Monday, August 23, 2010

Another disaster, more human idiocy

The Pakistanis are angry about a slow response from their government. So were the Chileans after their earthquake, and the Haitians after theirs, and the people stuck in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Sounds like a song set to repeat, doesn't it? Sounds like a song set to repeat, doesn't it? Sounds like a song set to repeat, doesn't it?

From AP:

    President Asif Ali Zardari said that anger at the government in the coming months is inevitable given the scale of the disaster, comparing it to the anti-government sentiment generated by the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in the United States.

    "There will be discontent, there is no way any nation, even a superpower .... can bring the same level of satisfaction that will be close to the expectations of the people," Zardari said in an interview Monday with a small group of foreign reporters in the capital, Islamabad. "Surely we will try and meet them as much as we can."

Zardari is right. Only a government can respond properly to a major catastrophe, but we, as individuals, need to have about a week of food and other emergency supplies on hand. The Gubment is not our mother. We have some responsibility for our own well being.

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