Katrina

Disasters will happen. That’s something that we just can’t change. The only difference that can be made is the way we respond to them. We can’t make the catastrophes smaller, but we can make the consequences less terrible.
In Argentina we’ve had some natural disasters. They weren’t as big as this one going on right now in the Gulf area, but they were pretty big. The last one was in Santa Fe, a beautiful and important province. The thing about that situation was that the same critics, the same (valid) complaints took place. And it turned out that the whole country, and the world showed their solidarity. The same thing happened, the biggest help came from people and their time and donations. I’m not saying that the authorities didn’t help, but they were late, too late (and not enough?)
This situation made me realize something: the response, the chaos, everything is the same no matter where the disasters happen. They can take place in a third world country, or a first world country, but the images are awfully similar. Therefore, the questions arise, is anybody really ready for something like this? Are we prepared to respond? Should we be surprised that this is the way things turn out? What can be done to be better prepared?