MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
Since the UK govt can only give less than 20p a head towards relief funds, do you think they might relax the benefit rules to allow those of us who are out of work, yet have skills to help , to volunteer?
In the main an influx of (well meaning) foreigners is going to cause more problems than it solves. What they really need is money, food, water and shelter. Additional people are just going to put more strain on scarce resources.
For the foreseeable future the work that needs doing will be manual labour, that is best left to the locals.
From the BBC website:
"Britain is contributing £10m and HMS Daring, currently deployed near Singapore, will shortly be heading at full speed towards the disaster zone with further support from an RAF C-17 which will be a powerful help to the relief operation."
So £10M and 150 willing and able sailors, its a start but when 10,000 are feared dead it's going to take an incredible effort to restore the country.
I find it incongruous that TV news journalists, apparently well supplied, can report live via satphone on a catastrophe of such proprtions where no one else supposedly can reach.
its not that they can't reach, its that they can't get there with effective equipment. As a Paramedic who can climb and isn't afraid of getting muddy, I can pretty much get anywhere. however, if I can't get my kit in, and I can't get patients out, and I put myself and my crew at risk in getting in there, is there any benefit in sending me in now, rahter than waiting until I can be more effective?