Lapse
06-05-2008, 13:41
I have just been reading up on this and wanted to make a few observations, and pose a question. For those of you who don't like looking for news yourself:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/07/world/asia/07myanmar.html?hp
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7384041.stm
Basically, cyclone has come through Burma (South East Asia) and has killed atleast 15000. Different sources give different numbers between 10000 and 25000. On top of this there is roughly double that of wounded. It is probably one of the largest scale natural disasters since the Asia tsunami, yet I am suprised how little coverage it gets. (Especially in Australia. The newspaper that is the most popular in Brisbane barely mentions it)
To put in in perspective:
2005 - Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans: 1386 dead. It was on the news nonstop for a week
The last cyclone that killed more than this was in 91 in Bangladesh (138,000 dead)
Remember that this death toll is only going to rise over the next few weeks as disease and hunger takes place. There will be hundreds of thousands homeless, and 5 of the states are declared disaster zones. That is 24 million people in the disaster zones.
Bits that annoy me:
"First Lady Laura Bush, who takes a special interest in Burma, urged Burma to accept $250,000 (£126,000) already allocated for emergency aid, and said more would be available if the team was allowed into the country." (BBC)
$250k!! that works out to be less than a dollar for every person that will be homeless! It would barely pay to get the aid workers over there!
So, now, My questions:
1. What do you think would be appropriate action by the international community, especially richer countries such as USA, UK, Australia and China?
2. If you were responsible for coordinating the aid effort, how would you go about it? How could you logistically transport food, medicine, water and shelter to 24 million people? How would you keep the peace and avoid a full scale civil war?
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/07/world/asia/07myanmar.html?hp
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7384041.stm
Basically, cyclone has come through Burma (South East Asia) and has killed atleast 15000. Different sources give different numbers between 10000 and 25000. On top of this there is roughly double that of wounded. It is probably one of the largest scale natural disasters since the Asia tsunami, yet I am suprised how little coverage it gets. (Especially in Australia. The newspaper that is the most popular in Brisbane barely mentions it)
To put in in perspective:
2005 - Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans: 1386 dead. It was on the news nonstop for a week
The last cyclone that killed more than this was in 91 in Bangladesh (138,000 dead)
Remember that this death toll is only going to rise over the next few weeks as disease and hunger takes place. There will be hundreds of thousands homeless, and 5 of the states are declared disaster zones. That is 24 million people in the disaster zones.
Bits that annoy me:
"First Lady Laura Bush, who takes a special interest in Burma, urged Burma to accept $250,000 (£126,000) already allocated for emergency aid, and said more would be available if the team was allowed into the country." (BBC)
$250k!! that works out to be less than a dollar for every person that will be homeless! It would barely pay to get the aid workers over there!
So, now, My questions:
1. What do you think would be appropriate action by the international community, especially richer countries such as USA, UK, Australia and China?
2. If you were responsible for coordinating the aid effort, how would you go about it? How could you logistically transport food, medicine, water and shelter to 24 million people? How would you keep the peace and avoid a full scale civil war?