12 September 2005

Water, fire and colour - the numbers speak for themselves!

And so it goes, the Hurricane Katrina saga.
I quote here below, from an article in last week's newspapers:

The situation "amounts to a massive institutional failure," said Raymond Offenheiser, president of the Oxfam America affiliate of the international relief agency. Oxfam mounted in Mississippi the first domestic US rescue in its 35-year history. "Before Katrina, we reserved our emergency response for countries that lack the resources of the United States. If we've got this kind of failure at home, how can we expect poor countries to do better?" he asked.

My thoughts, exactly. However, the unfairness of it all is that 'poorer' countries (of course, most of them having been povertised by imperialism and the very countries that are damning them today) are expected to perform just as well or else be damned.

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The whole thing has, in a way, been a depressing exercise for me. I was blogging about similar emotions in the aftermath of the Boxing Day tsunami and now, nearly a year later, I am still writing about the some misguided perspective that the West has to us. Sad, but true. Definitely a feeling of deja vu. These things will take time to set right.

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Blame it all on Bush seems to be the catch phrase. I kind of feel a bit sorry for him. I am not a Bush fan and will never be one, but I really don't see how he could have prevented Katrina from destroying New Oleans. Or was he supposed to bravely wade into the Pontchartain waters to save all those poor souls. The American response was more than slow, but I really can't see how one individual can be held responsible for it. Just because he is the President, he copped it! As the media has now become used to calling it an 'all-American failure'.

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And another thing that really got to me was the constant cries of "This is America, it can't be happening here, we can't not have food and water, etc". And pray why not? The sheer arrogance behind those cries really got to me. It's a different thing to be tired, hungry and miserable. But to believe that such things cannot happen in the US....the US is as much a part of this dirty, unfair, polluted planet called the Earth. And what is there in any other country on Earth, is a part of the US too. After all, they've played the single biggest part in polluting and dirtying the planet. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry at this absurdity in the face of misery...and just like anywhere else in the world, the racist and rich/poor divides were played out to perfection here too.

It defintely takes a disaster to see some true colours.

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And finally, some numbers that I was lucky enough to get sent to me. They say it all, more clearly than I ever could.
Inches of rain in New Orleans due to Hurricane
Katrina... 18
Inches of rain in Mumbai (July 27th).... 37.1
population of New Orleans... 484,674
population of Mumbai.... 12,622,500
deaths in New Orleans within 48 hours of
Katrina...100
deaths in Mumbai within 48 hours of rain.. 37.
number of people to be evacuated in NO...
entire city..
number of people evacuated in Mumbai...10,000
Cases of shooting & violence in NO...countless
Cases of shooting and violence in Mumbai.. NONE
Time taken for US army to reach NO...
48hours
Time taken for Indian army and navy to reach
Mumbai...12hours
status 48 hours later...NO still
waiting for relief, army and electricty
status 48 hours later..Mumbai is back on it's feet and it's business as usual

5 comments:

Shammi said...

Oh, Bush is to blame. Not for the hurricane itself but for the devastation which would likely have been a lot less if his govt had given New Orleans the money (I think it was $700m) to shore up the the levees, if it had reacted quicker with help, if the 7000 Louisiana Home Guards (or whatever they're called) had been around to help instead of being in Iraq (on which $1bn is being spent every year, I read somewhere)... oh yeah, Bush is definitely to blame.

Problem is, he doesnt have a Saddam Hussein now (or jingoistic rhetoric to turn to) so as to take attention away from his negative image.

Castor aka Kiwilax said...

Shyam,

Yes, I know what you mean abt the money to shore up the levees. But then, there's always a question of prioritising. Like here, we are cutting down on defence. Once we have foreign aggression on this land, then everyone will point fingers at whoever is PM then. As for Iraq, well, as you and me know, the US runs on petrol. If he hadn't garnered enough petrol, somewhere along the line, a few years away, he would have been reviled for that.
Either way, I don't think anyone quite foresaw Katrina. But whether Iraq or US or India, its the poorest and innocent who suffer and die.

Speech is Golden said...

Came across your blog thro' Sudhish Kamath's. I am trying to create a list of all Indian bloggers in Aus/NZ region. Of course blog meetings may not be immediately possible.

Regd Katrina, I sent out the NewOrleans vs Mumbi comparison to a friend of mine in the US and this is his response:

Of crse there are other factors....The most glaring and egregious omission is the fact that the destruction in New Orleans was not from the rain per se.... The destruction was because of a breach in the levees and water in Huge quantities from dams rushing into the city and actually reaching upto over 12 feet in some areas. The unique geography of the city also added to its discomfort....This comparison is just as meaningless as is insensitive. Theres really no point in boosting ones ego at the aftermath of a major disaster irrespective of whether the disaster happens in our own backyard or in the worlds most developed nation...

Point 1: Comparison meaningless because the nature and the amount of water that engulfed New Orleans was significantly larger than that in mumbai and consequently more deaths...Nothing surprising.....In either cases the respective governments were lackadaisical and contributed to
more deaths...Nothing surprising here too

Point2: Insensitive for obvious reasons... theres a time place and
manner for ego boosting and I believe this certainly is not one of them.

Castor aka Kiwilax said...

Hey Speech is golden,
Welcome to my blog and its especially pleasing to see a fellow-Chennaite/Gemini.
As for your friend's reaction, it's a little over the top and he was only reacting to the figures. I do agree with him that it was not exactly the same situation in India. But I also think I've put the figures in better perspective by making them only a part of my post. Nobody, least of all me, is happy about Katrina (as you can tell from my post). The point I've been trying to make is that there is no use pulling India down when a developed country like the US encounters such problems in high-pressure situations. And hey, where's the India pride anyways?
Hope to see more of you on my blog.

Speech is Golden said...

So u r a Gemini from Chennai!!! Hmmmm...

I understand tht at some level all countries, developed, developing or undeveloped r the same, as all humans are.

I am all for Indian pride and so totally against the arrogance of the 'developed' nations, especially so w.r.t the US.

The policies of the Bush administration has not helped solve problems but wat i am more concerned abt is the 'apparent' racial discrimination during relief efforts. That is unacceptable. No govt can n should get away with it (if true).

Looking fwd to blog-ties.

Ram