www.BPODigest.com i-Vortal

Difference between Mumbai/New Orleans reaction to the dance of nature

I have been following Intentblog a lot lately. It usually has wonderful posts with deep insights.

A couple of weeks back Rahul Bose posted an interesting blog

It took a week. A week to bring this city to its knees. A week to bring this teeming, throbbing needle of land to its knees. And I can tell you this. It would have taken fewer days to bring New York to its knees. Or London. Or Geneva.

The reason for that is pretty simple. The Bombayite is like Joe Frazier. It takes a lot for us to hit the canvas. We never believe things are so bad that we cannot move ahead. Get to our destination. Make it happen. Which is why when there is a BEST strike it doesn’t faze us in the least. We get to our offices. If there are floods, we don’t spend a millisecond worrying whether our dabba will reach us. We know it will.

Non-performance is not an option. Read more We are still, human

The violent behaviour of residents of New Orleans in after the after math of hurricane Katrina has prompted Kanika Sethi to write Who would have thought Louisiana would be the next Mumbai? Or is it?

Yes, Rahul, you are so correct. It took much less time in New Orleans.

Americans now sit in shock, watching on television how thousands of their own citizens have become "refugees" in their own country. We are wondering why our once highly esteemed FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Association) has not reacted fast enough.

And now we watch how Americans are reacting. Yes, there are those in Louisiana who are running out into the streets, looting, breaking into hardware stores and stealing guns. Police, as I've heard on CNN, are afraid to confront some of these gun-toting looters. Normal people are afraid to leave their homes. There are those who are cursing the government, those who, perhaps, have never been helped by the U.S. government (or maybe have always relied on the government for help), but greatly expect aid at a time like this, when they need it most.

Then again there are other Americans who are doing whatever they can. A woman on another website I visit daily explained how she and her husband were so moved they were sending $50K to a relief organization. Others, trained disaster relief personal and medical professionals, are rushing to help in any way they can. People are giving what they can and praying that help will reach those who need it.

It's incredible to see, how in this month of August (Monsoon Season in many parts of India) in two very different cities across the world, flooding has affected the psyche of two very different nations.

But, I think the reactions of victims of Mumbai and New Orleans cannot be compared. New Orleans residents are experiencing a disaster of this magnitude for the first time and so they don't know exactly how to react. They don’t have water drink, food to eat and are feeling totally lost, neglected and hopeless and so the natural tendency of survival of the fittest is kicking off violent behavior. In contrast, Mumbai residents have their share of previous experiences during numerous bloody religious riots and it seems Mumbai residents have learned from those experiences.

Whatever may the reaction of the people to the disaster, the reality is that tens of thousands of people are with out basic necessities such as food, clothing and shelter. As fellow human beings, it’s time for all of us to reach out to these victims in every possible way.

Visit http://katrinahelp.info/ to know latest information about katrina relief efforts.