(Here’s another look at how disaster response really “works.” And this isn’t just applicable to India. -kg)
The good Samaritans – missionaries, doctors, political oddballs, power grid engineers, bankers, clerks, religious workers, unemployed youngsters- are all going up the picturesque mountain road in dust-caked smoke spewing vehicles bearing stickers like ‘Fallow me’ (sic) and ‘Killer Hunter’.
They are carrying rice, biscuits, old clothes, blankets, plastic sheets, kerosene, water, medicine, cooking oil.
The great Indian relief rush to Uri, however, is not perfect.
As is the case with most Indian relief operations, there are a lot of hit-and-run gigs where ‘volunteers’ throw old clothes, food and plastic to screaming hungry and shivering throngs and depart.
It is a very Darwinian way of relief distribution – the old, sick and women practically get nothing.
BBC NEWS | South Asia | ‘Cruel joke’ of India’s relief effort
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