Disaster fatigue -- it's only going to get worse
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Disaster fatigue -- it's only going to get worse
Wasn't that great this afternoon -- seeing President Obama bound into the White House press room with the band back together again, with Bubba on his left and W. on his right, promising the world that the United States is going the full-Haiti with a massive relief effort for flood-ravaged Pakistan, or Pak-ee-stan, as POTUS called it. This is purely a case where good humanity equals good politics. Speeding up aid to the region will not only save thousands of vulnerable flood victims, but a side effect will be a rare chance to gain good will for America and American ideals in southern Pakistan, a key region that hasn't completely turned against the West as so many of their neighbors in the militant north have done.
Oh wait, I just realized something...
That never happened.
In fact, Obama is busy jetting around the country vacuuming up campaign cash for his fellow Dems, far from humanitarian mode. But then no one is pressuring the White House or other political leaders to do anything. On the main news aggregators of the left and the right -- the Huffington Post and the Drudge Report -- the story has completely dropped off the page this afternoon.
So things must be getting better, right? Not exactly:
KARACHI, Pakistan — Even as the government and international relief workers struggle to get food and clean water to millions of Pakistanis devastated by floods, concerns are growing about the enduring toll of the disaster on the nation’s overall economy, food supply and political stability.
More rains battered the country Monday, adding to the worst flooding in memory and confronting Pakistan with a complex array of challenges, government and relief officials warned. Though they ranged over the immediate, medium and long term, nearly all needed to be addressed urgently for Pakistan to avoid lasting calamity.
Providing clean water for millions and avoiding the spread of diseases like cholera was the first priority. But there were also looming food shortages and price spikes, even in cities, and the danger that farmers would miss the fall planting season, raising the prospect of a new cycle of shortfalls next year in a country that produces much of its own food.
“There was a first wave of deaths caused by the floods themselves,” Maurizio Giuliano, a United Nations spokesman, said. “But if we don’t act soon enough there will be a second wave of deaths caused by a combination of lack of clean water, food shortages and water-borne and vector-borne diseases. The picture is a gruesome one.”
But we're not acting. I think America and the world are suffering from disaster fatigue -- and it's only going to get worse. Natural disasters are always a part of life here in Earth, but you don't need a weatherman to see that the pace of catastrophes is getting worse, that in particular droughts and floods are on the rise, and in exactly the ways that many scientists predicted under a global warming scenario.
Moscow and the key regions of Russia that surround it are on fire, and the geopolitical impact of the drought there on grain production and prices are beginning to effect us all. Meanwhile, record flooding in Iowa barely causes a flip. The record hot summer of 2010 -- among other things -- sends more moisture in the air, and when it comes down the potential for floods is catastrophic. But in Pakistan, scene to some of the worst flooding in our lifetimes, civilization already seems too exhausted to fight back, wondering how soon the next shoe will drop somewhere on this fragile planet.
Just because Obama, and other U.S. and world leaders and the media aren't doing much doesn't mean that you can't. There are some good lists of how you can help Pakistan:
The following charities are assisting with relief efforts in Pakistan. Click the links below to contribute to their efforts.
Make a donation by credit card at the website of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, or text SWAT to 50555 to donate $10.
Contact UNICEF.
Make a donation to CARE.
International Committee of the Red Cross.
"We have a huge task in front of us," said the UN's Holmes. "The death toll has so far been relatively low compared to other major natural disasters, but the numbers affected are extraordinarily high. If we don't act fast enough, many more people could die of disease and food shortages."
There's been a lot of talk about "charity" this year (it's just after 5 -- turn on Fox News and you'll see what I mean) but this is another chance for everyday Americans to walk the walk, as we have done many times before. Yes, there may be another disaster tomorrow -- but Pakistan needs help today.
///If the former is the case (again, "if"), it isn't illogical to think the same thing would happen at the site in NYC given all of the attention it has been getting./// The Captain has a good point here.- ///ot all Muslims are hihadists./// Muslims are hiha-dists. And Southerners are Yee-Ha-dists. I crack myself up sometimes.
TPS, again, nowhere did I say all Muslims are jihadists. If the German mosque was so radical, why did it take nine years for the German government to shut it down? Did it become a "center of attraction" because of the role it played in the attacks, or has it historically been a recruiting center for radical Muslims and the government finally got around to doing something about it?— Captain Awesome- ===}}} If the German mosque was so radical, why did it take nine years for the German government to shut it down? {{{=== No idea, Capt'n. But what are the chances that is was a mosque attended by the hijackers, turned into a mosque attended by moderate Muslims, and then turned into a center of jihadist activity? Pretty low. Much more likely is that it was a mosque attended by radicals all along. And even if that weren't true - why on good earth would you assume that a community center founded by moderate Muslims to promote interfaith dialogue, that will be under the kind of scrutiny that this community center will be under, would become a center for jihadists? Any muslim community center in America "could" become a center for jihadist activity, but the vast, vast, vast majority of them won't be. Just as the vast, vast, vast majority of Christian churches won't become a center for abortion clinic bombers.— Talking point sleuth
- The majority of the disasters afflicting people outside these United States are causing dislocation and death primarily because civil governments in those foreign countries have maliciously violated individual rights in the economic sphere, just as disasters in our nation have been made worse by federal, state, or local government goons screwing up reasoned and appropriate responses to similar emergencies. ### In Pakistan, for example, we are now seeing the results of a corrupt (but thoroughly Islamic) and therefore ineffectual excuse for a civil government having imposed upon the populace of the Indus River valley decades' worth of damned stupid policies which have made local and regional flood control and prevention planning impossible. Just as the city government of New Orleans screwed the pooch in Hurricane Katrina (note that coastal Mississippi was MUCH harder hit by that storm, and yet recovered with lightning speed compared against Nagin's "Chocolate City"). ### In all cases, look to government interference as THE exacerbating factor. Mother Nature has neither volition nor intention nor accountability. ### The politicians and other thieving thugs of government do. -30-— Tucci78
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