For a minute there I thought I had to get off my couch, when all the while the fact is we don't have to do anything much but keep things afloat for just a few decades more! In fact, we'd best shut up about PO, because if our offspring finds out we knew about it all along, they'll turn and wring our necks come 2036!
Joined: May 10, 2007 Posts: 2729 Location: The Entropisphere
Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 9:53 pm Post subject: Re: Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar - thousands dead
Jack wrote:
wisconsin_cur wrote:
Wouldn't we expect a dip in the birth rate 7-9 months from now? Women not getting enough food or clean water loosing the pregnancies? Not as much baby making going on as people focus on more immediate needs of food and water?
Entirely possible. On the other hand, the lack of alternative entertainment and the urge to attempt procreation might offset the issues you mention.
Notice the video scenes of Darfur - poor nutrition, disease, and lots of babies.
I suppose you're right... we just don't know. Looks like there are 4.6 children per woman in Sudan today (I can't find any stats just for Darfur).
Of course if the world stopped trying to support them with relief food and shelter because we were too busy with our own problems then we might see a sharp decline? _________________ "Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain."
-Friedrich von Schiller
Joined: Jun 13, 2007 Posts: 3343 Location: Minniesotuh
Posted: Fri May 09, 2008 7:10 am Post subject: Re: Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar - thousands dead
HeadlineNews is reporting (7:01 am CT) that the UN has suspended food aid to Myanmar. Apparently, the military has confiscated the first two food flights (no link yet).
It certainly sounds like someone is pushing for a dieoff, doesn't it?
Also:
Myanmar blocks foreign aid workers
YANGON, Myanmar (CNN) -- Pressure was mounting on cyclone-devastated Myanmar Friday to allow access to an army of foreign relief workers as the country's isolationist military regime rejected expert help in delivering aid to victims at risk of disease and starvation. …
Myanmar _________________ "RRrrruuuunnnn!!!" ~Apocalypto
Last edited by Ferretlover on Fri May 09, 2008 7:31 am; edited 1 time in total
Posted: Fri May 09, 2008 1:09 pm Post subject: Re: Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar - thousands dead
wisconsin_cur wrote:
Of course if the world stopped trying to support them with relief food and shelter because we were too busy with our own problems then we might see a sharp decline?
Maybe. I think it's going to take a very serious change in food availability - or other parameters - before that happens.
Posted: Fri May 09, 2008 1:09 pm Post subject: Re: Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar - thousands dead
wisconsin_cur wrote:
Of course if the world stopped trying to support them with relief food and shelter because we were too busy with our own problems then we might see a sharp decline?
Maybe. I think it's going to take a very serious change in food availability - or other parameters - before that happens.
A generation of children could be wiped out if help does not quickly get through to the cyclone-stricken villages of Burma, according to international officials frustrated by the military junta’s obstruction of western aid workers.
Charities warned that epidemics of “apocalyptic proportions” could be caused by delays in securing supplies of fresh water and medicines.
Latest estimates suggest that up to 116,000 people died when a tidal surge swept across the Irrawaddy delta from ocean water whipped up by Cyclone Nargis.
Of 1.7m who have been left homeless or are in distress, many hundreds of thousands are children who are most vulnerable to waterborne diseases. Reports of dysentery have already surfaced and there are fears of a measles epidemic.
This is, as Jack has pointed out, rather small on the grand scheme of things. For those of you looking forward t to the die off, is it as this small appetizer as great as you thought it would be?
Quote:
“We are very worried about a ‘second disaster’,” said Greg Beck of the International Rescue Committee. “We’ve had some early indications that cholera is breaking out . . . also dengue fever and malaria. These are treatable and we could contain them very easily if we were able to get access.”
_________________ "Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain."
-Friedrich von Schiller
Joined: Jun 13, 2007 Posts: 3343 Location: Minniesotuh
Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 11:41 am Post subject: Re: Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar - thousands dead
Boat carrying aid for Myanmar victims sinks
Disease threatens up to 1.5 million, international agency Oxfam says
May. 11, 2008
AP--BANGKOK, Thailand - A cargo ship carrying relief supplies for more than 1,000 cyclone victims in Myanmar sank, a International Red Cross spokesman said on Sunday, further complicating attempts to help hundreds of thousands of desperate survivors of Cyclone Nargis.
The accident was a big blow to the already slow relief work, IFRC spokesman Michael Annear said.
The organization said the boat was traveling from Yangon to Mawlamyinegyun when it hit a submerged tree trunk and sank early on Sunday. …
Murphy's Law _________________ "RRrrruuuunnnn!!!" ~Apocalypto
Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 12:19 pm Post subject: Re: Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar - thousands dead
wisconsin_cur wrote:
This is, as Jack has pointed out, rather small on the grand scheme of things. For those of you looking forward t to the die off, is it as this small appetizer as great as you thought it would be?
Interesting point. If the numbers are to be believed, then 4 months growth has been neutralized. If we indulge in giddy optimism regarding the so-called lost generation, then perhaps the numbers will triple, resulting in neutral population growth for 1 year.
It's interesting that the events are publicized somewhat - but not well - due to the logistics of getting media personnel into the area. It's interesting that infrastructure breakdown exacerbates other problems. And, a further factor is that disease follows destruction of infrastructure and famine.
It may well be that Burma is a paradigm for the die-off.
As to the question posed by Wisconsin - yes, it is rather tasty. It has an earthy essence, with a hint of tears. Strong emotional loading for the participants, along with a nuance of loss among those who care. The textures of striving and futility balance nicely. And the presentation, while understated, is suitably artistic. Perhaps we should name our little dish Triumph de Malthus.
Yes, this is a pleasant little Hors d'oeuvre. It prepares the emotional pallet for heartier fare to come; it does not spoil the appetite, but rather, stimulates it.
Joined: Jun 13, 2007 Posts: 3343 Location: Minniesotuh
Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 9:39 am Post subject: Re: Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar - thousands dead
UN food agency says rice prices surging in Myanmar
ROME - Rice prices in Myanmar's largest city have surged 50 percent since Cyclone Nargis, which killed tens of thousands of people and flooded entire rice-growing areas, a U.N. food agency said Monday.
The cyclone hit May 3 as farmers were harvesting the dry season crop that accounts for 20 percent of annual production, said the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization.
The destruction could reduce access to food and may force Myanmar to seek imports from neighboring countries, such as Thailand and Vietnam, putting further pressure on world prices, it said. Myanmar has previously been self-sufficient and an exporter of rice. …
No longer self-sufficient? _________________ "RRrrruuuunnnn!!!" ~Apocalypto
BANGKOK, Thailand — A second cyclone was forming Wednesday near Burma, renamed Myanmar by the ruling military junta, less than two weeks after it was devastated by a killer storm, the U.N. said.
The United Nations' weather center is tracking a nascent tropical storm that is likely to become a cyclone, said Amanda Pitt, the spokeswoman of the world body's humanitarian relief program, in Bangkok, Thailand.
"This is terrible," she told reporters, adding that it could further jeopardize the people who survived Cyclone Nargis on May 3 and the efforts to distribute aid for them.
She couldn't say when or where the cyclone would make a landfall, or when it would become a full-fledged cyclone, which is being monitored by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center, a part of the U.N.'s World Meteorological Center.
The center said on its Web site that "the potential for the development of a significant tropical cyclone within the next 24 hours is good."
_________________ "Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain."
-Friedrich von Schiller
Posted: Wed May 14, 2008 4:54 pm Post subject: Re: Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar - thousands dead
We are now on day 10 since the disaster and from what I've seen reported there has been no significant distribution of relief.
The rule of 2 would indicate that large numbers will die of starvation in the next 3-4 days. I think we'll never know how many. _________________ Cougar
"Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without." - Brigham Young
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