Many Humanitarian Crises Ignored

[dArKeR]

"Drivers working for an agency or an embassy earn about $500 per month, while Afghan doctors get about $45," said Jonathan Walter, editor of the report.

Too many humanitarian crises are forgotten as world attention focuses on headline-grabbing emergencies in Iraq, Afghanistan and other hotspots, the Red Cross said Thursday.

The World Disasters Report, issued annually by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said 24,500 people died in natural and man-made catastrophes, ranging from earthquakes to plane crashes, in 2002. The figure does not include war.

Amid these deaths, the 239-page study said international aid made a general shift toward "high profile aid efforts in politically strategic conflicts," mostly linked to the U.S.-led war on terror. Aid to Afghanistan, for example, tripled after the Sept. 11 attacks even though the humanitarian needs were unchanged. Meanwhile, suffering countries like Angola, Somalia and Congo have been all but ignored, the report said.

In April 2003, the U.S. Department of Defense raised $1.7 billion of relief and reconstruction aid for Iraq. The figure stood in stark contrast to the $1 billion shortfall in funds then faced by the U.N. World Food Program to avert starvation among 40 million Africans across 22 countries, the report said.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/07/17/world/main563759.shtml

Satan is proud of you Junior, Dole, Delay, Lott, Hastert, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Russert, Fineman, Jeb, Robertson, Falwell, Graham, Limbaugh, North and a cast of Repuke thousands.

http://www.geocities.com/darkerxdarker

[lkinsale]

1. Makes you want to spit n/t

[fshrink]

2. If you want to look at humanitarian crises, no need

to gaze that far. Lots of Americans lead worse lives than Afghanis. And it ain't getting better.