Monday, October 10, 2005

Annoying humans


Have you been keeping count? Me, I am giving up.

Another 40,000 from this lousy quake on top of the 1400 feared dead in Guatemala. Add up the numbers we’ve been losing in the past couple of years alone, from Bam to the tsunami and the hurricanes and now these again, along with the costs of destruction and devastation, plus those countless millions of displaced, homeless, dazed, battered and traumatized.

Now contrast against what you find in this educational conflict map of nobelprize.org listing every one of the many Twentieth century conflicts with at least 1000 military battle deaths, and you’ll know why I find the humans so terribly annoying tonight.

Always wanting more…more of something, more land, guns, bombs, and ships and planes and soldiers, tanks and boots, and prisons, torture devices and torturers and frenzy and fear and bombs and helicopters and more bombs to get even more land.

And the sad part of course, never actually that interested in being responsible for what is under control already. And either unwilling or unable to be there for those who are most vulnerable and in need.

So this report reassures us that teams from UK, Spain, France, Japan, Russia, UAE and Iran are already engaged in relief and rescue operations and help has been pouring in, albeit a bit too slowly. Much work remains to be done as always.

And the same questions: should so many die because of lousy quakes? So routinely? An entire generation lost according to this report with mostly school children having been wiped out.

Such murderous, incompetent, covetous and wretched creatures we are and yet such marvels. You have all probably seen the email going around. Just in case: more about the Weather Wars and those giant, very well hidden Terror Machines.

So we should all know the routine fairly well by now. Every bit helps if you can:

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

Disaster Emergency Committee

Mercy Corp

Relief International

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