There I was, watching the news with the update covering the recent earthquake in Haiti.
This is nothing short of a catastrophe for the inhabitants of this country. As my geographical brain engaged I thought, this is a part of a larger Island with the Dominican Republic. My map search confirmed this.
I wondered, has there been any damage, fatalities and destruction there as well ?
Not according to the news, only Haiti had suffered as a result.
Is this some form of spin? Perhaps Dominica has been completely unaffected? Even after such a devastating earthquake.
The green line south of Port-au-Prince shows the fault line where the 7.0-magnitude quake was centred. The epicentre was 10 kilometres beneath the surface. (U.S. Geological Survey)
The island of Hispaniola, which Haiti shares with the Dominican Republic, sits on the Caribbean plate, sandwiched between a major fault line to the north and another to the south.
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I have been wondering about this for the past few days, also. As time goes by, I get the feeling that the “message” is being tightly controlled by the media. It seems they are doing everything they can to avoid invidious comparisons between a country which is 95% black and one which is 10% African descent, side by side. It is that panicked need to control racial imagery lest viewers ask the logical questions that follow which is at the heart of our PC paralysis. If it is forbidden to even ask the questions, how can one hope for an answer? They want you to just give, contribute, donate, people are suffering. Well, yes, people are suffering and need immediate relief, but perhaps some analysis and input into how to avoid a similar disaster one year, five years, ten years from now might be in order. In the US, CNN Headline News has been looping the same story over and over re: the stunning performance of the Israeli medical field hospital. It’s so unusual to hear CNN praise Israel that I was floored. But of course, the follow-up is to slam the US military field hospital for not being up yet. So the rare kudos for the Israelis was just a tool to club the Americans. They can’t just report the straight facts and let us sort out our own opinions.
Just for the record Dominica is a seperate country and island from the Dominican Republic
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominica
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominican_Republic
Pete. I stand corrected, thanks.
I can’t imagine that the Dominican Republic was not shaken as well. It was probably built to a better standard that’s all
The Dominican Republic did feel the shock, as a few media accounts have related. However, as I understand it, this was a relative shallow earthquake so it’s very violent but in a limited radius. Haiti was unlucky. If the rupture had been further to the west, it would only have affected a sparsely populated area of Haiti. If it had been a further to the west, it would have been in the mountains separating the two countries. and if it had been still further to the west it would have been in the Dominican Republic’s heavily populated south-west.
What annoys me about the media coverage is the constant harping on about “failures” to get aid and help in sooner.
Dpn’t any of these twits realise that there is no such thing as International Rescue? There is no amazing mega force with teams standing by, huge resources packed and ready to go, and fleets of aircraft and ships just waiting to be sent off to save the day. Even the US military doesn’t come close to that ideal.
I think an amazing amount has been done in just seven days, especially when you consider that Haiti was already a semi-destroyed nation that’s been ravaged by several major hurriances in the past two years, by long-term violence, corruption and neglect, and with a very fragile political system.
But all that effort is nothing according to the media pundits, who seem to be travelling about quite easily, eating and drinking well, and retiring to excellent accommodation by the standards of most Haitians. No, we’re constantly told about the numerous “failures”.
The flight crews aboard the USS Carl Vinson apparently flew 600 sorties in three days to medevac the injured and fly in supplies, but what does the BBC report? Their “failure” to get aid to the right people sufficiently quickly.
Bah!
Off Topic, with apologies…..
Chris Grayling MP, the Shadow Home Secretary, is a regular visitor to our bit it seems, so may have visited your pages via our link to you.
Chris has forwarded a letter, asking that we pass on his best New Year wishes and thanks to all police officers. As hyperlinks don’t always get through the spam filter, you may wish to visit our pages to have peek.
We are keen that the letter, received today, is seen by as many officers as possible. We have published it on our site today and also forwarded a copy to the federation offices should they wish to distribute it.
Kind Regards
Steve
It’s so easy to sit in an office in London, and criticise the infrastructure of a country that has been devastated by an earthquake. I have never been affected by such an event , but I am realistic enough to know that it doesn’t take more than a couple of inches of snow to fuck us up, let alone a whole city tumbled around it’s foundations….I think all the troops that are involved are doing the best that any one could ask for. It appears, that some of the victims don’t want outside help until they have carved up enough for themselves…….