Australians,Wrong colour,wrong religion or too rich

[SalvadorDalek]

I have not seen a disaster appeal for the floods in Australia (I dont know if there is one so forgive me if there is)
Are they not worthy?

i think theyare using the desalination plant to provide clean water to people now.

Hockeyforjockeys..... does Pakistan not have Nuclear weapons.
If they can afford these why can't they afford welfare for flood victims?

They are Nancy. There are going to be big health problems - there is a disese who's name escapes me spread by mosquitos which is a fair bit more serious than dysentry which is now starting to spread. The sewerage is all mixed with the water supply which has caused it to breed. Its a flaming disaster.

BTW...'they can afford insurance so will be able to rebuild'.
I'd be fucked if this happened to me.
I can't afford insurance.

WE donated to china too and they are in the black financially.

So you think the donated money goes to the victims????

Because most of it has been paid for through tied international aid (i.e. it has to be used for nuclear weapons), mainly from China and the US. The establishment and running of welfare services requires tax and national insurance revenues from the local population. When large swathes of your population work as subsitence farmers it is simply not possible. Not only this but they simply don't have the human resources e.g. doctors, nurses, fireman to provide help for people. But yes there is corruption and mis-spending of funds which means that poverty continues to be endemic, and there is plenty of justifictaion to say the government should have done more. However not sure what you are suggesting - maybe the government should try and flog a couple of warheads on Ebay to pay for it.

Ultimately it comes down to human compassion. People in places like Pakistan will die in the aftermath through hunger and disease, this is simply not going to happen in Australia

\link{http://www.abc.net.au/news/infographics/qld-floods/default.htm\this is a mapp of the area affected}

to put it into perspective a MNer on another thread said that to drive from the Gold Coast to Rockhampton takes 8 hours. Then it's the same distance inland as it is up the coast.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Brazilian flood appeals popping up soon. Usually a day or 2 after the actual event before they appear.

FWIW - the Red Cross UK has had past appeals for Italy (Earthquake), Australian Bushfires in 2009, National Floods here in the UK in 2007, London Bombings - - one could ask why money was needed to be donated for them - after all they're not poor 3rd world countries.

reelingintheyears - I said many will - but some won't. I imagine there will be government support for those who are in your situation (although if you own your house I imagine you are required to have buildings insurance by your mortgage company, so would be able to rebuild in this situation even if you couldn't replace your possesions)

Who helps the people in Cumbria who are still homeless after the floods?
One or two or one thousand....they are still in need.

More than half of Queenslanders aren't insured at all.

Even those who are can get knocked back as there is no standard definition of flooding, and insurance companies might not pay out for dam overflow or rivers.

I donate what and when I can.

They would have to be dopey to not insure...i insured for EVERYTHING

Cholera is the disease that occurs with unsanitary water. Before the thames barrier was built this situation was predicted in London. Maybe it will still happen? Who knows. mother nature will always win. I feel you are being very callous. I hope to god nothing like this ever happens to you. All your possessions gone in a flash- your pets? Or worse??

saturdaynightpants - because they built a dam after the 1974 floods many people felt that they didn't need flood insurance, other people may not be able to get flood insurance due to the proximity of the river. Some people simply can't aford insurance.

Thing with insurance, even if you do have it, there are certain clauses for act of god and extreme flooding and such.

Its not black and white, there are some really unempathatic people on here.

Then again nobody is worse than the Aussies themselves. I spotted on a Victorian's Facebook thread in relation to something about it "Poor Queensland. Its caused millions of dollars worth of improvements".

Spoken like a true Melbournian

I have also heard that some of the insurance companies won't have enough money to pay out on all of the claims

Its true Nancy, its really not as simple as having insurance and if you dont well silly you and if you do well, all is well.

That Melburnian will laugh on the other side of their face when food prices go through the roof as consequence of the flooding - and they will.

Already it's hard to find 'roo meat as they can't get out to shoot the buggers. :o

too rich I would say. It makes more sense to me to contribute to an appeal for Brazil.

Its true, food prices will fly up, lots of fruit and veg come from QLD

(Just to add that the Melbournian lives in London so already deals with shitty food prices)

well I don't know - if we're going to get nit picky about who should pay for what and whose faut it was.

I've seen it in the news articles about Brazil that the local governments are possibly to blame for the losses in Brazil due to allowing poor building and illegal occupations.

And after all according to the World Bank Brazil is actually richer than the UK - in 2009 it was listed 9th on the list, 2 places behind the UK and 9 places ahead of Australia

sorry Brazil is actually richer than Australia