------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Feb. 8, 2001 issue of Workers World newspaper ------------------------- EARTHQUAKES IN EL SALVAOR & INDIA: JUST HOW NATURAL IS THE DISASTER? By Greg Butterfield In January powerful earthquakes ripped through two of the world's poorest countries: El Salvador and India. An earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale struck 50 miles off the coast of El Salvador Jan. 13. Seven hundred twenty-six Salvadorans were confirmed dead by Jan. 26. A million were homeless. Property damage was estimated at $1 billion. A magnitude 7.9 quake hit India's western state of Gujarat on Jan. 26. The government there had confirmed 6,444 deaths by Jan. 30. Defense Minister George Fernandez told CBS News that the toll could reach 100,000. Damage was estimated at $5.5 billion. Ten people were also killed in neighboring Pakistan. Left and revolutionary movements in both countries, along with solidarity groups in the United States and elsewhere, are organizing material aid campaigns. These efforts aim to extend support to the working class and poor, whose needs are often overlooked by governments and private charities. At first glance it might appear that a natural disaster like an earthquake is not a class issue. But how a society prepares for an emergency, who is affected, and how the country is rebuilt has everything to do with the distribution of wealth and power. TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE In imperialist countries like the United States, and in Third World nations under the heel of banks and corporations, the poor and the workers suffer most in a disaster. They lose their lives, their families, their homes and their livelihoods--something the super-rich never need fear. Washington and other imperialist governments always make a big noise about their generosity when a disaster strikes. But it's sound and fury signifying little. The ARENA party government in El Salvador is a close U.S. ally. Washington armed and funded its counter-revolutionary war against the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Movement in the 1980s. Yet by Jan. 19, Washington had given a bare $800,000 to the relief effort there. Even then, most of the "aid" was directed at shoring up U.S. military and agribusiness interests, not helping the people--more than half of whom live in extreme poverty. President Francisco Flores was forced to make another appeal for aid on Jan. 24. According to the BBC, Flores said the international relief pledged so far would cover barely one- quarter of the country's immediate needs. He asked the World Bank and other lending institutions to restructure the country's debt to stave off total economic collapse. By Jan. 26 El Salvador had received just $1.2 million of the meager $17.2 million in pledged aid. Even the Washington Post was moved to contrast the relief effort with the multi-million-dollar inauguration festivities for George W. Bush. India faces similarly dire straits. Britain, the former colonial power that robbed the country and drove millions of workers and peasants to their deaths through poverty, war and disease, said it would give just $21.5 million in aid. Japan pledged $1.5 million and Canada $1 million. Indian Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha appealed to the World Bank on Jan. 29 for $1 billion in emergency assistance. In reply, bank President James D. Wolfensohn offered $300 million. WHO'S TO BLAME? In both countries, profiteering construction companies are being blamed for much of the death toll. In India, construction firms are accused of using shoddy materials and building unstable structures that were susceptible to quakes. In El Salvador, landslides killed many people in places like Las Colinas, a neighborhood in Santa Tecla. "The landslide was the product of the greed and ambition of the construction companies and government functionaries," charged the Organizations of the Civil Society, a coalition of progressive and labor groups, in a Jan. 19 report. The firms and the government "continued to deforest and develop housing projects on the slope even though ecological organizations warned them of the danger." A statement issued by members of New York's Salvadoran community and the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador honed in on others responsible for the loss of life. "We ... hold responsible officials of the Salvadoran and U.S. governments and of financial institutions, such as the World Bank, that have promoted policies over the last several years that have left the majority of Salvadoran people, especially the poorest of the poor, even more vulnerable to these tragedies." RESCUE TEAM NEEDED The FMLN, the former guerrilla movement, is now a legal political party. It holds one-third of the seats in parliament and controls 60 percent of municipal governments. Yet the Salvadoran government has excluded the FMLN from the official body set up to coordinate the relief effort. ARENA officials lined their own pockets with disaster aid after an earthquake in 1986 and a hurricane in 1998, according to the FMLN. The government failed to plan or train emergency personnel, even though the country sits on a major fault line. This is in stark contrast with a socialist country like Cuba. When Hurricane Georges hit Cuba in 1998, the revolutionary government mobilized the whole nation to ensure a minimal loss of life. A well-planned evacuation and reconstruction effort minimized the storm's damage to the economy. What's needed immediately is a worldwide rescue team under the control of the oppressed nations, labor and community organizations and people's movements. The imperialist powers should pay for all the necessary training and equipment--out of the vast monies they owe to those countries they've colonized, enslaved and robbed for centuries. - END - (Copyleft Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) ------------------ This message is sent to you by Workers World News Service. To subscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send administrative queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
