Earthquack And Irene, Part Deux

Irene remains the big, big, big story in and around Gotham. You’d think there had never been a hurricane on the East Coast before, let alone a Category 3 one, let alone one that was (horror beyond belief) coming this way!!! You’d think a storm was unheard of, some kind of novel, freakish accident. Indeed. MSNBC has even reminded New Yorkers that Long Island is after all, wait for it, an actual island:

"You have to recognize that you're living here on an island, and island living represents certain risks," said Edward Mangano, county executive in Long Island's Nassau County, where school buses were being moved to higher ground in case they're needed to evacuate residents to storm shelters. "And those risks appear now, at least, to be tracking toward us."

“Tracking toward us” is apparently bureaucratic disaster speak for “arriving.” Personally, I’ve never heard of such a thing. An island? I thought Long Island, a corner of the Gothamsfero I avoid at all cost, was a traffic jam.

And they’ve already trotted out that wonderful pre-disaster reporting cliché, “Preparing For The Worst!” Cue the scary music. The storm isn’t supposed to get to New York for a couple of days. So the nadir of disaster reporting has probably not yet arrived. Stay tuned for pictures of empty supermarket shelves, people hammering plywood over windows, and finally some guy in a parka standing in the wind while things that are not tied down blow around.

This is just not getting it for me. I need something like this:

The Adventures of Earthquack And Irene

Goodness gracious. There’s a 5.8 earthquake in Virginia and the media go absolutely nuts. And then, ut oh! there’s a hurricane coming this way and the media go absolutely nuts. And in their going nuts, the nation’s attention (distracted and unfocused as it already was) is diverted from whatever else might already be on its plate (the Kardashians? Afghanistan? Lindsay Lohan? Japan?) to the dread, the fear, the imminence of (gasp! OMG! OMG! OMG!) yet another (shudder) Natural Disaster. Apparently, the Nation’s virtually insatiable taste for Human Created Disasters of all descriptions is going to be given a brief rest, a time out, and a small plate of ND to cleanse the nation’s already sated palate before it again continues gorging on new and old HCDs. And, of course, this ND (gasp! OMG! OMG! OMG!) simply cannot possibly measure up the recent, memorable, enormous NDs that were enhanced by HCDs, namely Katrina, etc. Or to HCDs that were enhanced by NDs, namely the BP Spill. And so, the Nation is sure to be sorely disappointed yet again. They don’t make NDs and HCDs the way they used to. Heavens no. In 1953 they knew a thing or two about NDs and HCDs:

Chile's Earthquake: How To Help

The New York Times reports:

A strong aftershock struck Chile on Sunday, a day after a destructive 8.8-magnitude earthquake left hundreds of people dead and a long swath of the country in smoky rubble.

The death toll was expected to rise, particularly around Concepción, Chile's second-largest metropolitan area, which is roughly 70 miles from the quake's center. The aftershock was reported around 8:30 local time Sunday morning from the capital of Santiago, where it shook buildings, according to Reuters.

More than 1.5 million people have displaced by the quake, according to local news services that quoted the director of Chile's emergency management office. In Concepción, which appeared to be especially hard hit, the mayor said Sunday morning that 100 people were trapped under the rubble of a building that had collapsed, according to Reuters.

Elsewhere in Concepción, cars lay mangled and upended on streets littered with telephone wires and power cables. A new 14-story apartment building fell, while an older, biochemical lab at the University of Concepción caught fire.

In other words, what Chilean President Michele Bachelet called a "catastrophe."

Time, again, to get out the checkbook. Remember that this is the internet. Heroics aren't required, just lots of people giving small amounts.

The Nation let's us know how to help:

Save The Children -- Save The Children is sending an emergency assessment team to Chile, and is asking for contributions to its Children's Emergency Fund to aid these efforts.

World Vision -- The international development, relief and advocacy organization has already sent its first relief flight, from Bolivia this afternoon, with supplies like tarps, blankets, plastic sheeting, and collapsible water containers for survivors. Support these efforts with earmarked gifts to families that need them.

AmeriCares -- Vice President of Emergency Response, Christoph Gorder, says AmeriCares is sending medical supplies and humanitarian aid to Chile. Make a direct contribution to AmeriCares' Chilean earthquake fund.

Habitat for Humanity -- Habitat for Humanity has a continual presence in Chile, where the group has constructed more than 1,300 homes. Habitat will be essential in reconstruction efforts, especially in hard-hit rural areas.

International Medical Corps -- IMC has a presence in dozens of countries around the globe, providing immediate medical care to those affected by natural disasters. Contribute to its emergency response fund.

ShelterBox -- International disaster relief agency ShelterBox has mobilized a team to bring aid to Concepcion, Chile's second largest city, which saw the worse damage.

There are other groups I like to support I have not listed here. I will update this later to add them. Also, I have some antipathy to some of the groups here, particularly World Vision, because of their proselytizing activities to indigenous people in the high Andes, but right now I think the primary idea is to get aid on the ground.

Peru: The Devastation Continues, The US Traditional Media Ignore It

Devastation in Peru continues. Today's La Republica reports the bad news:

Intense Rains Leave More than 100,000 Affected

The prolonged rainfall that fell on the southeastern Andes Sunday night left over 100 thousand people affected, with particular intensity in the Cusco region, regional authorities reported.

The regional president of Cusco, Hugo Gonzales, told the AP that on Sunday the rains had left "more than 60 thousand people affected, seven thousand homes destroyed, 17 thousand hectares of crops affected and so far 14 bridges that may collapse from being in poor condition.

Gonzales said that "losses translate into almost $ 250 million dollars and that tourism, the largest employer in the region is losing almost a million dollars a day, which is aggravated by the isolation of Machu Picchu from tourists.

(translation by me)

The report from Puno, to the Southeast, is particularly disturbing:

the rains left "more than 22 thousand farmers affected, 23 million acres of crops worthless, and 25 thousand dead cattle including llamas and vicunas."

But if you're not going to read Peruvian newspapers on line, you won't know much about this disaster. If you're in the US, just try a Google news search for "Peru floods" and see what it turns up. Right now the top story is from Brunei. And that's one of the very few entries from today. The rest concern rescuing tourists at the end of last week, some first person tourist stories about being rescued, and the thinnest of reports from Saturday and Sunday.

Long story short, the traditional US media just aren't reporting about this disaster. And they are apparently not going to. That makes it harder to get contributions and other aid from the US for Peru's relief. And it also continues the extremely distorted way the US traditional media cover events in this hemisphere.

If we want to end this embargo on news, if we want others in the US to know what's going on in Peru, the only thing I can think of is writing essays like this one and this one and this one. And if you, dear reader, would consider doing the same, writing an essay, we might be able eventually to overcome the enforced silence and bring US attention to the devastation in Peru. And to other events in this hemisphere as well.

Peru: The World Needs To Notice This Disaster

Yesterday, I put up an essay about a natural disaster in Peru. I wrote about the devastation caused by the rain: flooding, mudslides, loss of homes, loss of crops, deaths, displacement of families. And I urged that readers make donations to Doctors Without Borders and the Red Cross.

Today on reflection I think I underestimated the situation in Peru. Today I found two videos that capture conditions in the Sacred Valley of Peru so you can see them yourself. Conditions are even worse than I thought. Please watch these videos. And please help me to bring the severity of this disaster to awareness in the U.S. Peruvians need our help.

The first video:



The second video:



I realize that the Internet can be a powerful tool in circumstances like this. Please do what you can to be of help.

Peru's Natural Disaster

The Urubamba River In Flood

This year's rains have come to Peru. And the rains have been extremely heavy. The result has been a washout of crops in the Sacred Valley, which runs from Cusco to Machu Picchu, mudslides that have destroyed houses and other buildings, and flooding. Peru Rail's tracks from Cusco to Aguascalientes have been washed out or buried under boulders. And the bridges across the Urubamba River at Pisac, Ollantaytambo, and Urubamba have all been washed out.

Tourists visiting Machu Picchu and staying in Aguascalientes, at the foot of the site, were stranded and rescued by helicopters. But the indigenous people of the area have not left, and they need assistance because many of their homes and their crops have been destroyed. What's worse is that the rainy season is just beginning. If there is more torrential rain, and there may be, there will be even more destruction, more flooding, more landslides, more disruption of the infrastruture.



AFP reports:

Heavy flooding in southern Peru, which trapped thousands of tourists visiting the Inca city of Machu Picchu, has killed 20 and left at least five missing, Peru's Civil Defense force said Saturday.

Thousands of others have been affected by heavy rains, the worst to hit the country in five years.

In the Cusco region, the downpours prompted landslides that trapped 3,500 visitors in and around the picturesque mountaintop tourist site of Machu Picchu.

Peruvian authorities used 12 helicopters and 40 pilots over four days to evacuate all the travelers trapped near the site, Latin America's top tourist destination.

The evacuation of all visitors ended late Friday.

"The good news is that Machu Picchu, along with all the ancient sites, is intact," said Carlos Millas, president of the chamber of commerce in Cusco, a region heavily dependent on the income from visiting tourists.

But the railway that ferries 90 percent of the 1,000 people that visit Machu Picchu each day to the site was damaged in the floods, and Peru Rail warned that repairs could take up to two months.

The rains are forecast to continue through Tuesday, with some heavy downpours predicted for the south, according to Peru's weather service.

I have a strong spiritual connection to this area. I've written here about Andean Shamanism. And I've spent some time in the area. The indigenous people of Peru, including virtually all of their spiritual teachers and Shamans, by and large are poor and they depend upon agriculture to survive. Crops like corn and squash can be grown in the valley next to the Urubamba River because that is warm and there is ample water for irrigation. The irrigation technique is essentially the one used centuries ago by the Incas.

Those who live higher up in the mountains (the Sacred Apus) also depend upon agriculture. It is much colder in the mountains, many of which tower at higher than 17,000 feet. Potatoes grow at the top of the arable fields, other crops lower on the mountain. The fields are divided by the community so that the division will be fair and no one will get the best fields repeatedly. But when there are landslides and the soil is saturated as it is now, no crops can be grown, and those already in the ground may rot. And the fields are not accessible because of the mud. The animals kept by those in the mountains, llamas, sheep, and other animals need to be able to graze. Flooding makes that extremely difficult.

How to help out?

Make a donation to Doors Without Borders. Also, the American Red Cross sends aid to Peru. My friends in the Shamanic World are trying to organize to fill gaps in the aid, especially to the most remote villages, but that is still a work in process.