Massive Storm System Spawns Multiple Tornadoes; Kills At Least 202 People

Harley Quinn hyenaholic wrote:

The problem is that now we've got two disasters on our hands. We've got all the shit going down in Japan, with people frantically trying to determine just how bad the nuclear plant thing is, and now we've got America, waving its arms and shouting, "Look at me! Look at all the tornadoes!"

And the problem is that both require help and nobody is quite sure who needs it more.

Then there's the usual man-made disasters and by that I mean Lybia really has got some problems now, but how can we help those poor people as well?

There's so much going wrong right now, that nobody knows where to start fixing it.

I agree. Do you remember not long after 9/11 when the president (I think it was the president) of the Red Cross came under fire for holding back donations to 9/11 victims because they needed to keep something in reserve for people affected by any other disasters at the time?* She was absolutely right, but she caught so much flak for it that she ended up having to resign. I can easily see something like that happening now.

* Damn you, Kurt Russell! Look at the big picture here!

Aggie wrote:

I agree. Do you remember not long after 9/11 when the president (I think it was the president) of the Red Cross came under fire for holding back donations to 9/11 victims because they needed to keep something in reserve for people affected by any other disasters at the time?* She was absolutely right, but she caught so much flak for it that she ended up having to resign. I can easily see something like that happening now.

Every so often Red Cross will come under media fire (again) over their requests for specifically monetary donations rather than donations of goods: the implication, usually, is that there must be something crooked going on, else why would they want money? If, say, they're trying to help hungry people, why don't they want my donations of food?

I'm old enough to remember the 1972 earthquake in Nicaragua. It happened only two days before Christmas, and triggered a massive outpouring of gifts from richer countries, particularly the US -- many gifts in kind rather than in cash. Unfortunately, much of the material aid was completely inappropriate: winter clothes, for instance (Managua is only 12° north of the Equator and has a tropical climate), Christmas toys, and large quantities of frozen food (er, electricity?).

Hey, I just wanted to chime in on how I herped a derp and got stuck in an one of my college halls in which the windows pretty much shattered in the storm, but I'm fine. Yeah, I really, REALLY underestimated the power of this storm.

Apparently they said that what screwed over a lot of folks was that the tornado clusterfuck was hidden within a strong but "normal" thunderstorm. Yeah, I'm not sure about that. Some areas in Harvest and Tanner, AL got hit terribly hard. Most of the place is just shredded building framework piles and foundations for a good distance. Some of the powerlines were on the ground a few miles from where they originally stood. I forget which part my sister had to go to to pick up unprocessed blood units(I think it was Muscle Shoals?), but she told me about there being smashed cars all over the place(some with people still in them). Also, a hospital in Tuscaloosa got completely destroyed. Huntsville didn't seem to get much damage other than snapped powerlines everywhere, but I'm not sure since we're under curfew as some places are still without power(it will be a week now).



I think the most depressingly weird thing about all this is that a bunch of people were killed not by the storm, but from their generators emitting Carbon Monoxide.

Quote :

A noble sentiment, but unfortunately also one doomed to fall on deaf ears with most people(as Harley's latest post aptly illustrates). We live in an era where it is all too widely accepted as a given that disasters-- whether natural or man-made --are simply opportunities for scoring cheap ideological, cultural, or social points. The idea of people putting aside their differences in times of crisis is becoming as extinct as the passenger pigeon; indeed, I suspect the outpouring of relief aid to Japan will probably be the last time in human history when helping those touched by catastrophe takes precedence over petty personal/national differences.

Is this the same Chris?

rae wrote:

I'm specifically protesting Notanoni use of Ai Weiwei; I think that he is a bad example because an earthquake is not man-made. It was made worse by human fuckery, but the disaster itself is natural. If xe was discussing protesting elements that led to far worse destruction during a natural disaster, Ai Weiwei would be a perfect example, as would a metric fuckton of artists based in and around New Orleans. Does anyone know of domr good artists protesting man-made disasters? I know back in the day there was some great art protesting the Exon Valdez spill, and Chernobyl, but if there's any about the gulf spill, I've missed it and want to see it.

So you think it's just fine for people to be "disappeared" when they try to speak up about the Chinese government's corruption? Ai Weiwei is protesting the brutal silencing tactics.

Tell me exactly where, in that statement, you see anything at all that could possibly even hint at that.