A snippet from an article I just read. Why isn't this front page news? Anyone on the board from this region?

19 million driven from homes
Indian officials say more than 1,200 people have died in their country alone since monsoon season began in June. Scores of others have been killed in Bangladesh and neighboring Nepal, where floods have hit low-lying southern parts of the country.

Some 19 million people have been driven from their homes in India and Bangladesh in recent days. At least 2 million people have found themselves marooned and unable to reach safe ground, though relief supplies have been airlifted to many.

Relief supplies have been air-dropped over the worst-hit areas of India’s Bihar state, but some stricken residents have ended up fighting with each other in their desperate attempts to grab food parcels, officials said.

Flood victims living in makeshift camps said the state administration should provide them money or rebuild their devastated homes.

What a logistical nightmare. Dealing with 19 million people away from homes (and jobs and farms and any ability to support themselves) is mind boggling. Thats almost 2% of the population of India. We thought Katrina was bad, but even the poorest of our people is in a better position to prepare then the majority of those 19 million whether they choose to do so or not.

[Sighs] Is that the only quote they could get? There had to be at least one person who said, "Wow, that was bad. I'm going to have to figure out a way to safeguard my family from that sort of experience in the future."

It seems to me a natural disaster like that is no one's fault, no one's responsibility (choice of locale, if you had one, aside). But...the media here seems to be pushing a total abdication of personal responsibility for what needs to happen AFTER the disaster.

Government and international disaster aid and long-term relief is necessary, clearly. But I have trouble with a mindset that says any people in this world in such a terrible situation should be encouraged to just shrug their shoulders and say, well, I guess we're gonna have to sit here and die of thirst and disease until "they" fix it for us.

Or am I being completely irrational and insensitive?


Frank2135

If we were talking about a first-world country, I would have a similar first reaction. If people have the power to help themselves, they have a responsibility to do so.

But we're talking about the poorest of the poor here. Subsistence farmers, who live in what we would consider a survival situation all their lives, with practically no opportunity to change their lot.

These families make less in a year than I spend on take-out coffee. There's no money in the bank, no access to credit or insurance, and noplace else to go.

When floods come fast, and wash away their crops, homes, livestock, and meager possessions, they are completely and utterly wiped out. Their helpless desperation is understandable.

Thank your lucky stars that you aren't in the same boat.

One major problem is that the area is so susceptible to flooding. This isn't the first, and it won't be the last. Any money used to rebuild their homes will disappear in the next flood.

Lots of people and they're all poor. I can't even imagine what the answer might be.

Sue