An employee at the tower pointed out that the staff were not adequately prepared to look after themselves in the midst of a flood, let alone hundreds or thousands of refugees. “We ourselves were stuck on the tower as water came into the ground floor and then surged up to the second. There were many snakes and scorpions in the swirling waters and it was difficult to handle the situation. There was just no way we could rush out and help the marooned with the boats.”
The limited flood prevention measures are in stark contrast to other areas of official spending. The Indian government has sharply increased military spending over the past three years and in the midst of the current tensions with rival Pakistan has gone on an arms spending spree, allocating billions of dollars for hi-tech weaponry. Billions of rupees are also provided to big business in the form of tax incentives and other assistance.
Each year, however, millions of people suffer hardship, injury and death produced by so-called natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes and drought that could either be prevented altogether or greatly reduced by timely and well-planned relief measures.
R. Shree Haran
Article reprinted courtesy of the World Socialist Web Site.
For additional information and in-depth analysis, please visit: http://wsws.org
To see the priorities of those who now govern India and Asia, please read
"ADB to fund pipeline feasibility study", by Khaleeq Kiani at: http://www.dawn.com/2002/07/14/top8.htm
The limited flood prevention measures are in stark contrast to other areas of official spending. The Indian government has sharply increased military spending over the past three years and in the midst of the current tensions with rival Pakistan has gone on an arms spending spree, allocating billions of dollars for hi-tech weaponry. Billions of rupees are also provided to big business in the form of tax incentives and other assistance.
Each year, however, millions of people suffer hardship, injury and death produced by so-called natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes and drought that could either be prevented altogether or greatly reduced by timely and well-planned relief measures.
R. Shree Haran
Article reprinted courtesy of the World Socialist Web Site.
For additional information and in-depth analysis, please visit: http://wsws.org
To see the priorities of those who now govern India and Asia, please read
"ADB to fund pipeline feasibility study", by Khaleeq Kiani at: http://www.dawn.com/2002/07/14/top8.htm