Simon سايمون ([info]srk1) wrote,
@ 2005-09-04 14:30:00
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EU does its bit for third world
Apparently the US has asked the EU for emergency assistance in New Orleans, including first aid kits. Or something. This was on Sky News, so it might be rubbish.

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[info]clytemenstra
2005-09-04 01:10 pm UTC (link)
Possibly not. There was a report this week that assistance had been asked from the Canadians, so them requesting it from the EU isn't too unbelievable.

What is unbelievable is the incompetence and ineptitude that has characterised the government response to this crisis.

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[info]malvino
2005-09-04 04:19 pm UTC (link)
Fidel Castro offered the medicines needed and 1000 doctors, support staff and emergency field hospitals to make them useful, and says he can deliver rapidly, much better than donating cash which isn't really needed. I've not been keeping completely on top of things this last week, but I don't believe he's gotten a reply from the US yet and when they named a list of countries that had offered aid they missed it from the list (which will probably turn out to have been an oversight ot something).

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[info]zagreb2
2005-09-04 05:15 pm UTC (link)
Castro also offered the use of Cuban airstrips after 9/11. I think that was widely acknowledged (although not required, of course).

It must be extremely serious if the US is requesting aid from the EU. Generally, in these circumstances friendly nations offer aid but the affected nation (unless it's poor) will diplomatically say "thankyou, but we have what we need". This is pretty much unprecedented, afaik, especially for the USA.

Did anyone see that Louisiana senator flying over the flooded city and talking about the sort of gruesome finds the police might make on BBC News 24? I thought it was incredibly bad taste, almost like providing detail for rubberneckers.

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[info]srk1
2005-09-04 05:35 pm UTC (link)
It must be extremely serious if the US is requesting aid from the EU. Generally, in these circumstances friendly nations offer aid but the affected nation (unless it's poor) will diplomatically say "thankyou, but we have what we need". This is pretty much unprecedented, afaik, especially for the USA.

My guess is that they could technically do it themselves but that if materials and manpower are readily available from abroad, they might as well take them up.

When did the west last suffer a natural disaster of this magnitude? I can't think of one.

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[info]srk1
2005-09-04 05:42 pm UTC (link)
When did the west last suffer a natural disaster of this magnitude?

Actually, this question might be problematic in that some of the adverse consequences of this disaster are clearly man-made (or man-permitted). So interpret it a bit more openly.

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[info]zagreb2
2005-09-04 05:58 pm UTC (link)
There was an earthquake in Sakhalin in Eastern Russia several years ago and the Yeltsin government responded to the offers of help by pointing out that Russia could and would deal with the problem itself.

Not the West, but not a poor country and certainly the sort of way I'd expect a much richer nation than Russia to respond.

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[info]daweaver
2005-09-05 05:32 pm UTC (link)
Natural disaster of this magnitude... What is "this magnitude"?

In terms of area flooded, the best estimate I can find is that somewhere between 400 and 500 square miles has been flooded. It's difficult to find an estimate of the area flooded in Romania and the Alps this summer, but 555km of roads in one part of Romania suggests the total area flooded must have been larger than New Orleans. The death toll, according to the Wikipedia article, was 42.

Even worse were the floods in summer 2002, causing damage worth €22.6 milliard (then USD 22.8 billion) in Germany alone.

In terms of loss of life, I'm thinking of the North Sea flood of January 1953, devastating Zeeland and the east coast of England, with almost ten times the size of New Orleans under water, and about 2,500 killed.

And that's just floods. There are forest fires (Portugal in 2003, Australia in 1983) that spread across large swathes of the country. Or earthquakes - the Izmir quake of '99, or the Alaska quake of '64.

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[info]frumiousb
2005-09-05 05:43 am UTC (link)
It is also being reported on the news in Holland.

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