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REVIEWS: Hector O Ventura Health care in the eye of the storm BMJ 2005; 331: 582 [Full text]

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Nature is the best teacher

Riddhi Doshi   (9 September 2005)

Nature is the best teacher 9 September 2005
Riddhi Doshi, intern(doctor) Lokmanya Tilak Municipal Hospital,Mumbai. zip code-400022 Send response to journal: Re: Nature is the best teacher	Nature has been hitting different continents of earth repeatedly to hint at the weakness of the arrogant human. We call ourselves one of the few intelligent creatures existing on earth. Shouldn't we learn from our mistakes then? First it was the tsunami in Sri lanka.. then the floods that hit Bombay... and then Katrina... each of them was an eye of the storm and we stared at it mesmerised... and then worked at clearing the corpses,destruction and ruins left behind. When will each nation realise the importance of disaster management strategies? How many disaster management specialists does the US develop each year? 10 or 15? Is that all it has to give to the world? Is that all humanity has to give as an answer to the mighty nature? We need more institutions educating students in disaster management. There needs to be more funds. Its high time disaster management should stop being a management disaster even in a developed country like US. Here are some of the statistics which will make clear that it does not matter where nature hits..its a management disaster in 3rd world countries as well as developed countries-- inches of rain in new orleans due to hurricane katrina... 18 inches of rain in Mumbai (July 27th).... 37.1 population of new orleans... 484,674 population of mumbai.... 12,622,500 deaths in new orleans within 48 hours of katrina...100 deaths in mumbai within 48hours of rain.. 37. number of people to be evacuated in new orleans... entire city..wohh number of people evacuated in mumbai...10,000 Cases of shooting and violence in new orleans...Countless Cases of shooting and violence in mumbai.. NONE Time taken for US army to reach new orleans... 48 hours Time taken for Indian army and navy to reach mumbai...12 hours status 48 hours later...new orleans is still waiting for relief, army and electricity status 48 hours later..mumbai is back on its feet and is business is as usual USA...world's most developed nation India...third world country.. Competing interests: None declared