[lit-ideas] Re: Katrina and the French Heat Wave
- From: Carol Kirschenbaum <carolkir@xxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 06 Jun 2006 14:46:53 -0700
Eric pondered:
>both are classic examples of government failure, and I wonder why
>comparisons to the French Heat Wave were never brought up.
ck: Europeans aren't good at handling natural disasters primarily because
they aren't often called to do so, on their home turf. (Bring it on, Euros!)
Pompeii doesn't count. Loss of cultural artifacts from say, flooding, in
say,Venice, matter tremendously. But the heat wave in France killed mainly
elderly people, who do not matter in France any more than in the US. (Maybe
less--but that's too chilling to contemplate.)
Terrorism may be changing the euro govts' emergency preparedness responses,
but I haven't seen evidence of that from the Madrid bombing, French heat
wave, UK bombings (in the 90s).My impression is that Europe doesn't have
greatly effective plans for the likes of Katrina on the contininent, nor are
emergency plans for things like heat waves any more useful than what you get
in NYC--ie, open the fire hydrants and splash.
Curious, isn't it. We Americans hold our public officials responsible for
rescue (or not) from "acts of God." I'm not sure this is the case in other
countries. It seems not.
Carol,
filthy hot in a mere 95 degrees
----- Original Message -----
From: "Eric Yost" <eyost1132@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, June 06, 2006 10:19 AM
Subject: [lit-ideas] Katrina and the French Heat Wave
> Hurricane Katrina certainly hurt Bush's agenda and reputation. It revealed
> an incompetent bureaucracy managed by indifferent people, unable to
> respond to crisis, causing unnecessary suffering and a few deaths.
>
> As I thought about this, I remembered the heat wave that struck France a
> couple years ago. As I recall it, hundreds if not thousands of people died
> from the heat wave. The French bureaucracy sat on its hands and did
> essentially nothing to organize shelters and medical response.
>
> That negligent response to the heat wave in France killed many more people
> than the negligent response to Hurricane Katrina. At least that's how I
> recall it. Of course the heat wave didn't cause much property damage, but
> more importantly it did rack up a death toll.
>
> Was there a backlash against the French government for its handling of the
> killer heat wave? Did the French President's ratings fall into the
> dustbin? Was public reaction to the deaths in France muted by the absence
> of property damage? Were there attempts at reform of the French
> bureaucracy?
>
> Just curious if the European list members recall the reaction to the
> French heat wave. With Bush, the negligent response to the hurricane was
> probably "the last straw" in a series of confidence-eroding decisions.
> However both are classic examples of government failure, and I wonder why
> comparisons to the French Heat Wave were never brought up.
>
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