I Remember
In a Fast-Food World
We live in a very fast-paced world, where someone in Sub-Saharan Africa can send an e-mail to someone in Portland, Oregon, and receive a reply within minutes. We think waiting 5 minutes for our order at a fast-food restaurant is a long time. We can take pictures with tiny little cameras and have the photos print within minutes. Many, many things are faster than they used to be.
Unfortunately, not everything is or can be faster. For example, while air-travel is probably faster than before, it still cannot get us from Los Angeles to New York in 20 minutes.
Nor can we completely respond to hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, etc., in short time. Life doesn't work that way.
I daresay countries, for the most part, are much faster to respond than they were even 20 years ago.
Still, it is only possible to do so much, so quickly. Supplies cannot be "transported" to another region, as they could on Star Trek. Rescue equipment also has to be moved from one place to another, often over damaged or completely gone roads. Food, water, medicine, tents, etc., are not just sitting on trucks or in planes, waiting to be taken to a disaster areas. These things must be put together by human beings and then moved.
After the Tsunami in Southeast Asia last 26 December, people complained we were not fast enough to respond to a disaster in another country. They complained again after Hurricane Katrina. Now, people in India are complaining that their government wasn't fast enough to respond to the devastating earthquake which occurred only yesterday.
AP: India Quake Survivors Complain of Slow Aid
India is a huge country. It would be impossible for the goverment to move supplies, equipment, and people to the rescue as quickly as the people expect. It is physically impossible.
We have to have more realistic expectations about government responses to disasters. Governments are made up of (all too) human beings, not super beings. As of yet, there is no way to move supplies from one place to another instantly.
Is it not smarter for a government to do what it can, take time to assess the damage/need, and then move in?
If that does not happen, supplies get sent to the wrong places. Rescue equipment is taken to places where no one needs rescusing and those who do, end up dying for lack of help. Water and food supplies get stockpiled in this area because there is too much and this place over here lacks it or only receives it after a long wait.
Rescue trucks have to travel over damaged, blocked, and unsafe roadways. Rescue choppers and planes need places to land.
The only way to speed up response is to put the responsibility back on to individuals and local governments. People need to be responsible for themselves, their families, and their neighbors. Have emergency supplies at your home. Have an emergency plan. Local governments need to be better at coordinating and helping their citizens, not waiting for the federal government to do it.
We need to take back the responsibility.
Unfortunately, not everything is or can be faster. For example, while air-travel is probably faster than before, it still cannot get us from Los Angeles to New York in 20 minutes.
Nor can we completely respond to hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, etc., in short time. Life doesn't work that way.
I daresay countries, for the most part, are much faster to respond than they were even 20 years ago.
Still, it is only possible to do so much, so quickly. Supplies cannot be "transported" to another region, as they could on Star Trek. Rescue equipment also has to be moved from one place to another, often over damaged or completely gone roads. Food, water, medicine, tents, etc., are not just sitting on trucks or in planes, waiting to be taken to a disaster areas. These things must be put together by human beings and then moved.
After the Tsunami in Southeast Asia last 26 December, people complained we were not fast enough to respond to a disaster in another country. They complained again after Hurricane Katrina. Now, people in India are complaining that their government wasn't fast enough to respond to the devastating earthquake which occurred only yesterday.
AP: India Quake Survivors Complain of Slow Aid
India is a huge country. It would be impossible for the goverment to move supplies, equipment, and people to the rescue as quickly as the people expect. It is physically impossible.
We have to have more realistic expectations about government responses to disasters. Governments are made up of (all too) human beings, not super beings. As of yet, there is no way to move supplies from one place to another instantly.
Is it not smarter for a government to do what it can, take time to assess the damage/need, and then move in?
If that does not happen, supplies get sent to the wrong places. Rescue equipment is taken to places where no one needs rescusing and those who do, end up dying for lack of help. Water and food supplies get stockpiled in this area because there is too much and this place over here lacks it or only receives it after a long wait.
Rescue trucks have to travel over damaged, blocked, and unsafe roadways. Rescue choppers and planes need places to land.
The only way to speed up response is to put the responsibility back on to individuals and local governments. People need to be responsible for themselves, their families, and their neighbors. Have emergency supplies at your home. Have an emergency plan. Local governments need to be better at coordinating and helping their citizens, not waiting for the federal government to do it.
We need to take back the responsibility.
posted by Lady Jane | 10:11 AM
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