Queensland Floods

[mona]

What is it with BC and not acknowledging floods in countries other than Bangladesh? I thought we'd be more sympathetic than the average non-affected country. Floods aren't the most glamorous of natural disasters - no ridiculous death tolls, rarely is it a flash of sudden activity leaving total destruction (but that did happen in the town of Grantham). But we know better, they can be devastating for the people left behind.

So 75% of the entire state of Queensland was declared a disaster zone. My house, and neighbourhood, thankfully was nowhere near being affected, although there was utter devastation only 10km away. Now that the waters have receded, we're left with wet, poo-mixed mud that has got into every crack and crevice that the water went through.

I guess you never really understand natural disasters until you witness them. We all see the pictures of water halfway up road signs and know that people lose houses and feel very sorry for them and donate our money, but its not really more than a passing thought. I felt very sorry for Pakistan last year, but in the end it was just a number - 20 million - that had the most effect. We don't exactly follow each family's journey in the aftermath in our mind's eye: the clean up, the time off work, the bills, the losses, the recovery. If we did, maybe we'd do more or at least feel more.

In Brisbane, there were so many volunteers to clean up other people's houses that some were turned away yesterday. 11,000 turned up today, creating a logistical nightmare for the council. Australians of all ethnicities, young, old, female, male. They were all there after a promptly organised volunteer program by the city council, including registration and the provision of buses to the areas. My friend and I decided to not wait in the huge line and find our own way to a random organisation in an area we knew was heavily affected (turned out to be the HQ for the Qld Scouts organisation). Funnily enough, when we were cleaning their documents, we came across one from 1986 detailing a program called 'Bangladesh-Australian Child Health Program'. Haha the tentacles of Australian organisations reach everywhere.

20,000 people decided they wanted to work in some of the frankly most gross conditions where the smell is worse than a Dhaka garbage dump and everything you touch is literally covered in sh*t. All for people they've never even met before. But there's something in the sadness of seeing entire parks and trees half-way caked in mud making it look like a fire ran through them, the cleanness above the water line on houses, the furrowed brow when someone is deliberating whether to keep something or chuck it out, that really leaves an impression on you.

Although the response to this disaster makes me proud of Australia, especially those in Brisbane, I can't help but contrast it with Bangladesh's. Politicians and civilians alike. Neither are there clean up crews involving the public organised within hours, neither do the public care to mobilise as volunteers in the thousands (with the population, it should be hundreds of thousands). On the side of the councils and politicians there's no ambition to make the process the fastest possible, no ambition to become a leader in disaster response. Well we all know the government has no ambition for the country beyond its members personal interests. The public for our part, have lost interest in caring for anyone but ourselves. There's no sense of community, no sense of going out and doing something above and beyond our duty.

Anyway even if you've skipped reading the above rant, please donate generously. Australia may not be a Bangladesh or Haiti in terms of poverty, but no country has spare billions of dollars just lying around and certainly not the Queensland Government. The vast vast majority of people do not have flood insurance and the donations will end up being rather thinly spread amongst the tens of thousands severely affected.

Premier's relief fund: http://www.qld.gov.au/floods/