Letters | Sunday, 28 March 2010

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The poor are the first to suffer in natural disasters

The United Nations has described the Haiti crisis as the worst it had ever had to deal with. There are now thought to be around one million orphans in Haiti, out of a population of 10 million. Millions of the survivors need to receive urgent emergency aid and they need this assistance realistically for many years to come. The Haiti earthquake and other global disasters are always turning into a disgrace due to the international community’s lack of co-ordination and lack of response. This crisis and other global crises have underlined the need for a new strong global relief agency.
The poor, as evern were the worst hit. Media reports stated that only 63 people died when an earthquake of the same strength hit northern California some 21 years ago, so why, then, have 200,000 died in Haiti? The answer, of course, is that one is a rich country and the other poor! Natural disasters provoke feelings of horror and helplessness in all of us. The UN or the so called ‘international community’ must do their utmost to help poor countries to be better prepared in the face of natural disasters. Last December many people in poor countries in South America, Africa and Asia had centered their aspirations and dreams on the two week summit in the Danish capital Copenhagen, in the hope of a major new effort to combat the threat of global warming.
When the UN and the leaders of rich countries, together with other Presidents and Prime Ministers, went to Copenhagen, each one of them was eager to prove that they cared more about the environment than the rest. But the result of the summit was a political commitment rather than a treaty, and the majority of the countries present just “took note of it”; most with resignation, many with anger. The summit was never about dealing with climate change but rather about protecting the interests of global capitalism in the light of climate change.
The rich world has been responsible for 70% of the warming gases in the atmosphere – yet 70% of the effects are being felt in the developing world. Rich countries can build dams to prevent its land flooding, while poor countries like Bangladesh can only drown! As a result, climate change is emerging as a driving force behind many problems everywhere. One of the main problems related to global warming is that of rising food prices worldwide: this is a reality and it isn’t just the poor people who are hit by expensive food prices.
The blindness of humans in failing to see and respect one another as humans makes the survival of life on the planet risky. The world is plagued by wars, natural catastrophes, diseases and the threat of climate change. Sooner, not later, all decision-makers must come together to take their share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges by strengthening international diplomacy and co-operation between peoples.

Moustafa Megawer
Qawra

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