Shock, disbelief and anger: Europe reacts to US hurricane disaster

[Euphen]

Shock, disbelief and anger
Europe reacts to US hurricane disaster
By Stefan Steinberg
3 September 2005

Extensive TV reports and news photos over the last three days have brought home to the European public the appalling extent of the flood catastrophe in the southern states of the US.

The scenes of destruction, desperation and poverty, as well as overwhelming evidence of official negligence, inevitably recalled the scenes of the tsunami disaster that devastated large parts of southern Asia last December, as well as a number of floods that have recently hit impoverished countries such as Bangladesh and India.

The television footage and commentary have shown ramshackle housing swept away by the hurricane surge and the plight of dishevelled, starving and bewildered Americans demanding that they receive some sort of assistance. Alongside images of devastation and misery usually associated with third-world countries, European media reports have drawn attention to the complete lack of organised aid for the victims.

Instead of temporary food and shelter, along with medical care, viewers have seen the martial intervention of American state forces and the National Guard, whose first concern is the preservation of property and the suppression of unrest. Britain’s state-run BBC included an on-the-spot report Friday by a journalist who compared downtown New Orleans, patrolled by US armoured vehicles and National Guard troops, to war-torn Baghdad.

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http://wsws.org/articles/2005/sep2005/euro-s03.shtml

[knowbody0]

1. and as we watch

it is impossible not to relate to Iraqis without water, electricity medical attention and food for THREE YEARS

[ailsagirl]

2. It's such an effing mess-- and it's DIRECTLY bushco's fault

Yet they're still in power. How much more can/will people take???

:grr: :mad: