World Aid

[billy]

not sure how to phrase this discussion so bare
with me.
at present we have the chance of a volcano erupting in the philippines.
many of the people won't leave even with a mandatory notice to quite the land. the simple reason is that it's all they have. a few oxen and goats and chickens. if it does blow many will die but more than that about 8000 will be without anything. after disasters such as this the whole world chips in and helps with aid, food tents cash etc. often though by the time it arrives to the country come place of need it can be too late. and even more costly to get back to some normality. so my question is this. (and i don't know if it exists yet) would it be better to have some kind of world aid slush fund from which aid can be instantly bought and sent.

i think it would, take the volcano here. they know the odds are it will blow. the philippines are doing their best to prepare for it but it's only now coming out of it;s tag as a third world country. because of this any aid that gets here will inevitably arrive late. people will go hungery and yes i have heard about Darfur. wouldn't it be better to have the shit on standby ready to airlift as it erupts?

[srijantje]

yes,absolutely,a huge depot somewhere with all emergency things you need ready to ship out at short notice,next to an airport.food tents medicine etc.

[billy]

The trouble is that neither the UN, nor any national governments, have their shit together well enough to be that prepared on a large scale. Few people bother to think ahead to the next humanitarian crisis.

In the U.S.A., whenever there is a regional catastrophe, 18 wheel tractor-trailer rigs filled with blankets and emergency food rations are rolling out of Salt Lake City long before either the U.S. federal government or the Red Cross have figured out what to do.

and it sometimes doesn't make sense if you think about it. often when the aid reaches those it was intended for. a tipping point of no return is that far advanced all that can be done is to throw even more aid at the problem. if they had a pro active emergency aid system it would probably save them money in the long term.

[srijantje]

how together do you have to be to organize something like that?a huge pile of first aid stuff next to an airport?or is it simply unwillingness and in general not being interested?

[billy]

i think it's fear of being told they were wrong.
i only have to look at katrina. whilst aid was given it was at times farcical.
like v/f said some private helpers were doing more sooner than the gov were.
with a bit of planning i'd say they could sort the logistics out in order to enable early aid drops or deliveries.