Tuesday, September 13, 2005

Katrina and the Tsunami.

Thought it was rather interesting when I heard a news interview with some guy claiming that Hurricane Katrina was "a disaster worse than the 2004 Tsunami." Let's see.

Hurricane Katrina death toll: 279 and counting.
Asian Tsunami 2004: 180,000 and counting.
Tsunami: 1
Katrina: 0

Hurricane Katrina displaces: ~ 100,000
Asian Tsunami displaces: 1.5 million
Tsunami: 2
Katrina: 0

Asian Tsunami was cleaned up by: Multi-lateral effort in spirit of cooperation.
Hurricane Katrina has: George W. Bush.
Tsunami: 2
Katrina: 1

Typical American overstatement? Maybe.
Just like the 911 attacks were a total disaster when people in different countries in the world die every day from terrorist attacks.

It's the kind of overstatement you can afford to make when you've got a big advertising budget to show how badly you've been hit.

Go figure.

2 Comments:

Blogger Terz said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

Tue Sept 13, 04:39:00 pm 2005  
Blogger Terz said...

I'm just wondering what our friend in South Jersey is thinking now.

I guess it's a matter of perspective: the comparisons between preparedness level of either tragedy, the steps taken so far to rescue/recover/rebuilt and the resources of each region to see it through. On one hand, the US of A will probably be able to rebuild NO in less time than it would take, say, the Indonesians in Aceh to rebuild their lives. On the other, to say that NO was woefully unprepared for Katrina is an understatement, especially for a First World country.

Tue Sept 13, 04:43:00 pm 2005  

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