And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Fri, 19 Mar 1999 23:08:47 EST
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Mime-Version: 1.0
Subject: where is the marketocracy not making a disaster?
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit
Mitch worsened by environmental neglect
Friday, March 19, 1999
President Clinton surveys a damaged house at the Casitas Volcano area.
Decades of land abuse and environmental neglect worsened the impact
Hurricane Mitch had on Nicaragua, according to a report released March
15 by the activist group Action for Community and Ecology in the
Rainforests of Central America.
The group, an affiliate of the Native Forest Network, sent a team of
researchers to Nicaragua in February to investigate the environmental
factors of the hurricane.
"Although Hurricane Mitch was a Number Five Hurricane with winds that
ranged from 250-300 kilometers per hour with intense rain, the
Nicaraguan government took no measures to prepare," writes Orin Langelle
in the opening of the report.
According to the report, deforestation, mining and recently-cleared
agricultural fields all contributed to the mudslides and flooding that
killed thousands of people and left tens of thousands homeless.
Government policies, backed by the United States and the World Bank,
promoted the unregulated logging and mining practices that cleared the
way for the environmental disaster, the report said.
"When Mitch rained, as much as 40 inches in a three-day period, where
there was no tree cover and little plant life to slow the rain runoff,
sharp surges of water rushed off the mountains and fields into rivers
causing flooding and mudslides of unprecedented proportions," writes
Langelle.
The report also cites examples of the government not taking the
appropriate precautions to evacuate villages that were threatened by
flood waters.
"The circumstances surrounding the collapse of the Las Casitas volcano
crater lake should indict the government of Nicaragua of gross
negligence," writes Langelle.
According to the report, the government had two days advance warning to
evacuate the villages surrounding the volcano crater lake but took no
action.
On a recent trip to Central America, President Clinton told the people
of Nicaragua that the United States would help the country rebuild
itself with better environmental management to prevent such a
catastrophe in the future.
"As we see the dust in the wind today, it reminds us that you must
rebuild in a way that helps you to manage the environment better -- by
preserving trees that can help prevent a mudslide, or curbing pollution
that can cause temperatures to rise," said Clinton.
"We can avoid or lessen future catastrophes. We can manage the land and
water, and grow your economy, and I know you want to do that."
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit)
Unenh onhwa' Awayaton
http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
