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more on Katrina, view from afar (Figaro) (fwd)
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Mon, 19 Sep 2005 18:35:56 -0400
Begin forwarded message: From: chodge5 () utk edu Date: September 19, 2005 6:17:18 PM EDT To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net> Subject: [IP] more on Katrina, view from afar (Figaro) (fwd)
And, BTW, much less than the more than 35,000 killed by a heat wave in Europe two summers ago. You recall the debate that set off about European heartlessness, racism and discrimination? No, neither do I.
IPers might be interested in Philip Klinkner's recent post at PolySigh http://polysigh.blogspot.com/2005/09/overstating-katrina.html I think Klinkner is at Hamilton College. The post has a number of very good links, but the passage I thought worth noting was:Compare the Katrina tragedy to the heatwave that struck Western Europe in
the summer of 2003. We still don't know the death toll from Katrina, butmost indications are that the early prediction of 10,000 plus deaths were wildly off the mark and the actual toll will be less than half of that. In
contrast, the 2003 heatwave led to the deaths of 35,000 Europeans. In France there were nearly 15,000 dead and in Paris alone, 1854 people perished. Thus, looking only at deaths, the heatwaves were a much great disaster for Europe than Katrina is likely to be for the U.S.And like the Bush administration, the French government was criticized for
its laggard response to the calamity--including the fact that the prime minister and health minister were away on vacation when the disaster struck. According to the Economist, the health minister was criticized because (shades of President Bush strumming his guitar in Crawford): His first reaction had been a television interview showing him, in aT-shirt in the garden of his holiday home in the Var, arguing, unworried,
that all was under control. Nor, like Katrina, was this disaster unforseen. One Paris doctor said at the time: Last summer the situation was catastrophic and this year it is worse; we were not at all prepared. The hospital system is failing.Finally, most of those that died were from the most vulnerable segments of European society, the elderly, particularly those who were poor and lived
alone. This is despite the fact that for several generations, most European nations have constructed social safety nets to provide for the care and well-being of their citizens, especially the elderly. What's the upshot of all of this? The lesson of Katrina and the European heatwave is that natural disasters can have a devastating impact on eventhe most advanced and wealthy nations, and that this impact has little or
nothing to do with the governing structure, ruling party, or political culture of those nations. It is no more accurate to claim that the heatwave deaths in France are the result of unworkable welfare state or the indifference of morally lax society, than it is to claim that the Katrina victims are the result of conservative social policy, racism, or free market economics. ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as lists-ip () insecure org To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
Current thread:
- more on Katrina, view from afar (Figaro) (fwd) David Farber (Sep 19)
- <Possible follow-ups>
- more on Katrina, view from afar (Figaro) (fwd) David Farber (Sep 19)
- more on Katrina, view from afar (Figaro) (fwd) David Farber (Sep 19)
- more on Katrina, view from afar (Figaro) (fwd) David Farber (Sep 20)