Forewarned, forearmed; we were always cautioned by our parents and guardians. Elsewhere, we're constantly advised by health workers that prevention is better than cure. It's the reason we take children for vaccination against polio or measles.

It’s also why we’re reminded again and again to wash our hands before we eat and for those who are sexually active, to always use protection. The point is that should you find yourself in an emergency, you will be prepared. If nothing happens, then good but if it does, you will be ready because as we all know, you are more likely to endure or overcome a challenge if you were informed about it in advance.

I’m therefore surprised that some New Yorkers are angry that the snow storm they were warned about didn’t happen. So meteorologists got it wrong and caused undue panic, anxiety and even financial loss as flights were cancelled, shops closed and millions of workers told to stay home, but isn’t taking every precaution, albeit overboard, a lot better than being caught off guard?

I do follow weather forecasts myself and while they’re not always as accurate as we would like them to be, we have to admit that they are helpful. Unfortunately, many of us only access newspapers after we leave our homes but radio and television stations often broadcast weather reports, as do many websites for those with mobile devices.

Therefore if I read or heard that it would be a cloudy or rainy day, I would make sure I carried a sweater and umbrella before heading out.

This may be troubling for men who don’t carry handbags, but all the inconvenience will be worthwhile once it starts raining and you pull out your umbrella as opposed to getting wet or being stuck somewhere waiting for the rain to stop.

Those New Yorkers who are mad because they missed a day at work should read about thousands of Malawians, Mozambicans and Zimbabweans whose lives have been disrupted by the ongoing floods. Aside from the lives lost, many others are still reeling from the loss of everything they owned. They have no homes, no food and for the farmers in the affected areas, no produce as whatever they had planted or were about to harvest was likely washed away by flood waters.

They could have done with an inaccurate forecast, one that warned them that the floods would be more severe than they have ever experienced and perhaps that would have prompted a more urgent response from their respective governments and people would have been moved to safety much earlier.

Emergency supplies like clean water, food and first aid kits would also have been prepared in advance. Our friends in the US who were warned that it was about to snow as never before have every right to demand more accuracy from their meteorologists. But they should also remember that while all they had to do was stay home for a day or two, stock up on a few supplies and probably live without WiFi for a couple of hours, there are thousands who die each year because nobody warned them about extreme weather.