"Greg Mayman" bravely wrote to "Mike Ross" (13 Jan 05  07:17:00)
 --- on the heady topic of "HAPPY NEW YEAR"

 -=> Mike Ross said to Greg Mayman

 MR> the "official" aid organisations have monsterous bureaucracies that
 MR> suck up the lion's share of the public's contributions.

 GM> The way I look at it, if only 30% gets to the people who need the
 GM> aid, we should be giving MORE, not less.

 GM> And why is only 30% getting out there where it's needed? Because
 GM> of the costs involved in getting the aid there, and in raising
 GM> the money in first place.

I'm certain the costs are great for example renting a large Tupolev to
airlift the materials must cost a few 100K's if not more. However, aid
organisations have become bloated over the years in having so many
other incidental concerns to providing aid. For example, why does the
president of some given organization have to ride in a private plane
or eat at the best restaurants, etc, like we know they do?


 GM> How much time could you give for nothing to help with such an
 GM> appeal?

 GM> Six to nine months? because that's the least time it's going to
 GM> take before there is no more aid needed.

Oh, no, we're talking years now. In fact an example comes to mind in
that the Boxin Day Tsunami has become a bonanza for aid organizations,
and that is Doctors Without Borders which have stated they have
received more than enough money to aid in Asia and will be using
further contributions for their other efforts elsewhere in the world.


 MR> It's as if everyone with such responsibility was off on holidays all
 MR> at the same time or something. The scientific community has really
 MR> failed us on this one.

 GM> Sheesh! Why blame the scientific community?

The president of Thailand has already fired the chief meteorologist
for failing to warn the population of the impending tsunami. Remember
the tsunami took hours and in some cases tens of hours to strike the
affected coasts. It not as if nobody in authority didn't have ample
time to react.


 GM> The blame should go on the people who failed to set up a tsunami
 GM> warning system in the area, that would be the governments of
 GM> countries in the area.

 GM> But since several of them have failed to achieve effective
 GM> government in their own countries, could they be expected to work
 GM> with each other on a project like that?

I find many governments are milking the political fallout of the
situation. Already, aid workers are being kept away from certain
areas. Yes, we can blame the governments!

 M*i*k*e

... I worked hard to attach the electrodes to it.
--- Blue Wave/DOS v2.30