Is this Burma and China situation becoming REALLY difficult for anyone else?

[HEyHEY]

I'm having lots of trouble watching reports of this stuff on the news right now. It's strange, usually I (obviously) feel for the people. But, this time, I'm finding it hard to watch without trying not to cry. I just think about all those people and what they're going through, and I wish I was there to help dig people out, distribute aid, put out fires, babysit orphans... anything. But I can't and that's really wearing me down.

[MadMaddie]

1. It is difficult for me because many people are suffering around

the world and the current administration has weakend America's ability to respond to any Disaster.

We can barely attend to our own internal disasters (F) we are not the leaders in the world of innovation and response in these situations.

China has many damns that are cracked and in danger of failing.

Burma is in the path of another major storm......

The US is getting hammered by Tornado's and Fires.

We have a lot of work to do.

[MonkeyFunk]

6. To be fair

I don't think any administration could do much to respond to these tragedies. Myanmar simply won't let anybody help, and I doubt China would let large numbers of US relief workers in.

[MadMaddie]

8. This is true in many cases....in the case of Burma

if and that's a big if..the US was in a negotiating frame of mind they could lead the way in getting help to those in need.

Of course the military rulers should have been on the list of axis of evil but that's another conversation on another day.

Imagine if you will what Katrina would have been like if we didn't have the Coast Guard......

China is responding though they had soldiars on the ground in hours...

[Thothmes]

18. The Chinese government has always made use

of the PLA during times of disaster. My understanding that they have now ordered 150,000 PLA personnel into the quake damaged areas.

[bdamomma]

12. alot of work to do.

my heart goes out to those people in Mynamar and China.

[babylonsister]

2. The massive number of dead are hard to wrap my mind around.

In Myanmar, the fact that the government appears so inept makes me angry; seems familiar, ya know?

I heard 10's of thousands are still buried in China, and only a few bodies have been located.

Tragic.

[Warpy]

3. I think that's the hardest part for me

That is, watching a paranoid government screw up all efforts to help the people in Burma and remembering the frustration here in 2005 and watching the government and people of China really work to get it together to rush help to their people in the earthquake zone. It's the contrast between what we had not too long ago and what we should have had.

It's infuriating.

[shireen]

14. Thom Hartmann said something interesting

there's been speculation that the Burmese dictators are keeping foreign aid workers out because they're trying to cover-up something horrible, like a genocide.

[wmbrew0206]

20. As soon as I heard that the Military would not allow AID workers in

my first thought was "What the hell is going on there that the Military Government doesn't want anyone to see?"

I thought about it and came to the conclusion, that whatever is going on it is so horrible that it is worth it to the Burma government to have the world know they didn't allow aid help in dealing with a 50,000 to 100,000 death disaster then to find out what they are trying to hide.

[housewolf]

4. These are horrible tragedies

I heard a BBC news broadcast yesterday from an on-site reporter in China about a city of 1 million people who were now all living in tents, every building in their city damaged.

Tens of thousands dead and missing in Burma.

One hundred thousand in the tsuanami a couple years ago.

Major earthquake damage and loss of life in Pakistan not so long ago.

And I think of our reaction to losing 2,700 or so in the World Trade Center, 4,000 in Iraq, a few thousand in New Orleans (sorry, I can't recall the number). All are tragedies, but nothing like the scale of the tragedies Asia has experienced over the same timeframe. And I just wonder at our lack of humility in the face of it.

[SeattleGirl]

5. I am too.

I feel like I'm in overload with everything that's going on.

[Synnical]

7. The US won't drop supplies into a country that desperately needs aid

But has no problem bombing another countries. That's seriously wrong.

-C.

[Thothmes]

19. We probably would if the Government of Burma asked us to.

[Synnical]

21. Drop Bombs, you mean?

:crazy:

[uppityperson]

9. me too. Getting very hard.

[zazen]

10. doesn't it seem like China is responding better to their earthquake than FEMA to Katrina?

I know it's a dark time to bring it up, but there was a CNN reporter interviewing a professor here of Chinese descent, asking all of these critical questions about the quality of their structures, China's lack of preparation, etc., etc., and I thought, were Americans going on Chinese TV defending our atrocious response to Katrina? I know there's nothing new about our hubris, but it just slapped me in the face for some reason tonight. I think a lot of things about China's govt suck, but they seem to have a pretty organized, widespread response to their natural disasters, at least now.

[AnnieBW]

11. What pisses me off

Is that there was this story in the WaPo about "why aren't more people donating?" Well, it's because we don't want our money to go to the Burmese junta or the Chinese government!

[shireen]

13. i hear you

i've been getting really upset lately too ... so much sadness in the world.
:cry:

[crickets]

15. Yes. It's a helpless feeling

watching others suffer and feeling like there's nothing you can do to make it better, no matter how much you want to. It's horrible on its own, but on top of that it does bring up all sorts of Katrina memories. Bad emotional brew. Does anyone know of reputable third party rescue groups involved that we can donate to with any assurance the assistance will actually reach the people? Doctors Without Borders?

?

[MiniMe]

16. Yes, and there is another big storm headed for Burma

So many people there are now homeless and have no shelter. This one isn't supposed to be as bad as the first one, but I shudder to think what those people will do without shelter.

[KharmaTrain]

17. The Rhythm Of Life...

Sad as it must be said, but in some ways...these tragedies have occured in that part of the world for millenium and, in the end, the human spirit perseveres.

Myammar is problematic due to its repressive and xenophobic regime (kinda sounds familiar doesn't it) that was both ill-prepared and now innudated by this crisis. In many ways I think their freezing is more a stunned reaction and one that has complicated matter, but our options are limited...while an immienent crisis may be averted, the political repression will remain. But this may be the catalyst for the Myammar people to rise up and demand real change...and that's where our aid will be needed the most.

I'm actually a bit impressed with how much we're seeing/hearing about what's going on in China. I can remember the days when that country was behind a big iron curtain and little was known other that reports of massive disasters and famines that killed millions. The area the quake struck is heavily populated and if the death toll is thousands...while tragic, it's a bit of progress and I'm sure that a similar quake in the past would have taken more victims.

[Synnical]

22. Are you fucking kidding me?

The rhythm of life?

Burma forces slave labor. It's not "problematic" it's an outrage.