What have we become?

May 7, 2008

Yahoo! News: Myanmar survivors emerge desperate for help

"An AFP reporter who reached the remote southern delta hardest hit by the storm, which left more than 60,000 dead or missing, said there was virtually no food or fresh water in this ruined town blanketed by the stench of death."

Where is the international appeal for help for Myanmar? When the tsunamis hit in December 2004, the media attention was huge and instant, and the international aid was just as big. I remember Apple's home page had a big Red Cross symbol on it appealing for its customers to donate. Amazon.com was also helping collect donations. Right now neither company's site has any reference to this event.

Now there are 60,000, maybe 100,000 dead in Myanmar and nobody is talking about it. Have we become so desensitized to human tragedy that even something of this scale can cause the world to shrug its shoulders and carry on with whatever they were doing?

Do I have to say it... this is at least twenty 9/11s, in terms of death-toll?