Are parts of America third world?

[system]

Some observations on Katrina (from a board)

1. BBC “Is this a 3rd world country or USA”. Poverty and racial underbelly of US is exposed.

2. World’s richest, World’s mightiest, World’s most technically advanced cannot handle a small disaster. I repeat a small disaster. Tsunami was large with no warning. Indian floods are large. Floods in Czech Republic were large a few years ago. Earthquakes in Iran, Iraq and Turkey are large. Yet responses of these countries for relief and rescue was far better than US.

3. Only country in the world which sends out a fully armed army with orders to shoot to kill and Black Hawks swarming the streets (Mogadishu or New Orleans, USA) before sending the relief teams. In all major natural disasters around the world the armed forces are used for rescue, emergency provision of infrastructure and distribution of relief materials. In most countries relief materials (water & food) start going out in 24 to 36 hours. Air is the most preferred route. Yet US with all the helicopters at its disposal could not send out the relief by air. Why?

4. Relief Reaction time of 4 to 5 days after the disaster. Considering there was a warning of more than 3 days before Katrina hit the great US of A did they not have time to plan for post disaster relief and rehab. Seeing by the reactions I guess not.

5. Wild west culture of US comes to the forefront. In most countries where natural disasters happen there is great support between the victims and more than normal lawfulness. Not rioting, looting, arson, rape, murder, mayhem, anarchy and lawlessness. Mumbai has seen floods, bombings & power failures but all on ocassions we have been law abiding (in fact more law abiding than normal).

6. Comparing Mumbai’s recent flooding - affecting 14Mn (I am not taking into account simultaneous flooding in western Maharashtra) and that in Gulf Coast - affecting about 5Mn (far wider region). Post aftermath reactions of Indians is far better than that of Americans.

7. Where are all the disaster management plans of USA. Gulf coast region is known to be in the Hurriance ally could they not have plans for known disasters. I read that earmarked funds were diverted to the other Gulf.

8. US for the first time in its history has become recepient of aid not a giver.

9. A country that could manage an air lift 6,000 miles away in the '60s (Brelin air lift - Ich Bin Ein Berliner) could not manage to evacuate its own city for those remaining behind.

[Captain1]

Re: Are parts of America third world?

If this is an attempt to show Indians as angels and Americans as devils then remember, the poop you throw out now will come back to hit you in face.....

oh wait, poop has already hit you, do you want me to dig news about the loots happened during floods in India? and mind you "evacuation" didn't occur in that case while most of NO was evacuated or ordered to evacuate.

[suroor_ca02]

Re: Are parts of America third world?

well it did expose the dark, discriminant n incredibly poor side of US.

[K_Khan]

Re: Are parts of America third world?

reason for no planning! simple Harisson Ford was busy filming in sum remote island and George cloony was drowned in last perfect storm! and others had no experience of dealing with such disausters!

[dope]

Re: Are parts of America third world?

It was partisan politics at play. Look how amazingly the military and FEMA are handling it now. So, everyone who compares America with third world countries can STFU.

[Silly_Billy]

Re: Are parts of America third world?

A national disgrace

San Francisco Chronicle

THE AGONIZINGLY slow emergency response to the human suffering left by Hurricane Katrina is nothing less than a national disgrace. Despite the knowledge that New Orleans was extraordinarily vulnerable to a major storm, government officials failed miserably in their efforts to aid victims of the disaster, which is one of the worst natural catastrophes in the nation’s history. It took four days after Katrina smashed down on the Gulf Coast for emergency crews to get anything close to adequate supplies to the huddled masses in the flooded city, who were left without food and water. The horrific sight of corpses rotting in the streets or outside emergency shelters and thousands of angry survivors waiting for promised relief only magnified the sluggish pace of the government’s response. Incredibly, outrageously, thousands of people wilted in hunger and desperation outside the city’s convention center waiting for relief efforts that took days to arrive – even as the misery unfolded, hour by hour, on live television.

For anyone wondering if the billions thrown into the Department of Homeland Security had made the country better equipped to handle destruction from a major earthquake or a terrorist attack, the news was beyond discouraging. Promises from the Federal Emergency Management Agency that help was on the way were obscured by the reality that the government couldn’t get basic life-saving supplies to those trapped in the city – let alone National Guard troops to deal with outbreaks of lawlessness. FEMA appeared so overwhelmed by the scope of the disaster that it has left many public officials wondering whether it can effectively handle any large-scale crisis. That doubt is underscored by the fact that national emergency preparedness experts have long known of the threat to New Orleans and its precarious levee system. Now a major city of 500,000 has been left largely empty and uninhabitable with no realistic timetable of when it can be rebuilt.

President Bush’s admission that the government’s response to the disaster fell woefully short also gave fuel to critics of his policies, who noted that thousands of National Guard troops from the region who normally would have been available are 7,000 miles away, fighting in Iraq. Certainly the consternation felt by Americans as they watched the crisis develop with dramatic images repeated on television can’t be easily dismissed by an administration that likes to spin its failures as unwavering victories. For this catastrophe is going to be played out for months, possibly years. If disaster planners knew all about the dangers a hurricane could bring to the Gulf region, then how could they be prepared for an unexpected disaster? And what does it say to emergency response officials in other major American cities who prepare for other types of natural disasters – or even a terrorist attack? Are there sufficient trained soldiers available for a domestic emergency? Can we get supplies to victims in our own country in a quick and responsible time period? Based on the reaction to Katrina, the answer is a resounding no. Yes, the logistics were daunting. But this nation was intolerably slow in mobilizing its wealth and ingenuity in getting relief to the battered region. On Friday, President Bush, while surveying the hurricane damage, dismissed the notion that the war in Iraq has detracted from our ability to meet crises at home. He insisted we have “plenty of resources” to do both. It also takes will and a sense of urgency to achieve a difficult mission of this magnitude. No American mayor should ever have to send out a “desperate SOS” to get the federal government’s full attention three days after a major hurricane struck. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin had good reason to feel betrayed and outraged. This nation failed its brethren on the Gulf Coast.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/09/03/EDG4PDMVO81.DTL

[Silly_Billy]

Re: Are parts of America third world?

United States of Shame

By MAUREEN DOWD

Stuff happens.
And when you combine limited government with incompetent government, lethal stuff happens. America is once more plunged into a snake pit of anarchy, death, looting, raping, marauding thugs, suffering innocents, a shattered infrastructure, a gutted police force, insufficient troop levels and criminally negligent government planning. But this time it’s happening in America. W. drove his budget-cutting Chevy to the levee, and it wasn’t dry. Bye, bye, American lives. “I don’t think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees,” he told Diane Sawyer. Shirt-sleeves rolled up, W. finally landed in Hell yesterday and chuckled about his wild boozing days in “the great city” of N’Awlins. He was clearly moved. “You know, I’m going to fly out of here in a minute,” he said on the runway at the New Orleans International Airport, “but I want you to know that I’m not going to forget what I’ve seen.” Out of the cameras’ range, and avoided by W., was a convoy of thousands of sick and dying people, some sprawled on the floor or dumped on baggage carousels at a makeshift MAS*H unit inside the terminal. Why does this self-styled “can do” president always lapse into such lame “who could have known?” excuses. Who on earth could have known that Osama bin Laden wanted to attack us by flying planes into buildings? Any official who bothered to read the trellis of pre-9/11 intelligence briefs. Who on earth could have known that an American invasion of Iraq would spawn a brutal insurgency, terrorist recruiting boom and possible civil war? Any official who bothered to read the C.I.A.'s prewar reports. Who on earth could have known that New Orleans’s sinking levees were at risk from a strong hurricane? Anybody who bothered to read the endless warnings over the years about the Big Easy’s uneasy fishbowl.

**In June 2004, Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, fretted to The Times-Picayune in New Orleans: "It appears that the money has been moved in the president’s budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that’s the price we pay. Nobody locally is happy that the levees can’t be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us. Not only was the money depleted by the Bush folly in Iraq; 30 percent of the National Guard and about half its equipment are in Iraq. Ron Fournier of The Associated Press reported that the Army Corps of Engineers asked for $105 million for hurricane and flood programs in New Orleans last year. The White House carved it to about $40 million. But President Bush and Congress agreed to a $286.4 billion pork-filled highway bill with 6,000 pet projects, including a $231 million bridge for a small, uninhabited Alaskan island. **Just last year, Federal Emergency Management Agency officials practiced how they would respond to a fake hurricane that caused floods and stranded New Orleans residents. Imagine the feeble FEMA’s response to Katrina if they had not prepared. Michael Brown, the blithering idiot in charge of FEMA - a job he trained for by running something called the International Arabian Horse Association - admitted he didn’t know until Thursday that there were 15,000 desperate, dehydrated, hungry, angry, dying victims of Katrina in the New Orleans Convention Center. Was he sacked instantly? No, our tone-deaf president hailed him in Mobile, Ala., yesterday: “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job.”

It would be one thing if President Bush and his inner circle - Dick Cheney was vacationing in Wyoming; Condi Rice was shoe shopping at Ferragamo’s on Fifth Avenue and attended “Spamalot” before bloggers chased her back to Washington; and Andy Card was off in Maine - lacked empathy but could get the job done. But it is a chilling lack of empathy combined with a stunning lack of efficiency that could make this administration implode. When the president and vice president rashly shook off our allies and our respect for international law to pursue a war built on lies, when they sanctioned torture, they shook the faith of the world in American ideals. **When they were deaf for so long to the horrific misery and cries for help of the victims in New Orleans - most of them poor and black, like those stuck at the back of the evacuation line yesterday while 700 guests and employees of the Hyatt Hotel were bused out first - they shook the faith of all Americans in American ideals. And made us ashamed. Who are we if we can’t take care of our own? **

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/03/opinion/03dowd.html

[ak47]

Re: Are parts of America third world?

I don't understand how these people in time of crisis they start robbing, raping and killing each other that makes no sense.

Women spoke of the terror they felt as gangs of thieves and rapists roamed the streets and temporary shelters night after night, plucking victims -- some of them children -- at whim and with no fear of police intervention.

This hurricaine was a slap on Geoege Bush's Face, and there is nothing he could do about it. Put TV on and all i see is people crying and dying and they saying wheres George bush wheres George Bush!

[Navtech]

Re: Are parts of America third world?

can i say that it's starting of falling of US empire

[Mr_Fraudia]

Re: Are parts of America third world?

^ wishful thinking of the jealous ones

[mo293]

Re: Are parts of America third world?

There are quite a few 3rd world countries in America and I have seen quite a few.

[Red4life]

Re: Are parts of America third world?

from my experiences and travls in the US, where there are jews and whites as minorities…those places will generally be the ‘3rd world’ or less better off.
a la New orelans!
side question here…
if say niger is a 3rd world country, what exactly is classed ‘2nd world’?

[rvikz]

Re: Are parts of America third world?

what india and pakistan belong to 2nd or 3rd world is there any 4th world?

[system]

Re: Are parts of America third world?

Free “wada-pav” bread symbol of South Asia’s resilience in face of calamity

MUMBAI : In New Orleans there was shooting and looting when the floods came last week. When a similar inundation struck India’s financial capital Mumbai a month earlier, there was no violence, just free wada-pav bread.

Residents say street vendors passed out the “wada-pav”, potato-filled bread, to their fellow citizens wading through waist-high water in a sign that the disaster, which killed more than 400, brought the city together rather than tearing it apart as appeared to happen in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina struck the US southern Gulf coast one week ago.

The street vendors’ response seems to symbolize what South Asians say is the region’s familiarity with, and resilience in the face of, numerous natural calamities.

“What we are seeing in USA is complete chaos,” said Farida Lambe, vice president of the Nirmala Niketan College of Social Work which helped in relief and rehabilitation work during the Mumbai floods.

“My assessment is that many of the problems arose as the people are not used to facing calamities. They expect complete efficiency and find it difficult to cope if it does not come about.”

US newspapers have criticized the slow response by the administration of President George W. Bush to the hurricane, many of whose victims are poor blacks.

“We do not go about looting like we saw in the TV reports from the US,” said Mrinmoye Nath, a nurse at a local hospital in western Assam.

The northeastern Indian state is home to a separatist insurgency and also sees annual floods that wash away villages, destroy crops and lead to a huge loss of life.

More than 400 people died in late July and early August when days of heavy rain turned the streets of Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay, into rivers.

Mumbai police commissioner A.N. Roy confirmed there were no cases of looting, arson or violence when the floods hit.

“Even stray cases of robbery were not heard or reported,” he said.

Mumbai has nearly 20 million residents. New Orleans had about 500,000.

In the Indian city, political parties provided guards at relief camps to help keep valuables and money safe. But in New Orleans, looting and other crimes prompted authorities to eventually send in thousands of US troops.

“Mumbai and the country as a whole are more resilient and hands-on. Though we had trouble initially, considering the number of people staying in Mumbai, we did a fair job,” Lambe said.

India and South Asian nations including Bangladesh, home to more than a combined one billion people, have regularly faced natural disasters from earthquakes, storms and floods during annual monsoon rains.

As a result, the countries have developed rapid responses for shelter and relief that while not always wholly successful for long-term rehabilitation, have enabled them to handle immediate needs quickly.

India declined immediate disaster relief after more than 5,000 people were killed during last December’s tsunamis which swept across Asia.

It sent naval ships to neighbouring Sri Lanka where nearly 31,000 people were killed and one million left homeless by the tsunamis.

Now, India is giving five million dollars to the American Red Cross for relief activities in areas affected by Hurricane Katrina, India’s ambassador to the US said Sunday.

Sri Lanka has donated 25,000 dollars to the United States, its foreign ministry said.

In Bangladesh, an impoverished delta nation regularly hit by floods and cyclones that kill thousands, the conservative daily newspaper, Inquilab, said the government should share its expertise in disaster relief.

“Bangladesh has faced hurricanes, more or less as powerful than Katrina, and floods are a daily event here. The government should send its troops to hurricane-affected American states as our troops are praised abroad for their roles in tackling natural disasters.”

Between 300,000 and 500,000 people were killed when a cyclone slammed into the country’s coastline in November 1970. A similar disaster in 1991 killed about 140,000.

Officials in the US say Hurricane Katrina must have killed thousands.

“After the 1970 cyclone, Bangladesh trained as many as 33,000 volunteers and developed its own cyclone preparedness programme to face any such disaster,” said Saidur Rahman, head of the Bangladesh Disaster Preparedness Center.

Having experienced such disasters themselves, some Mumbai residents offered prayers and sympathy for the US victims, and said this is not the time to blame government.

“One can only assist or provide relief,” said Sukhdev Chavan, a newspaper vendor.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/166783/1/.html

[elahi]

Re: Are parts of America third world?

No doubt about it. Go to many ethnic areas in major American cities and they are far more dangerou\run down that anything I saw in an average are in Lahore