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Dear Friends, At the outset I would like to thank James Lewis,Dave Gilles, Robert Alexander ,Ian Davis, Roger Musson,Maureen for the thought provoking analyses and comments on the issues raised by a scholar and development activist and consultant from the third world. It is not fatigue but facts of life which we suffer silenly. Though 90% disasters occur in developing countries,we have very little say in study, survey ,policy making and the relief or long term mitigation process. In the avowed world of liberty,equality,frarternity,we are neglected and shunted by the bilateral and international agencies. Have you noticed that nobody from ISDR,ProVention Consortium, Red Cross made any comment though many of them are members of this international discussion group. They would be getting their per diem and perks which is ten times the annual average per capita income of the concerned countries. I would like to join the concerned scholars and development consultants by raising few vital points: 1) If a scholar or development consultant from developing country wants to work with DFID fund she/he has to work as an appendage of a British NGO even though they may only have 10'x8' office and very little knowledge and get only crumbs in return. In any case the charity money must be repatriated back. Even if a firefighter conducts a three month course on disaster management and policy,the development activists from Asia and Africa must follow the the course as the money has been paid by an international agency in a place where no such disasters occur. 2) Don't be surprised if you find that most of the thesis work on India in American universities are crafty rehash of reports ,articles and Ph.D. work collected by paying the photocopying charges while doing two month fieldwork in India. Worst still they are published again in India by paying money to the publishers. 3)No qualified scholar can participate in any international conference for the high registration fee,higher hotel bills and highest air fare. The cost of attending a conference in Japan is equal to 10 months' payof a scholar fom a developing country. Only those who have sacks of money in developed countries can have an intellectual viewpoint to present before thw world coomunityWhat is this networking,sharing of knowledge and infornation. 4) to solve the development and disasters in Asia and Africa Consultants must come from the mushrooming organisations in every bylanes of small cities in U.K. to grab the hefty fly by night fees and perks for helping the downtrodden in the villages and slums of Asia and Africa.Is there any dearth of knowledgeable and dedicted acivists who understand and feel the social ,cultural and psychological factors in long term disaster mitigation or development.There is also scope of conversion. 5) As my other fellow thinkers have said this imperialistic exploitaion and deprivation in the intellectual understanding and consultancy for solving the problems of disaster and development in developing countries should be eliminated and justice and fair play must prevail. Warmest regards to all of you. Prof. Durgadas Mukhopadhyay