RE: MD Katrina - Thousands Dead ?

From: Gert-Jan Peeters (gjpeeters@home.nl)
Date: Fri Sep 02 2005 - 18:58:08 BST

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    I read your mail. Pondered a while about the words "Social Capital"
    It is indeed the lack of, I feel around me. It makes us drop to Biological
    patterns of value as soon as things go wrong and anarchie is the result.

    GJ

    -----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
    Van: owner-moq_discuss@venus.co.uk
    [mailto:owner-moq_discuss@venus.co.uk]Namens Sam Norton
    Verzonden: vrijdag 2 september 2005 18:34
    Aan: moq_discuss@moq.org
    Onderwerp: Re: MD Katrina - Thousands Dead ?

    less than 2 months ago, cuba was able to move 1.7 million people on short
    notice.
    the whole civil defense is embedded in the community to begin with. people
    know ahead of time where they are to go.
    they come to your door and knock, and tell you, evacuation is coming, then
    they come and tell you, now.
    if no electricity, they have runners who communicate from a headquarters to
    central locations what is to be done.
    the country's leaders go on TV and take charge. but not only the leaders are
    speaking. the TV weatherpeople are knowledgeable. and the population is well
    educated about hurricanes.
    they not only evacuate. it's arranged beforehand where they will go, who has
    family where. not only pickup is organized, delivery of people is organized.
    merely sticking them in a stadium is unthinkable. shelters all have medical
    personnel, from the neighborhood. they have family doctors in cuba (!), who
    evacuate together with the neighborhood, and already know who, for example,
    needs insulin.
    if they evacuate to a countryside high school -- a last resort -- they have
    dormitories there.
    they also have veterinarians and they evacuate animals. they begin
    evacuating immediately, and also evacuate TV sets and refrigerators, so that
    people aren't relucatant to leave because people might steal their stuff.
    it's not throwing money at the problem. it's not financial capital, it's
    social capital. the u.s. in this sense has zero social capital.
    dealing with hurricanes in cuba, as compared with how it's done in the u.s.,
    is similar to the differences in how they deal with medicine. it's not
    reactive; it's proactive. they act as early as possible. the u.s. doesn't
    have civil defense, it has civil *reaction.*

    ~~~~~~~~

    Found at: http://www.boingboing.net/2005/09/01/katrina_anecdote_on_.html

    I thought people might find it interesting. Particularly the "it's not
    financial capital, it's social capital. the u.s. in this sense has zero
    social capital" which I think links in closely with Pirsig's point (so long
    ago!!!) about a natural american resource that seems to have gone down the
    plughole.

    Sam

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