5 ms·
Haiti never seems to get a break
by tr33house 5y ago
Haiti never seems to get a break
- gruez 5y agoThe last earthquake was in 2010. 11 years seems is arguably a break.
- lmilcin 5y agoLosing everything you own every 11 years may not be such a huge deal to you, but don't you think it might be to other people?
- gruez 5y ago>but don't you think it might be to other people? While an earthquake always sucks, 11 years between earthquakes seems be enough of a "break" that it's not like two natural disasters hitting back to back.
- lmilcin 5y agoMaybe if you have funds to rebuild. If you are Haiti, it takes forever to come back after every blow.
- k2enemy 5y agoThis might be the one time when misspelling "losing" is appropriate.
- huitzitziltzin 5y agoI am going to guess you don’t know much about Haiti because if you do that is an exceptionally heartless comment.
- gruez 5y agoI fail to see how it's "exceptionally heartless comment". I'm simply stating that the last earthquake was over a decade ago. You seem to think that by saying that (or the part about it being a "break"), I imply that they deserve it or whatever. But that's not the intent.
- GavinMcG 5y agoNo, it was your assumption that earthquakes are the only thing that Haiti needs a break from.
- polack 5y agoIt makes more sense that OP meant the expression "get a break/catch a break" as in "get lucky" and not just as an litteral break/pause from earthquakes. Considering the state of Haiti I think many people will interpret your comment as heartless, even though thats not how you meant it.
- queuebert 5y agoLet's hope the deleted comments mean the poster has grown as a human today.
- bart_spoon 5y agoIt was an earthquake that killed over 200,000 people. And it’s more than just earthquakes. It’s incredible poverty, hurricanes, and political instability, including the fact that their president was murdered in his home by foreign mercenaries a few weeks back.
- lmilcin 5y agoIt never is going to get it. The only way to "get a break" in their situation is to have infrastructure resistant to it. As it is, Haiti population is barely aiming at having a shelter. Shelter that can additionally survive powerful earthquake is a luxury right now.
- pasquinelli 5y agothat state of affairs is the product of haiti never getting a break.
- lmilcin 5y agoThis is simplistic thinking. Japan is also subject to powerful earthquakes and tsunamis and was pretty poor after WW2 (for this discussion it is not important who caused it). I think it is fair to say that the natural disasters add to the problems but are not sole cause if it.
- tptacek 5y agoThe comment you're replying to agrees with you.
- lmilcin 5y agoHe may think so, but it is one thing to agree that the disasters are making it hard for Haiti to grow and another to blame disasters as the sole reason for the current situation. For me at least there is an important distinction. I will give you an example. There are children who had really tough childhood. Being extremely poor, having abusive parents, having misfortune, so on. Not their fault. Some of them grow to be criminals but a lot of them grow to be good people. "It is one thing to to agree that the childhood abuse made it hard for this kid to grow up to be a good man, and another to think it is the sole reason for his current situation."
- tptacek 5y ago
- abhiminator 5y agoHaiti and the surrounding regions are tectonically f'cked, unfortunately. At least the United States is relatively close by, so humanitarian assistance isn't super far away. I remember the US deploying its hospital ships, among other resources, to assist Haiti in the aftermath of the 2010 quake, under operation 'Unified Response.' [0] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Unified_Response https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Unified_Response
- dredmorbius 5y agoThe problems go deeper than geology, unfortunately. (Figuratively/literally.)
- detritus 5y ago. o O ( How do they go literally deeper than geology? )
- queuebert 5y agoThe wormhole to the gamma quadrant exits near Haiti.
- wes-k 5y agoI’ve got some self-sealing stem bolts that may help.
- tamaharbor 5y agoThey can get rid of that horrible name.
- dredmorbius 5y agoThat's missing the specific point I was attempting to make. That may have been my fault.
- BurningFrog 5y agoHaiti gets big earthquakes quite rarely: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_earthquakes_in_Haiti https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_earthquakes_in_Haiti Before the 2010 disaster, Port-au-Prince had not been hit since 1770.
- dredmorbius 5y agoLet's hope that relief workers are quarantined this time. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010s_Haiti_cholera_outbreak https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010s_Haiti_cholera_outbreak
- sethammons 5y agoHard when large political forces want to keep you down. Evidence suggests the US State Department prevented pay raises to textile workers in Haiti. https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2016/apr/21/lee-camp/did-hillary-clintons-state-department-help-suppres/ https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2016/apr/21/lee-camp/d...
- drran 5y agoDid you read what you post? I cannot find "prevented pay raises to textile workers" in the text. I see text about "minimum wage increase", i.e. tax increase.
- jwilber 5y agoIgnoring your weird tax increase comment, here’s what OP mentioned: “ The two media outlets assessed the cables and found, among many other revelations, that the "U.S. Embassy in Haiti worked closely with factory owners contracted by Levi’s, Hanes, and Fruit of the Loom to aggressively block a paltry minimum wage increase" for workers in apparel factories.” This is just awful all around. Between state actions and nature, Haiti never can seem to catch a break.
- drran 5y ago> Ignoring your weird tax increase comment, What? If you ignored my comment, then why you reply to it? We had the exact same situation in my own country: our government suddenly decided to triple minimum wage, to triple taxes. A lot of small businesses were closed because of this sudden change. We had protests, but they are too late. Sadly, US embassy did not help us.
- partsKnown 5y agoFound the state actor :)
- knownjorbist 5y agoThe solution is easy: make immigration easier.
- eplanit 5y agoearthquake..."get a break". Yeah, I see what you did there.
- beaugunderson 5y agoPaul Farmer's "The Uses of Haiti" is a great read about how the US (and other countries) actively prevent Haiti from getting a break: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10234.The_Uses_of_Haiti https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10234.The_Uses_of_Haiti