Madam, – I searched in vain on Tuesday for readers’ views on the horrific conditions the Haitian people are experiencing – no letters on the topic, just a week after the devastating earthquake!
Are we all too numbed to comment, or more concerned with the affairs of church and State or with our own personal economic problems?
I find this silence all the more surprising considering the amazingly descriptive daily reports by Lara Marlowe.
Can we learn anything from this event for the future? Am I naive to suggest that, in coming decades, the armed forces of all the major nations might gradually be reassigned to the relief of peoples around the world following major calamities such as earthquakes, hurricanes, flooding, etc?
Martyn Turner’s cartoon (January 16th) of the US aircraft carrier arriving at Haiti was so poignant.
With the predicted future global climate changes, further events like Haiti won’t go away. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – A small country called the Republic Ireland, the second-wealthiest country in the EU, with a population of four million, and with its highly developed infrastructure intact, recently could not organise the gritting of roads with two inches of snow, or keep water supplies functioning.
Perhaps Irish journalists and commentators/experts tut-tutting about the slow response and lack of co-ordination by aid agencies in that part of Haiti affected by the earthquake should pause for a moment. – Yours, etc,
A Chara, – While the world watches the terrible plight of the people of Haiti, and people around the world have dug deep into their pockets, it saddens me that the the International Monetary Fund, which thankfully gave the Haitian government more than $100 million in extra loans last Thursday, has set several conditions on the loan.
These include a public sector pay freeze, and a significant rise in the price of electricity.
As recently as 2003, Haiti paid more than $57 million in debt.
The IMF should cancel all its debt to Haiti and let these poor people start afresh. – Is mise,