#114270 by cyrena on 11/18 at 3:55 am
This death toll seems to be up (as the piece suggests) to about 1,700 now…... Imagine anywhere close to 40,000 military personnel available during Katrina and Rita, or any other calamity. Instead, they got blackwater….”

Even this year, China and Vietnam have already experienced floods with a far worse toll. Where was Truthdig with its lame reports from the BBC?

As for hurricane Katrina, the Chinese could have taken it in their stride - and it is easily provable. 10 million people, peasants, villagers, farmers and military were mobilized in 2002 to fight one disaster in Dongting, Hunan province http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article174470.ece

The scenes in the video became famous (in China) and a full-length movie was made too (perhaps available with English subtitles) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1-oCt0_Bz4&feature=related There is a lot they can teach us!

And the title of this clip make you think, cyrena -  “China Army vs USA Army in real war” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aD4CWrX9wMY&feature=related and “Serve For The People” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZulTtxdyNw8&feature=related

This death toll seems to be up (as the piece suggests) to about 1,700 now. Very, very, bad.

Douglas, very good point. Imagine anywhere close to 40,000 military personnel available during Katrina and Rita, or any other calamity. Instead, they got blackwater.

But then, where were our military when we needed them? The National Guard, the Coast Guard, the Marines, the Army, the Airforce or the Navy. Think a few of them might have been helpful? Well, probably, at least the National Guard and the Coast Guard, seeing as how that’s what they’ve traditionally been trained for.

But alas, they were in Iraq and/or Afghanistan, or maybe just hanging out in the Persian Gulf, those 10,000 miles from home.

Meantime, Cuba’s military performs the same operations as you’ve mentioned above. When a hurricane in enroute, the military goes around picking up the residents in the low lying areas, (along with their belongings)and moves them to safer locations. Then, when the hurricane passes, they go and move them back home.

So, welcome to our 3rd world country.

Quote BBC: “...More than 40,000 policemen, soldiers, coastguards and health workers have been deployed….”

Can Americans imagine having their military assisting them at home (or people elsewhere) in such an emergency instead of pointing their guns at people? These disasters are not uncommon in Asia and their militaries often are called out in such huge numbers to assist. That includes China whose military is so crudely criticized in the West for absurd and fearful reasons.

Waxman,

This is just from a long ago memory of my more intense meteorolgy days.

But, I remember that is has to do with the global location of where they occur. They’re called hurricanes here, and in the Western and Southern Pacific, (I think) their referred to as typhoons, and then in the Southern Pacific and Indian Oceans, they’re called cyclones.

I could have the locations backwards or sideways, but that’s probably close enough. So operate clockwise and others operate counter clockwise, in both the hemispheres, but I think the basics are just one or which part of which Oceans they occur in.

Hope that’s at least a little help.

TERRIBLE DEAL, BUT WHY DO THEY CALL A TYPHOON A CYCLONE ???