mother nature strikes again

With the recent disaster in Haiti, I can't help but think about those who have lost their lives and loved ones. Mother Nature doesn't seem to have a conscience when it comes to disasters, there are always victims. They are in my thoughts and I've donated to Oxfam International to help with the support they are carrying out.
Just think about this, here is a country that was hit by 4 hurricanes in the span of 30 days in 2008. And this was serious stuff, about 60% of their harvests were destroyed and entire cities were uninhabitable. Now this earthquake with death tolls estimated at 50,000,,, this is a country that could use a break. Problem is, their geographical location makes them prone to such events. They will keep coming, you can't stop it.

With that in mind, I am puzzled. You can't avoid seeing the outpouring of financial support that is being collected for this country. However, reports show that relief organizations can't even get in to help the suffering. This is one of the poorest countries in the world and with that comes the inability to build the countries infrastructure properly. The ports and roads they had for others to get in were already a mess, now it's even worse.

Why I'm puzzled is that here's a country with history of devestating events, billions of dollars donated for relief over the years and there doesn't seem to be a focus on rebuilding differently to help alleviate the devestation that is going to happen. I realize that we must be reactive to a natural disaster but I for one feel that much more focus needs to be on preparing for such events. Right now is the time for these organizations and supporting countries to be proactive to events in the future.

Like I said, I don't think you will ever stop these events from happening but I have to believe it would better serve the people of Haiti to invest in a plan so when things happen, they won't be as extreme.

DD

common sense right??

If you woke up in the morning and you noticed you had a flat tire,,, would you change the tire before you drove?
Silly question right? Of course you would, because driving a car with a flat tire would cause even more damage than the flat tire itself. Simple right? If you can take action to prevent further damage or injuries you take it.

Now take a look at the article attached.
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20090907/ARTICLE/909079989/-1/NEWSSITEMAP

We have seen the effects of natural disasters, specifically hurricanes in the past. As the article states "Hurricanes pose the most dangerous, destructive and widespread natural threat to the nation". Still, when it comes to funding for solutions to reduce or eliminate damage of this type of natural disaster, we are in a reactive mode. How is it that we can afford the additional costs after the fact when we can't afford the upfront costs for prevention? More importantly, it's not just money we're talking about, there's a life factor as well. Prevention WILL SAVE LIVES!

Now is the time to look at a different approach.

DD