Typhoon Haiyan struck the Philippines over the weekend with winds nearing 150 mph, destroying numerous villages and cities. Victims have provided chilling accounts of the storm and its devastating effects, with one visitor describing his surroundings as "World War III”:
“Everything was completely gone . . . A foot left of concrete around a building -- just a foot left of it, everything wiped out. Walking on debris and dead people two to three meters high; piles and piles … of dead people under the debris and some laid out on the sides, the ones they pulled out.
. . .
There were people – babies, children, old people -- laying out on the street, with blisters over their bodies from being dead. . . . Hundreds. Hundreds."A local compared her town to a "World War II city," recalling her scenario:
"The hardest thing is ... seeing you mother floating in the flood and you don't know what to do. You just see there and the only thing is have to save yourself . . . . I could not save her because she drowned already, and it was not just water from the sea but mixed with dirty water — color black, like came from river and smell like canal."President Obama and his wife conveyed that they were "deeply saddened'' by the catastrophe and that the U.S. would be providing aid to the Philippines. The U.S. military's Pacific Command is set to deploy aircraft and ships to help in search-and-rescue operations, and U.S. officials are encouraging those who want to help to donate money to humanitarian organizations.
10 comments:
I am glad that the U.S. is providing aid to the Philippines. Given our recent involvement in the affairs of other countries, it is good to see us lending aid to a foreign nation that really needs our help. In this case, I feel that it is okay for us to intervene because the Philippines actually need help right now, and we have not just taken it upon ourselves to throw ourselves into the affairs of another nation.
The solid numbers really can't convey the sheer scale of this kind of hurricane... we still talk about hurricane Katrina's cataclysmic impact eight years later, and yet Haiyan's death toll seems to be at least five times greater, in a country with a population less than one third of the size of the USA's. I can't quite imagine how long it will be before the Philippines makes any sort of recovery.
Though, as Alex points out, at least the US is making an effort to provide some sort of aid. We'll have to wait and see how effective it is, given the state of the Philippines at the moment.
With all the US government’s foreign spending, which I find to be too scattered, I cannot say that I have any complaints about putting tax dollars to helping the victims of Typhoon Haiyan.
Of course, even with this aid, more has to be done to help the people affected in the Philippines. People must donate directly to organizations that will help on the ground so that immediate help can be given where it is most needed. I fear that sometimes knowing that the government has made an effort to help where there is disaster makes people complacent when they ought to be in full assistance mode.
I think it's definitely good that the US has decided to aid the Philippines in the aftermath of the Typhoon. In a country like the Philippines, where there is such a large gap between the rich and the poor, so many of the Filipino lived in harsh conditions prior to the disaster. These people don't have the money or resources to recover as individuals, so it's especially important that they receive aid from elsewhere. Like Kira said, people in the United States should still be aware of all the help that is still needed. Despite the funds and resources that the US provides, there are so many people who need immediate medical care and food. The independent humanitarian organizations on the ground can best help these people with donations that they receive. It's good to see the US to aid the Philippines out of compassion rather than for politically motivated purposes.
I think it was a very smart move for the US to offer assistance to the Philippines. Not only is it morally correct to take the effort to help the Philippines, but it also increases positive foreign relations between the two countries. I don't think this US involvement should be an issue of intervention, when the Philippines is in desperate need of help.
But, I agree with Kira. There must be more NGO activity to support the reconstruction of the Philippines. The contribution of the NGO's and the government will benefit both the US and the Philippines.
This catastrophe does deserve the aide of the United States, but I believe that we must go in with the sole intention of helping them recover from the storm, nothing else. Any other ulterior motives, no matter how small and unimportant, would ruin this act of human compassion. We should help because it is right, and if anything beneficial happens because of that, so be it, but we must not go into the Philippines with our own agenda. This hurricane's size and lethality is beyond our comprehension as Brendan stated, which only further emphasizes the need for pure compassion and aide.
Although the decision for US to aid the Philippines is definitely good from a moral standpoint, that is definitely not the only reason the US decided to help. Like others have said, relief can increase relations as well as drive up goodwill. The inverse is also true, however. If the US had decided not to provide any aid, it would possibly have dented its image. For example, China has been criticized for providing meager aid, in part due to its strained relations with the Philippines. Nevertheless, people are denouncing China, saying it should have helped whatever its situation was with the Philippines.
While it's good that the US has sent aid–-politically motivated or not--the response to this disaster has been relatively meager compared to the earthquake/tsunamis in Japan. I doubt the US and similarly developed countries would purposely favor a developed country over a less-developed one, but there definitely seems to be a disparity between the responses. Perhaps this is in part because the media in Japan was able to broadcast so much more quickly and effectively, but still, a greater response should be launched than what has been made so far.
I personally know someone who lives near the US embassy in Manila and her family is struggling. And if people are struggling near the embassy in the capital Manila, you know there are people much much worse. I am very happy to see that the U.S. in providing aid and I expect a lot more countries to help out (neighboring countries hopefully can provide temporary refuge). I'm sure this will strongly boost the US Philippines relationship that was terrible during the Spanish American War.
That was a interesting connection Nathan I did not think of that. The relationship will be strengthen, and I think we all need to pitch in and help. We need to do our part and help other out, send in donations of old clothes and canned food!
Post a Comment