7.16.2010

Catastrophic Events

Oh you thought I meant the oil spill. Turns out the cap actually worked so for a few hours now oil hasn't been leaking into the gulf. Woot. You can go here to watch some undersea machines doing something that's not entirely clear. Presumably attaching the cap but what that is in the video I have no idea. All this hullaballoo over a few drops of oil in the ocean (yeah yeah yeah) and we've forgotten about a recent life-changing earth-shaking event: the earthquake in Haiti.
Turns out, we're still there. And much like worries in the Gulf, hurricane season is fast approaching. US soldiers and engineers are building four schools and ten medical sites, including bathrooms on site for the school children. There's still a lot wanting in Haiti right now. Looks like something like a million people are still without even a temporary place to call home. It's a disappointment we don't seem to be building homes or clearing areas in some of the hardest hit parts of Haiti. But it seems like the efforts of the US military are at least partially directed by what the Haitian government is asking for. And they're asking for schools and medical facilities, not homes or clearing. And they're on a time deadline needing to make these buildings strong enough to withstand hurricanes. Sounds like less than a thousand total military left in Haiti, and probably closer to 500. Unknown to me whether they will continue to build infrastructure and improvements come the fall when they plan to have completed these projects or whether that is the end of the line for US military support to Haiti. Part of me wishes they could have stayed and done more to really improve the country. But then part of me thinks how we're so lacking here in so many places of communications (fiber optic cable laid, or cell towers) and roads and failing bridges and I wonder why we don't have 500 US military travelling around the US and improving our space. I guess that's the selfish part.
For more you can go here and here.

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