Ike,
You and Zach composed an impressive resume for Pakistan. I will be interested if you can get any response from the authors of the FP 'Failed' states story.
As you and Zach showed, even though the earthquake was terrible, the response to the quake has revealed a quite capable, coordinated response by Pakistan.
The silver lining of this terrible earthquake is seen in three areas...
- raises international awareness of the capability of your country to mount such a well organized, persistent response (as opposed to the photo opp / propaganda response that sometimes used to be seen behind the old 'iron curtain' countries).
- unification of citizens in response to this disaster. Your article showed that donations have poured in from all areas of the country and from all types of citizens. Faced with the life or death predicament of their fellow countrymen, being a Pakistani took precedence over religious, tribal, economic or geographic affiliation. And to a lot of the surviving victims, I would hope they are realizing that there is true value to being a Pakistan citizen.
- opportunity to greatly improve the infrastructure of the affected areas. I have seen some newsclips showing centuries old footpaths being replaced by modern, graded highways. Quite often, a few hundred kilometers of a simple looking, graded road will ultimately bring more 'health and wealth' to more people than another modern gleaming skyscraper built in the city.
I know you have been covered with the dust of some of these roads and trails for the past few months. Wear it proudly, all of human civilization has been, quite literally, built by engineers.
JD |
