Some Interesting Comparisons

These are some interesting comparisons I found today.

a) Inches of rain in New Orleans due to hurricane Katrina - 18

Inches of rain in Mumbai (July 27th) - 37.1

b) Population of New Orleans - 484,674

Population of Mumbai - 12,622,500

c) Deaths in New Orleans within 48 hours of Katrina - 100 (and still counting).

Deaths in Mumbai within 48hours of rain - 37.

d) Number of people to be evacuated in New Orleans - entire city… (That’s huge)

Number of people evacuated in Mumbai -10,000

e) Cases of shooting and violence in New Orleans - Countless

Cases of shooting and violence in Mumbai - NONE (as reported in the Papers)

f) Time taken for US army to reach New Orleans - 48hours

Time taken for Indian army and navy to reach Mumbai - 12hours

g) Status 48hours later - New Orleans is still waiting for relief, army and electricity

Status 48hours later - Mumbai is back on its feet and is business is as usual

USA...world's most developed nation. Fingers pointed at the administratrations inability!!

Do we claim we handle things better? Think again!!!

At this point I don't have much facts or figures on the inability of our administration but I am sure that there have beens times when our administration has failed to act. Just a simple example would be the state in some parts of Bangalore after the rains - a max of 70 mm hit on Sunday. Nothing has been done by the government but its flooded some parts of Bangalore and hampered daily lives. What say about that? What say about the poor infrastructure in many parts of our country? Have we compared our infrastructure to there's? Think again.

But here are some facts about New Orleans!!

1. 80% of New Orleans is below Sea Level.
2. It is protected only by the Levees and a complex system of pumping arrangements.
3. The Levees were designed only for Category 3 hurricanes (The probability of category 5 storm striking the region is too small to justify the extra money required to strengthen the levees).
4. The probability of Katrina hitting New Orleans was 10%.

Please remember I am not supporting the US administrations inability to handle the situation. They should have done it before. But one should not forget whats happening at there own backyard before making any comparisons or criticising.

Overall, I don’t think we should be comparing anything. Something’s are easier said that done. There are people to blame in both cases. I have even heard some people saying that the delay to reach the people in New Orleans was because most people there were Afro - Asians and there is some kind of Racism happening. Please stop such things. I feel it’s a time when we should put everything behind us and help the people who are in need. There are people who are trying to get there lives back to normalcy and lets help them.

We can fight our personal battles later.