Haiti Earthquake
Just once I’d like to see a celebrity, the kind that make a lot of fuss about pledging money to a cause like Haiti, to follow through.
It doesn’t matter which one. I just want to see them turn up again a few months-even a year- later to check how things are going. After the camera’s been turned off and around the time we’ve all started to forget how badly we cared about it.
As the rescue operation in Haiti begins to shift to one of recovery, the global community is now beginning to see the true scale of the disaster which has struck the tiny Carribean nation. Natural disasters such as the Haitian earthquake, the Samoan and Tongan tsunami of last year and the Asian tsunami of 2004 always bring out a truly astounding expression of a shared humanity.
Natural disasters bring poverty to the fore but the fact is extreme poverty is a daily reality for far too many people around the world.
25,000 children will die today from preventable diseases, 900 million people around the world will go to sleep hungry tonight, and tomorrow 1.4billion people will be forced to survive on less than US$1.25 for the day – more than two-thirds of them women and children.
Continue reading "We should be proud of our response to the Haiti quake" »
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Dan Lewis says:
Is there any chance we can fly Marilyn Shepherd over to Haiti, permanently? Actually, never mind. Those people have suffered enough already. Read more »
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Marilyn Shepherd says:
$15 million and a few airport controllers? WE spend over $100 million per year locking up a few hundred innocent refugees and another $300 million in illegal activity all over Asia to stop a few hundred more from getting here. You need to take your hand off it old son. Read more »
The Prime Minister of Haiti has estimated the death toll of this week’s earthquake to be over 100,000. Reports yesterday suggest the death-toll could soon rival that of the Boxing Day Tsunami.
It is my firm belief that we could have done more to minimise the magnitude of loss as a result of the earthquake. Neither you nor I have the ability to play God and predict a quake or even lessen its power but what we do have is the ability to alter the death toll from such a horrific disaster.
Over 78% of Haitian residents live in poverty, which is defined by the World Bank as living on US$2 per day, and it is these conditions that are responsible for the saddening predictions from the Haitian Prime Minister.
Continue reading "The high death toll in Haiti is due to poverty, not nature" »
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Scott Morrison MP says:
Well said Richard. Global poverty requires a response as much from individuals as it does from Governments, if not more so. There are countless organisations around the world doing great things in desperately poor coutries. They all need and rely on our ongoing support . Please don’t make your generous… Read more »
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Anton says:
You just hit the nail on the head. We all know they are total lazy and next to useless. Please name an African state that can support itself without hand outs or input from a western country. Answer = NONE! ....Bar South Africa which is slowly turning third world after… Read more »
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