U.S. govt violated human rights of Katrina Disastersernment

Amnesty: US guilty of Katrina-related abuses

Cain Burdeau Associated Press Writer

Amnesty International says the U.S. government and Gulf Coast states have consistently violated the human rights of hurricane victims since Hurricane Katrina killed about 1,800 people and caused widespread devastation after striking in August 2005.

Amnesty’s report entitled “Un-Natural Disaster” says government actions in housing, health care and policing prevented poor minority communities from rebuilding and returning to their homes.

The White House and Louisiana and Mississippi officials said they had gone to great lengths to help people recover from Katrina.

Amnesty urged Congress to amend the nation’s main disaster response legislation, the Stafford Act, to guarantee the humane and fair treatment of all disaster victims.

A Snapshot of Disasters

Sri Lanka

Floods triggered by torrential rains have killed at least 20 people and affected about a quarter of million people [1.25 percent of the population] in Sri Lanka.

“We have requested specially canned food such as canned fish and water, clothes for the flood affected people as an urgent need,” said the coordinator for the National Disaster Management Centre.

The forecast is for more rain in the coming days in the islaned lashed by southwest monsoon season, which runs from May to September.

Ravaged by a 25-year war between the government forces and Tamil Tigers, which has killed at least 70,000 people, much of the country’s infrastructure has been severely neglected. Sri Lanka has a population of 20 million.

Southern Germany

In the Killertal valley [“killer valley”] in southern Germany three people drowned in heavy floods unleashed by severe storms. The floods damaged buildings and swept cars away.

Eastern Ethiopia

In eastern Ethiopia flash floods killed 25 people, a government spokesman said. In the eastern city of Jijiga the Wabe Shebelle River burst its banks and floods swept away several houses. Most of Ethiopia is affected by a drought that has causes severe crops failure.

Chile

A couple leave a flooded house in San Carlos town, south of Santiago May 22, 2008. REUTERS/Sergio Pereira/La discusion de Chillan/Handout

In Chile heavy rains unleashed severe flooding killed nine people, forced 15,000 out of their homes, damaged 8,000 homes, collapsed roads and bridges and closed the world’s largest underground copper mine.

Colombia

A soldier stands in an area that was affected by a landslide in Medellin June 1, 2008. REUTERS/Fredy Amariles. image may be subject to copyright. See RTSF Fair Use Notice!

Landslide buried about 20 homes in a poor hillside neighborhood in the northern Colombian city of Medellin killing 19 people, with at least eight more were missing, authorities said.

Heave rain triggered flooding which collapsed bridges, blocked roads and damaged crops across the Andean country, forcing at least 100,000 people to abandon their homes.

Related Links

• Sri Lankan flood victims (Video report)
• Sri Lanka seeks aid for thousands of flood survivors
• Floods displace 15,000 in Chile
• Government says 25 killed in Ethiopia flooding

Bigger China Disaster Unfolds

We all know that earthquakes are natural disasters. But what happened to our children also has human causes, and they’re even more frightening. —A grieved parent who lost his son.

Zhao Deqin Lost Her 15-year-old Twins, Yajia and Yaqi

JUYUAN, China (Reuters) – Zhao Deqin keeps a kerbside memorial to her twin daughters killed when their school collapsed in China’s earthquake, and a petition-signing site alongside that has become a focus of protest by grieving parents.

The most lamented victims of the quake that shattered parts of Sichuan province in southwest China eight days ago have been the thousands of children killed when school buildings collapsed.

Earthquake survivor, Zhao Deqian, the mother of twins Zhao Yajia and Zhao Yaqi, 15, who were killed when their school building collapsed in the earthquake, cries at their memorial altar in the town of Juyuan in the quake-hit area of Dujiangyan, Sichuan province, May 20, 2008. REUTERS/Nicky Loh (Image may be subject to copyright. See RTSF Fair Use Notice!)

As the ruling Communist Party seeks to maintain a staunch front of unity and stability after the quake, the incipient protests by parents could be troublesome, for many of them blame official graft and laxity, more than nature, for the deaths.

“How come all the houses didn’t fall down, but the school did? And how come that happened in so many places?” Asked Zhao.

“This was a tofu dregs project and the government should assume responsibility,” said Pu Changxue, whose son Pu Tong died in a classroom.

“To think that I lived and they died,” said an old woman living opposite Zhao’s shrine. “That is just too unfair.” (Source)

Related Links:

• China’s grieving quake parents start to voice anger
• China Earthquake, Heavy Death Toll, Corruption, Criminal Incompetence
• The Anguished Cries of China Quake Nurse
• Chinese paratroopers rescuing survivors or preventing plague?
• Chinese Leaders Incapable of Handling Quake Aftermath

• Beijing’s quick response to disaster won’t cover cracks of corruption
• Almost five million left homeless, China says
• Corruption blamed for rising death toll in China
• Parents’ grief turns to anger at shoddily built deathtrap schools

Video Links:

• Quake parents mourn their only child (Every Building survived the quake, except the school!)
• Quake parents grief turns to anger

Chinese Leaders Incapable of Handling Quake Aftermath

Clueless Wen Jiabao: Criminally Incompetent!

To climb a tree to catch a fish is talking much and doing nothing.” —Chinese Proverb

Wen Jiaboa, like the rest of the ruling gang in China is a criminally incompetent leader, incapable of protecting the interest of the Chinese people.

“Wen, seen repeatedly on state TV cradling infants and offering hope to earthquake victims, hailed the ‘order the country has maintained for the past 80 hours,’ the report said.”

What if the order does break up? Will the ruling criminal regime send in the special forces to do a Tiananmen Square job?

• China parachutes 100 soldiers to cut-off quake area
• Paratroopers land in China quake zone

In the mind of Wen Jiaboa the Olympics comes first, disaster victims second! [Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao arrives in Yingxiu Town, the quake epicenter in Wenchuan County of southwest China’s Sichuan Province, May 14, 2008. (Xinhua Photo and caption). Image may be subject to copyright. See RTSF Fair Use Notice!

• Premier Wen Jiabao and rest of the Ruling Gang in China (RGC) criminally underestimated the extent of the disaster.
• Premier Wen and rest of the RGC delayed sending in the rescue troops in the early, crucial hours after the quake had struck.
• Premier Wen Jiabao and rest of the RGC accepted a miserly ¥500million ($5m) from the government of Japan, which is probably more of an insult to the people of China than an offer of financial aid for disaster relief.
• By accepting Japanese rescue troops (rather than teams from all other nations), a direct insult to the people of China, Premier WenJiabao and rest of the RGC proved their leadership skills are fatally flawed and that their personal interests supersede the national interest, the welfare of their 1.3billion subjects.
• Premier Wen Jiabao and rest of the RGC are incapable of protecting the interest of Chinese people!

[ Note, the Ruling Gang in China (RGC) thought no one was watching! They lied even about the quake magnitude. The mainshock was recorded as a 7.9 magnitude earthquake by USGS, but the Chinese authorities reported it as 7.8 Mw.]

A rescuer from Japan receives an interview after arriving at Chengdu, capital of southwest China’s Sichuan Province, on May 16, 2008. A Japanese rescue team arrive in the quake-hit Sichuan Province in southwest China early on Friday to assist local disaster relief efforts. The Japanese rescue team, comprising 31 members including technical workers and medical stuffs, is the first group of foreign aid personnel to China following the devastating 7.8-magnitude quake which jolted a wide range of areas on Monday. (Xinhua Photo and Text). Image may be subject to copyright. See RTSF Fair Use Notice!

More photos: Click here!

Q: Is a corrupt, criminally incompetent regime in China good for the “Free world?”

Related Links:

• The Anguished Cries of China Quake Nurse
  
• Chinese paratroopers rescuing survivors or preventing plague?
• China Earthquake, Heavy Death Toll, Corruption, Criminal Incompetence

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