"Natural" Disasters and Hereafter
As many of you have probably read, there has been a mudslide in the farming town of Guinsaugon in the Philippines burying an entire town of 1870+ people alive. 1000 US marines were diverted from a training exercise near by, but surivors were less than 50. Today a mass grave is being constructed for at least 50 unidentified bodies that they have dug up.
Now, I admire the machinary of human organizational structures in dealing with relief and disasters. It is very hard for anyone to ignore the impulse to help out in situations like that. However, I do wonder why we prioritize relief efforts to preventative measures. According to the villagers, the mudslides were caused by the effects of heavy torrential rains on the mountainside where illegal logging had left no protection for the town beneath. Now, it's just a guess, but if those marines were diverted a few days before to help secure the area or evacuate the town, would we still be digging graves? Or perhaps going back a few weeks, could the Arroyo government have realized the illegal logging would lead to problems and bring in specialists to help? Or maybe a few months back, they could have acted to twart the illegal logging activities in the first place.
Perhaps I may be reading too much into it, some residents were indeed evacuated but were let back into the village when the weather became sunny again; however, it's just a wonder how the impoverished sectors of a country are put in the most compromising positions. Has a landslide fallen on a rich area of the Philippines burying a few millionares alive? Natural disasters always seem to make you wonder if the hand of God has a class bias.
Read Hurricane Mitch: click here
This addresses the Politics of Hurricane Mitch. This was also refered to by Chomsky in an Amnesty Lecture Series.
Read the Philippines news report: click here
If only life was like in those old Captain Planet cartoons that received lots of play time in Singapore. I'm not sure about Canada, I wasn't young enough when I came here.
Now, I admire the machinary of human organizational structures in dealing with relief and disasters. It is very hard for anyone to ignore the impulse to help out in situations like that. However, I do wonder why we prioritize relief efforts to preventative measures. According to the villagers, the mudslides were caused by the effects of heavy torrential rains on the mountainside where illegal logging had left no protection for the town beneath. Now, it's just a guess, but if those marines were diverted a few days before to help secure the area or evacuate the town, would we still be digging graves? Or perhaps going back a few weeks, could the Arroyo government have realized the illegal logging would lead to problems and bring in specialists to help? Or maybe a few months back, they could have acted to twart the illegal logging activities in the first place.
Perhaps I may be reading too much into it, some residents were indeed evacuated but were let back into the village when the weather became sunny again; however, it's just a wonder how the impoverished sectors of a country are put in the most compromising positions. Has a landslide fallen on a rich area of the Philippines burying a few millionares alive? Natural disasters always seem to make you wonder if the hand of God has a class bias.
Read Hurricane Mitch: click here
This addresses the Politics of Hurricane Mitch. This was also refered to by Chomsky in an Amnesty Lecture Series.
Read the Philippines news report: click here
If only life was like in those old Captain Planet cartoons that received lots of play time in Singapore. I'm not sure about Canada, I wasn't young enough when I came here.
Canada had Captain Planet back in the day. I think they should start replaying it, perhaps such a silly cartoon might encourge people to reduce, reuse, and recycle.
Excellent point: "I do wonder why we prioritize relief efforts to preventative measures."
Did I tell you that I want to go Africa?
Posted by
jenny. |
12:09 PM
cool. what are you going there for?
Posted by
M |
11:53 AM