Recently in Natural Disasters Category
NAYPYITAW Myanmar - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, on a mission to open Myanmar to international disaster assistance, said the ruling junta agreed Friday to allow "all aid workers" into the country to help cyclone survivors.Ban's comments came after a crucial two-hour meeting Friday with the junta leader, Senior Gen. Than Shwe, the country's most powerful figure. Myanmar's junta has until now refused to allow an influx of foreign aid and experts to reach survivors of the May 2-3 Cyclone Nargis.
We may never know the human cost of the ruling junta's paranoia. Hopefully, the citizens of Myanmar will one day recognize where the responsibility lies and act accordingly.
YANGON, Myanmar - The first U.S. relief airlift arrived in Myanmar on Monday after prolonged negotiations with the country's isolationist junta, which considers Washington its enemy and has restricted international aid to as many as 2 million cyclone victims.The unarmed military C-130 cargo plane, packed with supplies, flew out of the Thai air force base of Utapao and landed in Yangon. Two more air shipments are scheduled to land Tuesday.
After the plane's arrival, the supplies were transferred to Myanmar army trucks.
Not enough, and not as fast as it needs to be.
Update: AP corrects, the flight hasn't yet landed, just launched:
YANGON, Myanmar - The U.S. launched its first relief airlift to Myanmar on Monday after prolonged negotiations with the country's isolationist junta, which considers Washington its enemy and has restricted international aid to as many as 2 million cyclone victims.
A Red Cross boat filled with enough supplies for around 1,000 people sank this morning. At least the crew of 4 survived.
One wonders if the Myanmar government would have been too busy counting votes to distribute the supplies had the boat not sunk, though. The country's rulers continued with a referendum yesterday designed only to rubber stamp their grip on power. The ruling generals claimed a massive turnout as they placed polling places in close proximity to victims waiting for relief supplies. No, I'm not kidding - while they block foreign supplies, they expend their own resources to set up voting centers. Sick.
YANGON (AFP) - Myanmar's ruling generals said Sunday there was "massive turnout" in their national referendum, held despite pleas to devote their resources to saving more than a million victims of a devastating cyclone.Even as aid groups warned that the official toll of 60,000 dead or missing could rise unless the neediest survivors get help immediately, the regime went ahead with Saturday's vote to ratify a new constitution.
Polling stations were set up close to makeshift camps for the homeless, while much of the international community urged the generals to focus on a relief effort stalled by their refusal to allow in most foreign aid workers.
But in a story that made no mention of the cyclone tragedy, the New Light of Myanmar newspaper -- a mouthpiece for the junta -- said some places had to extend voting hours to let everyone cast their ballot.
"The referendum was held successfully ... with massive turnout of the citizens," it said.
State television on Sunday continued to show pictures of the generals casting their ballots in a vote that critics said was intended only to strengthen their 46-year grip on power.
For the moment, all the rest of the world can do is sit and watch...
For seven months the Senate has been investigating FEMA and what happened before, during, and after Katrina. Next week a full report will be released, and today they've issued a teaser:
WASHINGTON - Hurricane Katrina's latest fatality should be FEMA, the nation's disaster response agency, a Senate inquiry concluded in calling for a government overhaul to avoid future failures like those the devastating storm exposed.
Why the statement was issued today - in advance of the full report - was assuredly not random:
President Bush was visiting Louisiana and Mississippi — which bore the brunt of Katrina's wrath — on Thursday.
The report apparently recommends a new name for FEMA:
The recommendations conclude that the Federal Emergency Management Agency is crippled beyond repair by years of poor leadership and inadequate funding. They call for a new agency — the National Preparedness and Response Authority — to plan and carry out relief missions for domestic disasters.
The proposed change is already drawing criticism as being skin-deep only:
But the proposal drew disdain from Homeland Security and its critics, both sides questioning the need for another bureaucratic shuffling that they said wouldn't accomplish much.
"It's time to stop playing around with the organizational charts and to start focusing on government, at all levels, that are preparing for this storm season," Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said.
Former FEMA Director Michael Brown, who resigned under fire after Katrina, said the new agency would basically have the same mission FEMA had a year ago before its disaster planning responsibilities were taken away to focus solely on responding to calls for help.
"It sounds like they're just re-creating the wheel and making it look like they're calling for change," Brown said. "If indeed that's all they're doing, they owe more than that to the American public."
Of course, the devil's in the details, which we don't yet have.
Remember Esso? For the younger folk, here's what their logo looked like:
Back in the 70's (late 60's?), when they changed their name to Exxon, the joke at the time was "New name, Same old gas". Unless something more substantial comes along with the name change, the "National Preparedness and Response Authority" should adopt it as their slogan.
This is from a press release on a letter to President Bush from Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer, David Obey, Henry A. Waxman, and Bennie Thompson:
We are writing to urge you to immediately terminate Michael Brown's ongoing consulting contract with the Department of Homeland Security. After Mr. Brown's dismal performance in preparing for and responding to Hurricane Katrina, your Administration's decision to continue paying Mr. Brown an annual salary of $148,000 is inexplicable and a gross waste of taxpayer dollars.
After being relieved of his Katrina-related duties, Mr. Brown resigned as Undersecretary of Emergency Preparedness and Response on September 12. Two weeks later, Mr. Brown testified before Congress and confirmed that he was continuing to receive his salary as a consultant to FEMA. (1) Amazingly, he had been asked to stay on the payroll for 30 days in order to determine what went wrong with FEMA's response to Hurricane Katrina. The Department of Homeland Security justified the contract by saying that Mr. Brown was "transitioning out of his job" and that FEMA needed to get a "proper download of his experience."(2)
Now, we have learned that Mr. Brown's contract has been extended for another 30 days. That is unacceptable. Incredibly, Secretary Chertoff defended the decision to retain Mr. Brown by saying, "We don't want to sacrifice the real ability to get a full picture of Mike's experiences."(3)
Lets see... Michael Brown resigned on Sept. 12 with a 30 day notice, which was extended 30 days, (sound of calendar flipping), (sound of calculator keys), Hmmmm. His time is up in TWO DAYS!!! Yup - looks like just a cheap press stunt for political points.
D'ya think Nancy will claim credit for Brown leaving at the end of this week?
Some of those responsible for New Orleans' woes during Katrina are being held responsible:
New Orleans Police Fire 51 for Desertion
Along with the 15 that resigned when they learned they were under investigation, that makes 76.
This is only a start. The NO Police would be less of an issue if a few city and state officials had done their jobs, and no accounting of this disaster will be complete until a lot more light is shined on why local and state agencies failed to use those famous buses, and prevented federal aid from entering the city.
And expected to head toward Florida. Haven't we had enough for this year?
A question for the blogospere: Why no effort to help the earthquake victims?
Being a very new (3 weeks) blog, I didn't participate in the charitable efforts after the tsunami or hurricane(s). But being a long time reader of the larger blogs, I watched as those blogs generously donated time and pixels to encouraging donations to help the victims from those disasters. TB and I gave through my employer (who matched donations), and I gave much more than I would have in no small part due to the encouragement of the blogs I read daily.
The earthquake death toll is now estimated to be near 40,000, and as many as 2 million lack shelter.
But this time I see damned little effort on the part of the blogosphere to help. Sure, some smaller blogs have some links to charities, but among the larger blogs, nothing that even comes close to this.
Or this.
Or this.
Or this.
Or this.
I would like to note here that this is not an attack on the above blogs. Indeed, their previous efforts were exceedingly generous and deserve praise. In the interest of fairness, the right side of the web wasn't alone. Here's some examples from the liberal side of the web of attempts to coax donations from their readers:
Example here.
And here.
And to reiterate, I know that many smaller blogs have been involved in earthquake charity efforts.
What about me? I gave $100 through my employer (although they are not matching donations this time), and if I challenge my readers to match me (which I guess I'm doing right now), well, that's, um, $200 to $300 if I get 100% participation. A little nudging from the above heavyweights could raise many thousands more.
So is everyone just overloaded on disasters? Is there a feeling that governments and charities have this one under control and no further help is needed? Has it just washed right on by with all of the rapidly changing fall news cycle? I really want to know. If you think I'm off-base by asking in the first place, please let me know why.
In the event that any of the above bloggers take offence at this post, my apologies in advance. No offence is intended. You are all certainly entitled to use your blogs however you see fit. It's just that I thought I saw a trend among political bloggers to do a little more than just chew the fat about the latest beltway antics, and saw it as a good thing. I wonder now if I was mistaken.
Update (10/22/2005): Someone else noticed. (hat tip Instapundit)
Via AP/Yahoo:
I think he should ask Mary Landrieu for advice on who should get pink-slipped.
