Slate has a breakdown of why such horrible disasters in the Philippines are made worse by human issues. Despite recent economic gains the Philippines suffers from poor infrastructure and many poor people forced to live in areas that are easily flooded, eroded, or at risk of earthquakes. Because of the poor living conditions, the Philippines leads the world in disaster fatalities.
Meanwhile TDAXP pointed out that political tensions with China over rocks in the middle of the South China Sea has destroyed the feeling of sympathy Chinese may have for Filipinos and Chinese tourists in the Philippines. A blog post about Chinese tourists stuck in the disaster area has lead many Chinese commentators on the ChinaSmack blog to call these tourists 'traitors" who deserve whatever happens to them. I do not expect China to offer any aid to the Philippines because of their on-going dispute.
2 comments:
Such a disaster, it's heart breaking. But your post helps me understand the hard facts behind it.
Their national red cross organization is very well regarded and has a lot of experience. however their is only so much you can do if transport and access routes are devastated. The details of damage and need that were quickly available was impressive and indicated that the local human capital and organization was working. They identified need much better than any disaster response in the last decade. easily trouncing any UN effort or those by FEMA in the US.
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