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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: KLP who wrote (92915)	12/30/2004 5:55:12 AM
From: kumar	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793744

As of now, its 9:48 PM AEST. 4 hours back is bangkok. Yes we faced many problems. We could not overcome them all. we had generators fore a while, and then there was no fuel to run them.. with what we could squeeze out we tried saving lives - not always successful. One thing I can say : We have never been confronted with such a disaster.

To: KLP who wrote (92915)	12/30/2004 6:06:07 AM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793744

Some articles I'm seeing say that the aid isn't coming fast enough. I'm sure that if I were on the disaster sites, I'd think that too...but on the other hand, one has to look at the distances that have to be covered...the supplies it takes, and the time it takes to get them loaded, and the necessary numbers of people ready and loaded with their equipment to go....The disaster happened Sunday morning. This minute it is less than 96 hours later. Timeliness varies depending on the service provided. The immediate need was for antibiotics and drinking water. That's key to stemming further massive loss of life. If you haven't gotten your antibiotics to the people who need them in ninety six hours, you might as well put them back in storage, write off all those who are wounded, and concentrate your efforts on something else like home building materials, which are still useful after weeks and months, for those who are lucky enough to survive. Ninety six hours is too late for too many.

To: KLP who wrote (92915)	12/30/2004 6:12:17 AM
From: kumar	Respond to of 793744

<aid isn't coming fast enough. I'm sure that if I were on the disaster sites, I'd think that too...but on the other hand, one has to look at the distances that have to be covered...the supplies it takes, and the time it takes to get them loaded, and the necessary numbers of people ready and loaded with their equipment to go. > It takes only a wire transfer, typically within 24 hours, to deliver money into an account. Like I suggested in a previous post : DO NOT send commodities. the cost + delay of shipment is not worth it.

To: KLP who wrote (92915)	12/30/2004 6:27:22 AM
From: Sig	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793744

...Do you know if the countries that are affected have any kind of disaster preparedness equipment and food and water for their people stored? Or how were they going to handle the next disaster that befell the area?>>> We can think of many things that should have been, or could have been done in the region. 1 The easiest to provide is an emergency warning system. 2. Every village in the area should have had a supply source of clean drinking water for that purpose (drinking or cooking) only. The problem is not so much the physical implementation, but the politics. Both of these programs would properly be implemented or proposed by a functioning UN. Give every village a clean water system and people soon forget the main purpose, start misusing it or selling the water to corporations. And start counting on the government to provide instead of finding their own source. Give them an early warning system and it is used so seldom it is not maintained or people steal the batteries or equipment. So what is needed first is less corruption in the UN and in local governments so the money others provide for these expensive projects is not filtered off before or after the project is implemented. Is other words we first need more democracy, more education, more trustworthy governments. Without those, others will have to provide more expensive after-the-fact relief for the survivors as is now being done. I will save a few curses for the UN and the corruption they have displayed. Because you know that if the present UN were given the job of implementing the needed warning system they would give the job to the highest or crookedest bidder. Sig