I was reading today that Pakistan has increased its reported death toll from the devastating earthquake that happened there to 73,000. Thousands died in mudslides in Central America during recent hurricanes. At first, I wondered if this meant we placed more value on the lives of Americans than we do on others, but I realized that isn't the case given the enormous outpouring of support for victims of the tsunami. But, when you consider that 73,000 people died in an earthquake in Pakistan and thousands more died in Central America over the summer - and this is not to diminish the damage done to our own citizens at ALL - it sure makes the devastation caused by Katrina and Rita seem pretty small. Again, not to diminish the suffering of people in those storms. It was definitely horrific. But, the summer of unprecidented hurricane activity wasn't close to the worst natural disaster in American history in terms of lives lost. In fact, more lives were lost in Mexico and Central America than in the US. So, I wonder, is it the coverage that makes it more poignant? The tsunami had all kinds of television footage. Amateurs had hand-held video of the scene bringing it home for people. It was also a freak thing - completely unexpected and shocking as hell. Hurricanes move slowly and we know they are coming. I guess I just wonder why we don't seem nearly as interested in the thousands of lives lost in other natural disasters as we were in those lost in America during the hurricane season. I mean, can you imagine if nearly 100,000 Americans died in an earthquake? That's exactly what happened in Pakistan, yet, we don't hear much about it. Any thoughts?
a couple of things. firstly initially both nyt/post had amazing pieces everyday. now the post has a nice story every few days. really really excellent works of journalism. secondly something we can all do fairly easily in terms of earthquake relief. the essential problem is that pakistan is a third world country. we all have heard about its military but its probably busy building nukes than having conventional helicopters. and hence it needs helicopters to transport supplies necessary for these people up in the mountains. in a couple of weeks it'll start to snow and people living in the open without even a tent...might really start a second round of deaths. http://www.saquake.org/ that site lets you input your zipcode and send an email about these things to your representatives. small thing...but hopefully might make a difference.
Jeff, It's really rather simple: our 'awareness' of the Tsunami was much higher than the recent quake disaster in Asia. For one, the media was relentless in its coverage. On the other hand, the government/NGOs carried out public campaigns to raise awareness about the tsunami and collect relief funds for it. Moreover, at the time, we didn't have to worry about our own natural disasters yet (Katrina, Rita), so I also believe that it's a 'priority' issue: taking care of ours first, and that means the resources available are being spent elsewhere.
I see a couple of problems why the Pakistan Earthquake isn't getting as much attention as other disasters and why the Central American hurricane deaths are getting practically no attention. 1. Unfortunately yes in the US media and society a US disaster will get much more coverage than an international coverage. The tsunami got a lot of coverage because it was one of the hugest disasters in world history, involved a type of disaster that was rarer than hurricanes or earthquakes and lastly happened in major tourist areas with picturesque vistas and (I hate to say this but) also killed many Westerners. In Thailand half of the deaths were western tourists and it made great coverage for US and European audiences to show little lost blond scandinavian kids wondering around Khao Lok looking for their families along with supermodels injured at Patong. 2. The Pakistan Earthquake and Central American Hurricanes came after a series of major disasters including two major hurricanes that struck the US. Among aid groups there is a term called compassion fatigue and unfortunately for the victims in Pakistan and Guatamala their disasters have come at a time of high compassion fatigue after individuals, governments and NGO's have been inundated for the whole year with dealing with major disasters.
a few days ago there was an article in the chron about 3 days after the earthquake right after probably burkes game winner and how in houston the front page had so man katrina front page covers (about 100) about 50 rita ones, and only 3 eartquake ones, even tho a great number of our readers are pakistani/indians. and the author of the article was arguing that the chron is an international paper with the number of different people from different backgrounds who read it as their main source of news. And how because of this we should give more emphasis to such a huge tragedy, esp over a baseball game article.
Yeah people mighj be tapped out after donating hundreds of billions this year, but it wouldn't explain why media coverage is usually poor for 3rd world countries, like that earthquake in Bam, Iran. It could be that sending actual reporters there could cost more money than the prosective rating it'd get. Funding for international coverage has been steadily declining in the major nets for the past 20 years. When they reported the tsunami, most of the coverage went on the accounts of tourists and the wealthy. Unfortunately, I remember that model's story of being stranded than 10 other's I saw that day. I guess viewer connection, ratings potential, and cost/benefits of sending a team there all have a role to play in American media.
A Tsunami is not something that happens everyday. earth quackes have more chance of happening. thats why the Tsunami got so much attention.
Actually, I think the Bam earthquake got a lot more coverage. Perhaps that was my perception, not the reality, because I pay more attention to things like this, but I don't think so. Think about this... an American gets beheaded in Pakistan by an extremist group, and the coverage is extensive, lasting for weeks, if not longer. 73,000+ die in a horrific earthquake, and thousands more are at severe risk of dying from exposure from the winter weather, which will begin any day now on the edge of the Roof of the World, and the coverage here is minimal for such a great disaster. Jeff's question is a good one. Why are we so fickle? Is "disaster overload" really an adequate excuse? Is it something more, in this case? Perhaps it is. Keep D&D Civil.
I think this is exactly it. How much did you really hear about and see the suffering in the earthquake, compared to both Katrina and the tsunami? I think a good comparison is how Vietnam changed war as well. With the war being brought to the TV for the first time, the death was far more sensitive than WWI or WWII or whatnot. Hearing numbers is one thing, but seeing bodies or suffering can create an entirely different emotion, and I think that's probably the cause.
