Food for thought on Haiti from David Brooks' latest NYT column:On Oct. 17, 1989, a major earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 struck the Bay Area in Northern California. Sixty-three people were killed. This week, a major earthquake, also measuring a magnitude of 7.0, struck near Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The Red Cross estimates that between 45,000 and 50,000 people have died.
This is not a natural disaster story. This is a poverty story. It’s a story about poorly constructed buildings, bad infrastructure and terrible public services. ...
... it is time to put the thorny issue of culture at the center of efforts to tackle global poverty. Why is Haiti so poor? Well, it has a history of oppression, slavery and colonialism. But so does Barbados, and Barbados is doing pretty well. Haiti has endured ruthless dictators, corruption and foreign invasions. But so has the Dominican Republic, and the D.R. is in much better shape. Haiti and the Dominican Republic share the same island and the same basic environment, yet the border between the two societies offers one of the starkest contrasts on earth — with trees and progress on one side, and deforestation and poverty and early death on the other. ...
2 comments:
I have thought the same thing, why did it take this earthquake for all of us to wake up to help our fellow human beings.....perhaps if we had helped earlier this wouldn't have been so devastating. I pray we all learn from this horrible tragedy.....when we know better we do better.....:-) Hugs
Thanks for your coverage, Paul. It is heartbreaking what is happening in Haiti right now. I want to offer money to help, but am not sure if it will ever reach the people.
Let's hope President Obama and our military will be able to stabilize the situation, because it's obvious that Haiti's government has collapsed within the ruins of the earthquake.
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