Re: [xmca] The Human Spark: And Human Disaster (Earthquake in Haiti)

[ulvi icil <ulvi.icil@gmail.com>]

Mike, I think that once more, as before I wrote about Haiti, not American
working class, not many American science workers/intellectuals, but USA
dominant class is to blame...All this great tragedy I believe is due to one
class's selfish interest on the contrary of the interests of large masses.
Haiti or Katrina, it does not differ because American people also suffer
this selfishness.

We all know that American people have very honest citizens, like many in
xmca,  who are on the side of the other peoples of the world...


2010/1/14, mike cole <lchcmike@gmail.com>:
>
> Peter's  message seems like strong evidence in favor Steve's point about
> the
> human causes of the disaster in Haiti. See also, T. Kidder,
> *Mountains beyond mountains.
>
> *My own response is to send money to Doctors without borders. I have no
> idea
> how to undo the human-caused misery of the Haitian
> people, but the vast majority of those affected are victims, not
> perpetrators. Its is we, American citizens (among others), who
> occupy the perpetrator role over many many many decades.
> mike
>
> On Thu, Jan 14, 2010 at 4:33 AM, Peter Smagorinsky <smago@uga.edu> wrote:
>
> > And then, there's this explanation:
> >
> >
> http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0110/Robertson_Haiti_cursed_since_Sat
> > anic_pact.html<
> http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0110/Robertson_Haiti_cursed_since_Sat%0Aanic_pact.html
> >
> >
> > Peter Smagorinsky
> > Professor of English Education
> > Department of Language and Literacy Education
> > The University of Georgia
> > 125 Aderhold Hall
> > Athens, GA 30602
> > smago@uga.edu
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu]
> On
> > Behalf Of Steve Gabosch
> > Sent: Thursday, January 14, 2010 7:20 AM
> > To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
> > Subject: Re: [xmca] The Human Spark: And Human Disaster (Earthquake in
> > Haiti)
> >
> > Below is an article from Associated Press which begins to reveal the
> > extent that the current disaster in Haiti is predominately a
> > **social** disaster.  It is possible, according to the article, that
> > **500,000** Haitians will die, more than from any so-called "natural"
> > disaster in human history.  This article points to some of the
> > **social** causes of this unimaginable catastrophe.
> >
> > - Steve
> >
> >
> > On Jan 13, 2010, at 7:12 PM, mike cole wrote:
> > >
> > > Pray for the people of Haiti and if you can, send $$. They are in such
> > > horrible shape that only that most abstract of "goods" is apt to do
> > > any good
> > > in the short run.
> > > :-(
> > > mike
> > >
> >
> >
> > Wednesday, January 13, 2010
> >
> > Why Haiti is always in a state of despair
> > By Seth Borenstein
> >
> > The Associated Press
> >
> >
> > When it comes to natural disasters, Haiti seems to have a bull's-eye
> > on it. That's because of a killer combination of geography, poverty,
> > social problems, slipshod building standards and bad luck, experts say.
> >
> > The list of catastrophes is mind-numbing: This week's devastating
> > earthquake. Four tropical storms or hurricanes that killed about 800
> > people in 2008. Killer storms in 2005 and 2004. Floods in 2007, 2006,
> > 2003 (twice) and 2002. And that's only the 21st century rundown.
> >
> > "If you want to put the worst-case scenario together in the Western
> > Hemisphere [for disasters], it's Haiti," said Richard Olson, a Florida
> > International University professor who directs the Disaster Risk
> > Reduction in the Americas project.
> >
> > "There's a whole bunch of things working against Haiti," he said. "One
> > is the hurricane track. The second is tectonics. Then you have the
> > environmental degradation and the poverty."
> >
> > This is the 15th disaster since 2001 in which the U.S. Agency for
> > International Development has sent money and help to Haiti. Some 3,000
> > people have been killed and millions of people displaced in disasters
> > that preceded this week's earthquake. The U.S. has sent more than $16
> > million in disaster aid to Haiti since the turn of the century.
> >
> >
> >
> > Reeling from hurricanes
> >
> > While causes of individual disasters are natural, heart-tugging social
> > ills make Haiti a constant site of catastrophe, disaster experts say.
> > It starts with poverty, includes deforestation, unstable governments,
> > poor building standards, low literacy rates and then comes back to
> > poverty.
> >
> > The quake this week comes as Haiti is trying to recover from 2008,
> > when it was hit four times by tropical storms and hurricanes, said
> > Kathleen Tierney, director of the University of Colorado's Natural
> > Hazard Center.
> >
> > And while bad luck is involved, former top Federal Emergency
> > Management Agency official Mark Merritt, president of the disaster
> > consulting firm James Lee Witt Associates, said, "It's an economic
> > issue. It's one of those things that feeds on each other."
> >
> > Every factor that disaster experts look for in terms of vulnerability
> > is the worst it can be for Haiti, said Dennis Mileti, a seismic safety
> > commissioner for the state of California and author of the book
> > "Disasters by Design."
> >
> > Add high population density in the capital, many of them rural
> > migrants who now live in shantytowns throughout Port-au-Prince.
> >
> > "It doesn't get any worse," said Mileti, a retired University of
> > Colorado professor. "I fear this may go down in history as the largest
> > disaster ever, or pretty close to it."
> >
> > While nobody knows the death toll, a leading senator, Youri Latortue,
> > said as many as 500,000 could be dead. The deadliest quakes on record:
> > the 2004 Asian tsunami that killed more than 227,000 and a 1976
> > earthquake in China that killed 255,000, according to the U.S.
> > Geological Survey.
> >
> > "Whether it comes in as No. 1, No. 2 or No. 3, only time will tell,"
> > Mileti said. "This is a major cataclysm."
> >
> >
> >
> > Lack of care a concern
> >
> > Vulnerability to natural disasters is almost a direct function of
> > poverty, said Debarati Guha Sapir, director of the World Health
> > Organization's Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters.
> >
> > "Impacts are not natural, nor is there a divine hand or ill fate,"
> > Sapir said. "People will also die now of lack of follow-up medical
> > care. In other words, those who survived the quake may not survive for
> > long due to the lack of adequate medical care."
> >
> > University of South Carolina's Susan Cutter, who maps out social
> > vulnerability to disaster by county in the United States, said Haiti's
> > poverty makes smaller disasters worse.
> >
> > "It's because they're so vulnerable, any event tips the balance," said
> > Cutter, director of the school's Hazards and Vulnerability Research
> > Institute. "They don't have the kind of resiliency that other nations
> > have. It doesn't take much to tip the balance."
> >
> > One problem is the poor quality of buildings, Merritt said. Haiti
> > doesn't have building codes. Even if it did, people who make on
> > average $2 a day can't afford to build something that can withstand
> > earthquakes and hurricanes, he said. Poverty often is a major reason
> > for poor infrastructure, Tierney said.
> >
> > Then there's deforestation, which causes erosion and worsens flooding.
> > Haiti leads the Western Hemisphere in tree-clearing, mostly for
> > cooking because of the poverty, Merritt said.
> >
> > Another problem is the inability to prepare for and cope with
> > disaster, said Merritt, who last fall started work to help train
> > Haitians to prepare for disasters, including creating emergency-
> > response teams in a country that only has a couple of fire stations.
> > It involved Haiti's small-disaster bureau, the United Nations, Red
> > Cross and other relief agencies and governments. Training manuals
> > still were being translated from English to Creole when the quake hit,
> > he said.
> >
> > "If you look at neighboring Cuba, they have a very good emergency
> > management infrastructure," Tierney said. "That's partly because of
> > the way they organize the country from the block upward."
> >
> > Another issue: Haiti has focused on hurricanes because quakes have
> > been rare.
> >
> > Until about a decade ago, scientists believed the north coast of
> > Hispaniola, shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic, was more prone
> > to earthquakes. But work by Tim Dixon of the University of Miami found
> > the southern fault zone, where Tuesday's quake occurred, was equally
> > likely to produce temblors.
> >
> > Scientists have known about the seismic threat for a while, but Dixon
> > said that doesn't help the Haitian government, which lacks the
> > resources to quake-proof buildings and structures.
> >
> > "This was not that huge of an earthquake, but there's been a lot of
> > damage," he said. "It's the tragedy of a natural disaster superimposed
> > on a poor country."
> >
> >
> >
> > Stark differences
> >
> > The Dominican Republic, relatively richer and more stable than Haiti,
> > provides a good contrast when it comes to catastrophes, experts said.
> >
> > Buildings in the Dominican Republic are stronger and withstand
> > disaster better, Merritt said.
> >
> > The damage to Haiti is so devastating, so extensive that it offers a
> > sense of hope in rebuilding, the experts said. Past disasters,
> > including Hurricane Katrina, show it is easier to put up new buildings
> > than rebuild damaged ones, one reason why the wiped-clear Mississippi
> > coast came back faster than New Orleans, Merritt said.
> >
> > After the killer 1976 earthquake in Guatemala, houses were rebuilt
> > with less vulnerable, lighter roofs and the entire region was designed
> > to be less disaster prone, Florida International's Olson said.
> >
> > "Catastrophic disasters open a window of opportunity to fundamentally
> > change how cities are rebuilt," Olson said. "If it's rebuilt in the
> > same fashion [as it is now], our children are going to have this same
> > conversation."
> >
> >
> >
> > Copyright C The Seattle Times
> > Company_______________________________________________
> > xmca mailing list
> > xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> > http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > xmca mailing list
> > xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> > http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
> >
> _______________________________________________
> xmca mailing list
> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
>
_______________________________________________
xmca mailing list
xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca