Comments on: 15 TED Talks to help with disasters like Haiti http://nathan-lee.com/blog/2010/01/17/15-ted-talks-to-help-with-disasters-like-haiti/ Nathan musing, ranting and raving about the world. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:55:55 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Stephen http://nathan-lee.com/blog/2010/01/17/15-ted-talks-to-help-with-disasters-like-haiti/comment-page-1/#comment-1364 Stephen Fri, 22 Jan 2010 03:23:11 +0000 http://nathan-lee.com/blog/?p=1053#comment-1364 Philosophers are often criticized for not being pragmatic, especially when a disaster already stroke. We tend to deliberately ignore true causes for seemingly high ethical reasons. Here is another TED talking about why Haiti is hapless in this very disaster. But this time it is a real TED, Ted Rall talking about why Haiti is owed. By the way he is a popular American political cartoonist. Article can be found here - http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/01/14-13 But I think he overblamed the U.S. because in true history, it was the French having planting the seeds. Philosophers are often criticized for not being pragmatic, especially when a disaster already stroke. We tend to deliberately ignore true causes for seemingly high ethical reasons. Here is another TED talking about why Haiti is hapless in this very disaster. But this time it is a real TED, Ted Rall talking about why Haiti is owed. By the way he is a popular American political cartoonist. Article can be found here – http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/01/14-13

But I think he overblamed the U.S. because in true history, it was the French having planting the seeds.

]]> By: Tweets that mention Nathan Lee – 15 TED Talks to help with disasters like Haiti -- Topsy.com http://nathan-lee.com/blog/2010/01/17/15-ted-talks-to-help-with-disasters-like-haiti/comment-page-1/#comment-1335 Tweets that mention Nathan Lee – 15 TED Talks to help with disasters like Haiti -- Topsy.com Mon, 18 Jan 2010 10:55:32 +0000 http://nathan-lee.com/blog/?p=1053#comment-1335 [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Nathan Lee, Nathan Lee. Nathan Lee said: My latest blog: 15 TED Talks to help with disasters like Haiti: http://bit.ly/83knQU #Haiti #TEDTalks [...] [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Nathan Lee, Nathan Lee. Nathan Lee said: My latest blog: 15 TED Talks to help with disasters like Haiti: http://bit.ly/83knQU #Haiti #TEDTalks [...]

]]> By: Lisa http://nathan-lee.com/blog/2010/01/17/15-ted-talks-to-help-with-disasters-like-haiti/comment-page-1/#comment-1333 Lisa Sun, 17 Jan 2010 23:15:19 +0000 http://nathan-lee.com/blog/?p=1053#comment-1333 TED talks have some extraordinary ideas to help with the disasters like Haiti, when the country is in the 'rebuilding' phase. At the moment Haiti has not reached this stage. A lot of organisations are sending aid to Haiti, but there are logistical problems preventing people from reaching food, water and medical supplies. The airport is small and ill-equipped to deal with large numbers of people so planes are consistently being diverted, forced to land in the Dominican Republic. The supplies are then placed on trucks to deliver aid to the Haitians. In a country that has been hit by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake it seems ridiculous to send aid by truck. This form of transport is causing a 24 hour delay of supplies reaching the injured and destitute. Furthermore, the needy are located in a small, compacted area with few access points; making it impossible for a truck to deliver help where it's needed most. As a result, people are becoming desperate and the threat of violence is emanate; meaning the strong will be the ones to receive aid instead of the people who need it the most. Even when people receive aid like food, the Haiti people don't know how to eat some of the supplies they receive. Military supplies (meals ready to eat), require the contents of the packages to be mixed with water; a piece of valuable information that doesn't seem to be passed on to the quake survivors. The pinnacle piece of information that seems to be missing though is a central plan to distribute aid in an organised way to those individuals who need it most. Without structure, the people of Haiti are going without life sustaining supplies such as the ones you have mentioned in your blog post Nath. Unfortunately, time is not something the Haitian people have. TED talks have some extraordinary ideas to help with the disasters like Haiti, when the country is in the ‘rebuilding’ phase. At the moment Haiti has not reached this stage. A lot of organisations are sending aid to Haiti, but there are logistical problems preventing people from reaching food, water and medical supplies. The airport is small and ill-equipped to deal with large numbers of people so planes are consistently being diverted, forced to land in the Dominican Republic. The supplies are then placed on trucks to deliver aid to the Haitians. In a country that has been hit by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake it seems ridiculous to send aid by truck. This form of transport is causing a 24 hour delay of supplies reaching the injured and destitute. Furthermore, the needy are located in a small, compacted area with few access points; making it impossible for a truck to deliver help where it’s needed most. As a result, people are becoming desperate and the threat of violence is emanate; meaning the strong will be the ones to receive aid instead of the people who need it the most.

Even when people receive aid like food, the Haiti people don’t know how to eat some of the supplies they receive. Military supplies (meals ready to eat), require the contents of the packages to be mixed with water; a piece of valuable information that doesn’t seem to be passed on to the quake survivors.

The pinnacle piece of information that seems to be missing though is a central plan to distribute aid in an organised way to those individuals who need it most. Without structure, the people of Haiti are going without life sustaining supplies such as the ones you have mentioned in your blog post Nath. Unfortunately, time is not something the Haitian people have.

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