The Poor Have Got a Lot to Teach Us
Many people are wondering (and if they’re not, they should be) why the U.S. federal and state response to hurricane Katrina was so pathetic. It also appears that at the local level, there was no real plan for preparedness, evacuation, and what to do in the aftermath.
Perhaps that is what happens in a nation that is so technologically advanced and wealthy, that we just assume that nothing all that bad can happen. Even though that line of thought has been disproven time and time again, we still are very lax in preparing for natural disasters.
But now take poorer nations. Could it be that the great United States of America can learn something from chintzy third world nations? The answer to that is a resounding YES!
Take a look at this:
_No one was reported killed when Ivan struck Cuba in 2004, its worst hurricane in 50 years and a storm that, after weakening, killed 25 people in the United States. Cuba’s warning-evacuation system is minutely planned, even down to neighborhood workers keeping updated charts on which residents need help during evacuations.
_Along Bangladesh’s cyclone coast, 33,000 well-organized volunteers stand ready to shepherd neighbors to raised concrete shelters at the approach of one of the Bay of Bengal’s vicious storms.
_In 2002, Jamaica conducted a full-scale evacuation rehearsal in a low-lying suburb of coastal Kingston, and fine-tuned plans afterward. When Ivan’s 20-foot surge destroyed hundreds of homes two years later, only eight people died. Ordinary Jamaicans also are taught search-and-rescue methods and towns at risk have trained flood-alert teams.