Haiti - A disaster in waiting?

**Genie** · 28th January 2010, 18:35

well shit....dont' just look there, there are so many fucked up countires in the world....I'm of the thinking, be grateful for where you are born and make the most of it. There's a saying, there by the Grace of God am I....well something like that.
Count your blessings and if you are in the postion to help others less fortunate than yourself, then do so.

**Dave Lobster** · 28th January 2010, 18:44

Originally Posted by 98tls

Over yonder theve only got a goat to rely on.

Goats, you say?

They sound like ideal candidates to be signed up to a religion

**98tls** · 28th January 2010, 18:48

Originally Posted by Dave Lobster

Goats, you say?

They sound like ideal candidates to be signed up to a religion

That aside they may well be better off shagging there goats instead of the Mrs.

**Hitcher** · 28th January 2010, 19:48

Just hope we never get a major disaster here or John Travolta will be turning up with a plane load of Scientologist "ministers". I hope the Haitians eat them.

**Mikkel** · 28th January 2010, 22:14

Originally Posted by Winston001

My point? Most of the worlds poor live in densely populated nations with little chance to advance their living conditions. One of the conundrums of wealth is that rich people have fewer children. One postulated answer to overpopulation is education and increased wealth for the Third World. Unfortunately IMHO, birth rates will continue to outstrip family attempts to join the middle class. It is happening in India and China but not in Africa, Pakistan etc.

Yes, it is indeed a problem. But part of the problem is that these countries haven't been allowed to develop spontaneously, instead there's a significant external political pressure for them to adhere to certain humanitarian guidelines. There's also a considerable influx of technology that the maturity of the society is not necessarily ready for. It is extremely complicated and I wouldn't have a first clue about what to do. I mean for starters, are aid programs a benefit or a hindrance to the 3rd world countries. Obviously there will be people that will benefit from it right now and here, but 50 years down the track, would them having to fend for themselves propel a more positive development?

Originally Posted by Winston001

For example, 20 years ago Ethiopia experienced a dreadful famine. The population was 40 million. Today Ethiopia has another famine but the population is 80 million. Why do we stand by and watch millions born into misery?

Because the humanitarian implications of preventing millions from being born into misery are pretty nasty.

**Winston001** · 28th January 2010, 23:37

Originally Posted by Mikkel

Because the humanitarian implications of preventing millions from being born into misery are pretty nasty.

Aye and there's the rub. It's perceived as more nasty to say - "Hey, you guys must lower your birth rate" than to say nothing and watch the next generation die of starvation. Of course the reality of such a policy has to be more than words and thats where it gets tricky. Free contraceptive pills for all women? Tax families with more than 1 child (the Chinese approach)? Chemicals in the water? How about bombarding a country with gamma rays?

Still if nations do not grasp the nettle then we are going to see more wars, famine, and pestilence. We are lucky - unless the Indonesians work out ways of getting refugee boats to here......

**Mikkel** · 29th January 2010, 07:58

Originally Posted by Winston001

Aye and there's the rub. It's perceived as more nasty to say - "Hey, you guys must lower your birth rate" than to say nothing and watch the next generation die of starvation. Of course the reality of such a policy has to be more than words and thats where it gets tricky. Free contraceptive pills for all women? Tax families with more than 1 child (the Chinese approach)? Chemicals in the water? How about bombarding a country with gamma rays?

...or, and excuse my cynicism, you could send aid monies that they could use to buy weapons for their civil wars and take out two birds with one stone: you'll be perceived as humanitarian all while you are funding the arms manufacturers. Or something in a similar vein. Won't prevent them from being born into misery, but it'll shorten the mean time spent in misery and thereby increasing the overall quality of life, or ... how does this work again?

**mashman** · 29th January 2010, 09:10

Originally Posted by Winston001

Everyone is a critic......

Civil disasters like earthquakes and tsunamis don't happen on a schedule. They are unexpected, sudden, and devastating. So the response with supplies of aid is equally uncertain. Food may arrive before soldiers, areas of greatest need have to be guessed at, roads are impassable, frankly I wouldn't expect any UN person to die trying to help.

However if the UN just wait until everything is perfect you and I are going to be asking what the delay was for? Can't win.

ha ha ha... sorry, wasn't necessarily disagreeing with what you said, moreover that you think these guys would be able to break out a disaster plan... something along the lines of...

Find out where people are grouping together, find out how many.
If possible cordon off an area to funnel the people through, ya know, thin them out a little (bad choice of words perhaps) so there isn't so much hussle and bussle.
Pass the food on as people walk through.

Now i fully understand that the logistics of shipping aid and support to another part of the world is a nightmare, but it doesn't help that when it gets there you turn around and fuck off because someone didn't bank on people being hungry, needy, whatever you like!!! I'll not touch the "can't win" with a barge pole!

We never send enough resources to places having just suffered disasters anyway... unfortunately that comes down to money... waiting for someone to sign on the dotted line... that's more often than not the killer, not having enough trained people also. And, if it's such an attrocity, why don't airlines offer their planes/pilots/crew, free for 2 days to ship as many aid workers/engineers etc... as possible to the area affected? Why aren't the armies of the world dropping food like it's going out of fashion, irrespective of who gets it? Why does financial assistance always have to be subject to handling fees etc... money! I have a dream!!!

**Swoop** · 29th January 2010, 10:20

Originally Posted by avgas

when is wellington falling into the ocean again?

Not falling into the ocean... the water will come to them. A decent earthquake will take out the dam, then the water flows down the nice valley. Luckily the beehive sits at the bottom of the valley!
Best of all is that in the basement of the beehive is the Civil Defence centre!!!
Mr Darwin is on a hat-trick with this one!

Originally Posted by Maha

Turns out, that the TV Crew had thrown a few coins into the Bin first then started filming.

That sounds like the sort of shit the NZ Herald would do...