hard towards the Bengalis that it was sort of like in America, if you had the Democrats²⁴ win 70% of the popular vote. It was enough for East Pakistan to retain all of the political power in all of Pakistan.

　　INSKEEP: What you're describing is this colonial possession somehow winning the election, and it's almost like the colony was supposed to be in charge of the colonizer²⁵.

　　CARNEY: Yeah, and that did not go well for the people who were sitting in power at that time.

　　INSKEEP: The West Pakistan ruler did not give up power, instead sending in the army to repress the people who had voted against his side.

　　(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)

　　UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #2: Late last March, Pakistani President Yahya Khan ordered his army into East Pakistan.

　　INSKEEP: This is NPR's All Things Considered from 1971.

　　(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)

　　UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #2: The terror, bloodshed, mass starvation and cholera²⁶ epidemic²⁷ still rage in East Pakistan.

　　CARNEY: He funneled²⁸ troops from West Pakistan to East Pakistan in aircraft and ships, landed them in Dhaka and planned a genocide. He was quoted as saying, "all we need to do is kill 3 million of them, and the rest will eat out of our hand." And that's what he did. He started doing this horrific genocide. On the day that the transition of power was supposed to happen, he shut down the country, replaced the governor, and they basically leveled Dhaka, you know, throwing artillery²⁹ into the university, killing³⁰ the intellectual class, killing the students, killing the political leaders. And over the course of the next year, they killed 3 million people in East Pakistan.

　　INSKEEP: Estimates vary for the number of people killed, but even the low ones run into the hundreds of thousands. Soon, this civil conflict became a regional war as neighboring India sent in its own army and air force. A BBC correspondent watched them fly in.

　　(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

　　UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #3: December the 4, Indian jets attacked Dhaka Airport for the first time.

　　INSKEEP: The United States supported Pakistan. The country then known as the Soviet Union supported India. And each superpower sent its navy to the region.

　　CARNEY: And so there's actually this sort of almost, like, Wild West standoff between a Soviet subgroup and the American carrier group. And it's so tense it could go any way.

　　INSKEEP: Nuclear destruction seemed very possible until the West Pakistan forces surrendered. Bangladesh became an independent country, and the map of the world changed. Scott Carney says the cyclone, that extreme weather event, was a factor in world history.

　　But you said that you dug into it because you were thinking about the future. What did this story tell you about the future?

　　CARNEY: If a storm can trigger off dominoes in an unstable political situation and lead all the way to genocide, revolution and nuclear war, we are going to be facing similar problems in the future. We need to be very, very wary³¹ of our unstable political systems and us doing unpredictable things because of climactic events that are definitely going to happen.

　　INSKEEP: Scott Carney is the co-author with Jason Miklian of "The Vortex: A True Story Of History's Deadliest Storm, An Unspeakable War And Liberation."

　　(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

1 cyclone   

n.旋风，龙卷风

参考例句：

• An exceptionally violent cyclone hit the town last night.昨晚异常猛烈的旋风吹袭了那个小镇。
• The cyclone brought misery to thousands of people.旋风给成千上万的人带来苦难。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

4 entails   

使…成为必要( entail的第三人称单数 )； 需要； 限定继承； 使必需

参考例句：

• The job entails a lot of hard work. 这工作需要十分艰苦的努力。
• This job entails a lot of hard work. 这项工作需要十分努力。

5 dice   

n.骰子；vt.把（食物）切成小方块，冒险

参考例句：

• They were playing dice.他们在玩掷骰子游戏。
• A dice is a cube.骰子是立方体。

6 unstable   

adj.不稳定的，易变的

参考例句：

• This bookcase is too unstable to hold so many books.这书橱很不结实，装不了这么多书。
• The patient's condition was unstable.那患者的病情不稳定。

7 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

8 calamity   

n.灾害，祸患，不幸事件

参考例句：

• Even a greater natural calamity cannot daunt us. 再大的自然灾害也压不垮我们。
• The attack on Pearl Harbor was a crushing calamity.偷袭珍珠港(对美军来说)是一场毁灭性的灾难。

9 ashore   

adv.在(向)岸上，上岸

参考例句：

• The children got ashore before the tide came in.涨潮前，孩子们就上岸了。
• He laid hold of the rope and pulled the boat ashore.他抓住绳子拉船靠岸。

10 wreckage   

n.（失事飞机等的）残骸，破坏，毁坏

参考例句：

• They hauled him clear of the wreckage.他们把他从形骸中拖出来。
• New states were born out of the wreckage of old colonial empires.新生国家从老殖民帝国的废墟中诞生。

11 afterward   

adv.后来；以后

参考例句：

• Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏，然后吃饭。
• Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来，这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。

12 placid   

adj.安静的，平和的

参考例句：

• He had been leading a placid life for the past eight years.八年来他一直过着平静的生活。
• You should be in a placid mood and have a heart-to- heart talk with her.你应该心平气和的好好和她谈谈心。

13 cascading   

流注( cascade的现在分词 )； 大量落下； 大量垂悬； 梯流

参考例句：

• First of all, cascading menus are to be avoided at all costs. 首先，无论如何都要避免使用级联菜单。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Her sounds began cascading gently. 他的声音开始缓缓地低落下来。

14 catastrophes   

n.灾祸( catastrophe的名词复数 )；灾难；不幸事件；困难

参考例句：

• Two of history's worst natural catastrophes occurred in 1970. 1970年发生了历史上最严重两次自然灾害。 来自辞典例句
• The Swiss deposits contain evidence of such catastrophes. 瑞士的遗址里还有这种灾难的证据。 来自辞典例句

15 flipping   

讨厌之极的

参考例句：

• I hate this flipping hotel! 我讨厌这个该死的旅馆！
• Don't go flipping your lid. 别发火。

16 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

17 intensify   

vt.加强；变强；加剧

参考例句：

• We must intensify our educational work among our own troops.我们必须加强自己部队的教育工作。
• They were ordered to intensify their patrols to protect our air space.他们奉命加强巡逻，保卫我国的领空。

18 brewed   

调制( brew的过去式和过去分词 )； 酝酿； 沏（茶）； 煮（咖啡）

参考例句：

• The beer is brewed in the Czech Republic. 这种啤酒是在捷克共和国酿造的。
• The boy brewed a cup of coffee for his mother. 这男孩给他妈妈冲了一杯咖啡。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 salvation   

n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困

参考例句：

• Salvation lay in political reform.解救办法在于政治改革。
• Christians hope and pray for salvation.基督教徒希望并祈祷灵魂得救。

20 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。

21 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

22 devastation   

n.毁坏；荒废；极度震惊或悲伤

参考例句：

• The bomb caused widespread devastation. 炸弹造成大面积破坏。
• There was devastation on every side. 到处都是破坏的创伤。 来自《简明英汉词典》

23 flipped   

轻弹( flip的过去式和过去分词 )； 按（开关）； 快速翻转； 急挥

参考例句：

• The plane flipped and crashed. 飞机猛地翻转，撞毁了。
• The carter flipped at the horse with his whip. 赶大车的人扬鞭朝着马轻轻地抽打。

24 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

25 colonizer   

殖民者，殖民地开拓者，移民

参考例句：

• In the first few year, the colonizer find life difficult. 头几年里，殖民地开拓者觉得生活艰难。

26 cholera   

n.霍乱

参考例句：

• The cholera outbreak has been contained.霍乱的发生已被控制住了。
• Cholera spread like wildfire through the camps.霍乱在营地里迅速传播。

27 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

28 funneled   

漏斗状的

参考例句：

• The crowd funneled through the hall. 群众从走廊中鱼贯而过。
• The large crowd funneled out of the gates after the football match. 足球赛后大群人从各个门中涌出。

29 artillery   

n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队)

参考例句：

• This is a heavy artillery piece.这是一门重炮。
• The artillery has more firepower than the infantry.炮兵火力比步兵大。

30 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

31 wary   

adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的

参考例句：

• He is wary of telling secrets to others.他谨防向他人泄露秘密。
• Paula frowned,suddenly wary.宝拉皱了皱眉头，突然警惕起来。