Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/09/02
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]On 2 Sep 2005, at 00:15, Tina Manley wrote: > >> LUG: >> >> I was in Honduras immediately after Hurricane Mitch. It was much, >> much worse than this. The water came up to the sixth floor of the >> high-rises downtown Tegucigalpa. The death toll was enormous. All >> of the bridges in the entire country were washed away. They still >> haven't recovered in many rural areas. But nobody looted. Nobody >> shot at people trying to rescue them. All I saw were people >> desperate to help each other. All of these people complaining about >> not being brought food should be airlifted to the middle of rural >> Honduras where there is never electricity, never clean water, no food >> unless you work for it, and no medical care. People in the US are >> totally spoiled compared to the hard working poor in any developing >> country. Tina, I witnessed the Tsunami in Sri Lanka (Southcoast) on 26 December of last year, stayed a few days and then was evacuated. There was no or very little looting ( perhaps some thing stolen from the abandoned hotels) and people were extremely civil and helpful to each other. No shooting, but then, who has a gun there? Together with some other tourists, that were at the same place, we set up a relief-foundation and helped. Some of my friends went back several times, last in June. I plan to go with X-mas. Hard working poor: that is the right description. And they still are: In the June, no local people in Koggala have received one cent from any government or relief organisation. There were tremendous efforts in practical and medical help - also by US marines - during the aftermath, but presently, without any monetary help from outside, the people are coping with things themselves. Life has more or less come back to normal, that is what my friends saw. But many families are still needing help. We have a contact - a Buddhist abbot - in a local monastery. It has taken months to pry from him what was realle neede on an indiviudual family basis in his community. Now, together with him, we have donated tables, chairs and beds to 100 households and we are working on a house building programme. But that is an agonizingly slow process. Many people lived in illegal - that is not registered - housing, so where can they claim aid to rebuild a house that did not exist......... The price of a house is 2000 US, and we hope to contribute ten or so, eventually. Maybe more. In the meanwhile, most pople live with their relatives. >>People in the US are >> totally spoiled compared to the hard working poor in any developing >> country. A sobering thought. I am not sure things would have been better in Europe. There are less guns here though.... Sander, Amsterdam Holland