Dear Networkers -
<I am not questioning the usefulness of dialogue but questioning the
absence of impact of dialogues on agencies dealing with disasters.
Knowledge grows by sharing but if that knowledge is not for the good
of society, it is a total waste> Prof Durgadas Mukhopadhyay 26/07/05
Please excuse my late comments on recent exchanges; I have been
between deceased and new-born processors for several days.
I had wanted to add that I find it noticable, but understandable,
that this network has very few postings from those active in the
field and even fewer from those indigenous to the countries within
which they work. As I have ventured to assert in an earlier message
concerning those of Prof Durgadas Mukhopadhyay, I sympathise with his
recognisable frustration, albeit a cynical one, where he sees little
evidence on the ground or amongst the agencies active in his part of
India, of the efforts of international agencies about which he reads
frequently on this network. This is not to say that there are none
but that their "impact" seems not to be within his working
neighbourhood nor within sight of it. Who are we to contradict him so
why do we not give him the consideration to which he is due and
acknowledge what he is saying ?
International agencies for disaster matters have been around for half
a century and it is not too much to expect that, by now, evidence of
their work would have "trickled down" even to the most remote
backwaters of the Indian subcontinent. That it clearly has not is
probably due to the paucity of available funding to which Prof DM has
occasionally referred.
There has surely to be a better system for the allocation and
monitoring of comparatively small sums of money to small indigenous
agencies, academic courses, seminars and conferences in disaster
prone areas of less developed countries. It does not require my
cynicism to draw inevitable comparisons between an evident need on
the one hand and amounts repeatedly spent elsewhere on the other.
Rather than ignoring such infrequent messages from the field, whether
from academics or practitioners, I feel we should at least offer them
our support, our guidance and where possible - our help.
Sincerely -
James
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