Hurricane Irma

[mothhawk]

My heart goes out to all the people of the Caribbean Islands whose homes and livelihoods have been shattered by Irma's devastating progress.

British, French, Dutch citizens- what is the EU doing to help?

It turned on a satellite mapping system. Thanks, guys.

[Stan79]

I don't know what the EU is doing to help... sounds like quite a politically loaded question to me. However, i know people from the UK who are already out there helping. Another left at 3am this morning leaving behind his wife and three young children to go and help.

I'm off to Florida with work next weekend. In theory. Will be interesting to see how it all pans out. Hopefully the vast majority have heeded the advice and will be safe.

[burnie]

My sons regiment are out there/more on the way as we speak. The yanks are a short flight away, we are a bit further.

[Potstubsdustbins]

One thing that is annoying me is the complaints of inaction by the UK.

Well there are very few safe landing areas left and our navy doesn't use ..............jet skis it's 3000 miles plus for goodness sake.

In the club today I heard one idiot stating the navy should have been placed on station before the storm hit. I explained that I would take him a photo taken in the 50s of a RN aircraft carrier returning to Pompie after holding station in an Atlantic gale whilst the queen flew to Canada. Gleaming steel hull the paintwork had gone, no guard rails or life boats all were at the bottom of the sea and 20 -plus crew with broken bones.

It must be terrible for those people but we can only do so much so quickly.

[mothhawk]

...Hopefully the vast majority have heeded the advice and will be safe.

My sister and BiL live midway between Fort Myers and Tampa and the land is flat to the ocean. Expected storm surge 6 - 10 feet. Properties in the area are all single storey. They left their home on Wednesday, and flew to stay with friends in California. One of their neighbours flew out to Alabama, the other has chosen to stay put with her cat and two dogs. Not the best decision, I think. I just hope the storm turns and becomes less fierce than predicted.

[veggiechicken]

I've been watching it on CNN all day - terrible. I can't imagine how dreadful it must be, to be there and or required to evacuate. Makes me cross that some people refused to evacuate and thereby put the lives of the emergency services at risk.
I pray that there will be no more loss of life. Homes can be rebuilt, people cannot.

[jackarmy]

Oops, afraid im gonna slightly sort of go off on one here.

Whilst i agree that it is a terrible situation and of course our hearts go out to everyone involved, i find the blanket coverage of these hurricanes quite offensive when thousands in India have died following nature at its worst, at roughly the same time gets mentioned maybe twice ?.

An area the size of the UK was underwater displacing millions, yes really , millions of people yet were still going on about the good old U S . I dont know maybe im an old cynic but it really does seem to me that lives only matter , or at least matter more if your in the west or bestest friends with parts of the west.

Never talk politiks i know, but hey ho, its what it is after all.

[mothhawk]

I agree, Potty. It's no good rushing out unprepared or taking the wrong equipment and supplies. Or arriving and not being able to get the supplies and aid ashore. yes, the French got there first, but all they seemed to do was patrol the streets to prevent looting, presumably because they had no resources to do much else.

[mothhawk]

Oops, afraid im gonna slightly sort of go off on one here.
An area the size of the UK was underwater displacing millions, yes really , millions of people yet were still going on about the good old U S . I dont know maybe im an old cynic but it really does seem to me that lives only matter , or at least matter more if your in the west or bestest friends with parts of the west.

Never talk politiks i know, but hey ho, its what it is after all.

But that's the nature of news reporting, Jack. The Asian floods are old news, sadly, just as North Korea/US sabre rattling has been swept aside for the more dramatic news of Irma. Next week it will be something else, and the world will forget that these people are all still homeless and livelihoods have been lost.

[Stan79]

The ratio of negative to positive news reporting globally is considered to be 17:1

ie - 95% of all news is negative in nature. As humans we relate to negative events more than positive events.

Psychologically, negative events affect us more and therefore stick in the psyche more deeply therefore we relate to them more and they have more significance to us, therefore we (ridiculously) are driven to read more negative coverage than positive! Very unhealthy, particularly in this day and age of social media and people being 'wired in' 24/7.

Bad news sells papers. It may be irresponsible to report on some issues and not others but the media are in it to make money not to be impartial and fair and provide happy news... it just doesn't make them profitable. Ridiculous, isn't it! If as a species we started ignoring bad news outlets and favouring positive news outlets the tripe we're fed would change to reflect that shift.... but that ain't gonna happen any time soon unfortunately.

[DWSmith]

As for positive news vs. negative news, there's also the point of what satisfies the agenda of the news media. I hate to bring up a controversial subject but when it comes to gun control there are dozens of stories about killings with guns here while such a high percentage of people saving themselves, their families, or others with a gun are suppressed. I'm surprised they're covering how people are using cars, trucks, and knives to kill so many people. Sort of debunks some of the garbage theories that gun grabbers have been pushing for decades.

Anyway, Texas and Florida are in my thoughts. Here I hadn't even heard about the event in India. Glad it was discussed here. I work closely with people that work/live in India. They are in my thoughts now too.

[JanieB]

Ancient Chinese curse "May you live in interesting times".

[chris_m]

One thing that is annoying me is the complaints of inaction by the UK.
Well there are very few safe landing areas left and our navy doesn't use ..............jet skis it's 3000 miles plus for goodness sake.

In the club today I heard one idiot stating the navy should have been placed on station before the storm hit.

You could also have pointed out to him that RFA Mounts Bay WAS already in the Caribbean, loaded with aid materials, should it be required as the hurricane season approached.
As to the follow-up aid, you can't send aircraft until you know if they'll be able to land or ships until you know if they'll be able to dock and there's no point in sending more supplies until you know what is needed and in what order of priority anyway.

Some have bleated that the French and Dutch were "mobilised" quicker. Since they have military establishments on their Caribbean territories it's hardly surprising that they were there quicker - they were already there.