A Saturation of Disasters
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The disasters may be so overwhelming that the mind reels against the scope of the tragedies. One seems to follow another so closely. There is a cyclone. There is an earthquake. And the numbers are staggering.
In Myanmar (Burma), the cyclone struck on May 2 - 3. Valid, accurate reports of the number of people that this impacted are difficult to obtain. The military rulers are not forthcoming with open disclosure of what has happened. There estimates reported by Associated Press are:
- approximately 78,000 people killed
- approximately 56,000 people missing
- approximately 2.4 million people homeless
- number of injuries unknown
It is difficult to comprehend such numbers. That was the natural disaster. What is following is a man-made disaster:
“YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Myanmar’s military government is forcing cyclone victims out of shelters and refugee camps and sending some back to their devastated villages with virtually no aid supplies, United Nations and church officials said Friday.
Eight camps set up by the government for homeless victims in the Irrawaddy delta town of Bogalay are “totally empty,” UNICEF official Teh Tai Ring told a meeting of aid groups.”
link: UN: Myanmar forcing storm victims from camps
This is not the lead story of this news cycle. The Myanmar disaster only has cursory mention now. Instead, there is election coverage, Britney Spears news, the daily gasoline price report and so forth. Thousands of people are without the basics of food and shelter. It is criminal and the international community is slow to respond. These poor people do not have the luxury of time.
Catherine Forsythe
Director of Operations
FlyingHamster: http://flyinghamster.com/
2 Comments
Rick
May 30th, 2008
at 8:48pm
Read Matthew chapter 24 in the Bible.
Also Israel is surrounded by enemies…….
The party is nearly over for the world.
Save the religious nut comments. I’ve been on both sides of the fence.
Sean
May 31st, 2008
at 8:25am
So, what do you do in the case of disasters where the secondary disaster is created by the government of that nation.
North Korea, widespread starvation after winter flooding, any food aid sent in is intercepted for use by the North Korean Military.
Myanmar, widespread death due to lack of medical aid and starvation due to destruction of food supplies by flooding, aid not allowed into the contry by the Myanmar Government, and if it is allowed in, it is intercepted for use by the military.
Read about Albania under Hoxha to enter into the mindset of these kind of regimes. China is emerging from the same kind of thing if you acquainted yourself with the loopy history of the Great Leap Behind where peasants were melting down all available iron to produce useless slag, etc. What do you do about a Pol Pot?
You are not going to cure any of the problems in these countries by sending aid. If you do the rational thing, invade and eliminate the government that’s causing the problem so you can render aid to the deserving populace, you face international censure for disrespecting another country’s supposed right to sovereignty. From mostly other countries that treat their people in the same manner, countries who probably control your oil supplies.
Sadly, in the great scheme of things, these people’s lives are writeoffs, like so many of the areas that suffer from human conflict and natural disaster.
As was learned in Kobe, Japan, even in the most industrialized countries, you cannot react quick enough. You just have to suck it up, organize to the best of your abilities and accept the losses that do happen.
Disasters happen, it’s always been there, always will be. That’s why negative, self-fullfilling prophecies always feature disaster. It’s an easy target that you cannot miss. And in human psychology, remembering hits is always favored over remembering losses.