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Originally Posted by SameOldStory
What I remember of the Kobe earthquake in 1995 are images on the news of people complaining that the government wasn't responding to the their needs fast enough. They kept asking "where is the aid, where is the government".
That is what I saw. People standing or sitting, waiting to be helped. Was it the whole story? I'm sure it wasn't. But that was the image over, and over, on the TV.
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Actually, it wasn't a fraction of the story, but it made for good news coverage. Mostly what was talked about was the fact that rescue workers from around the world weren't
allowed to enter the country and help. They were kept at the airports. TV shows what makes the ratings, not what makes the news.
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In the less civilized, and less sedate, parts of the world people depend on themselves and there neighbors. The loss of that is saddening.
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That's a fact. Modern city dewellers are far too conditioned to be 'taken care of' to deal with emergencies. (Of course this is a generalization.) In any emergency situation the more bystanders there are, the less any one person will move to help. But you can be sure that as far as trying to dig out trapped people, neighbors were ripping their hands raw trying to help. It just doesn't make as good TV coverage as entire plane-loads of Red Cross rescue workers waiting at the airport for three days waiting for permission to enter the country.
Stitchawl