The BBC reports that India and Pakistan seem to be trying to work together to help the HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of people who still have not received help following the terrible quake. And yet it quietly reports that the international community do not seem to have yet truly risen to the task:
The United Nations says about 500,000 people have yet to see any help.
It has so far received just 5% of the money it says it needs to fund its relief operation – about $13m has arrived following an emergency appeal for $272m, with a further $50m promised.
That is surely a scandal that is worthy of a blog storm? Perhaps there is one being stirred up, but I sure havent seen one.
I fear that we are all a little catastrophe-weary after all that has happened this since boxing day. I am surprised that I have not seen mass blogger calls for action for us both to raise money and also for us to put pressure on our governments to do more to help these desperately needy people.
I feel ashamed that I have so far personally done nothing for these people – this is the first time I have even mentioned it on my blog. I am not sure that my embarrassment is lifted at all by the fact that I have also read so very little about this latest disaster on the blogs I frequent. I find myself asking “why?”
I guess one reason is just the fatigue that can set in to the volunteers who write blogs. Unlike God, the harsh truth is our resources are limited and we surely cannot care in the same way for everyone.
The good news is that there are at least some people in the blogosphere at least talking about Kashmir– Google blogsearch had 34,000 posts at last count. This is considerably less than the 880,000 that mention New Orleans , but the harsh reality is that it is easier for us to speak about and act upon disasters that happen on our doorstep than those that happen so far away.
One of the results of globalisation, however is that as much as we might want to try and ignore the plight of others across the world from us, we still have a nagging feeling at the back of our minds that these people are now our neighbours. And in that same corner of my own mind I fear that I am behaving towards the Kashmir people more like the Levite or the Pharisee than the Good Samaritan.
But I wonder if there is also another side to it. I can’t help but feel that this string of disasters is gradually stripping away our sense of invulnerability. We know now that even us “rich westerners” are not immune. We almost feel as if we are counting the days till Bird Flue or some other disaster which is looming towards us. Who would have thought that at the beginning of the 21st Century modern man would feel so very vulnerable and helpless. And yet, with the power of blogging and the ability to wire money we can probably make more difference to the lives of others now than we ever have before. I wonder if we will rise to the challenge and “remember the poor” even when we perhaps feel we have little left to give.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In