"The US may not really need baby food from Italy or divers from Belgium, but its call for European and international help shows that, after the divisions over Iraq, it has now realised that even superpowers need friends."
EU sends aid to Katrina victims"
It's good to know that the international community is willing to put aside state politics and lend humanitarian goodwill even if it is the arrogantly agressive U.S.A. now needing aid.
yes, today's wonderful technology enables us to have warning about potentially devastating storms such as hurricanes. but, there are many reasons why people stay and try to ride out the storms....
ReplyDeletei know from personal experience that it is not always possible to leave your home and run from a hurricane even if you have money, transportation and a place to go.
i lived on coastal Florida for twelve years and evacuated my home for a couple of the big ones. but, last year was the worse season and i stayed for all 4 major hurricanes which blew through my part of Florida during a 6 weeks time frame.... 2 of them only 2 weeks apart ripped up my house and neighborhood. why did i stay? because my old car broke down just as i was trying to evacuate. i had no choice but to stay and ride the storms out. and, by the 3rd hurricane, i had no money for the car repairs.... making provisions to protect my home from further storm damage took priority.
i understand completely that there are valid reasons why people don't evacuate.
but, there is little reason why the USA government isn't better prepared for dealing with homeland emergencies such as the one we see with Hurricane Katrina and the Gulf Coast devastation. it is a sad state of affairs, to say the least.
it is my hope that my country can and will quickly learn from this event... and be open and willing to learn from other countries whose expertise would be beneficial to us.
among other sources, i've been reading about the Dutch experience and perspective here and here.
btw, i agree that a bit of humility is in order.... regarding both Mother Nature and accepting help from others even if a so-called 'superpower'. pfffttt, maybe Mother Nature is the ultimate superpower, eh?