... because this is killing me. I haven't been watching much US coverage of Haiti and obviously this is a bad situation. BUT, there really are many bad situations in the world and I'm getting rather pissed off when I do hear the most random comments from people who are feeling all this stuff for Haiti and have ABSOLUTELY NO realization of the history of Haiti, how disasters are covered from an aid point, any comprehension of earthquakes... and stuff like that. On my other twitter account (I have one for being pregnant, which until last week really did have stuff on pregnancy) there is this women who posts every two seconds with a combination of good things - how to help in Haiti- and comments/questions that to me are common sense, although I understand that they probably aren't to most people. But, COME ON! Read a bit online at least- you are obviously there enough.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Ok, not the nicest post, but I swear she is pissing me off more and more and I can't write about it anywhere else.
Some quick articles that may be helpful:
Aid flows in Haiti- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8468484.stm
How earthquakes happen- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4126809.stm
Ok, my main thing with that is that an earthquake doesn't equal disaster and death- that should be obvious to a degree with the number of survivors (ie, not EVERYONE died) and the fact that Haiti is on an ISLAND that is shared with the Dominican Republic and we have heard really nothing about their damage with the quake. I was about 50 miles away from a 7.0 earthquake in 1989 (Loma Prieta in California) and ONLY felt it because I was at soccer/football practice and so we sat on the ground to feel it (pretty cool, I will add, to feel). So, the range is not so massive as people seem to think. Certainly not compared to things like hurricanes...
BBC country profile Haiti- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/country_profiles/1202772.stm
Super quick note- I'll try to write more later perhaps... I follow-up on the practicalities of relief efforts and think it's good for people to know the basics.
