Can Americans comprehend disasters on the scale of Myanmar and the China earthquake?

Question

I host a couple of foreign exchange students and the other day the girls were discussing a conversation they had with some of their fellow students regarding the China earthquakes with more than 10 thousand dead.

The responses they received sounded like American kids were either unaware of the earthquake or didn't care about it.

In September 2001, Americans were shocked and saddened by the World Trade Center attack, which killed around 3,000 people.

It strikes me that 3,000 is about the biggest mass casualty this country has experienced in one incident since World War II. We don't have deadly earthquakes on this scale these days, nor bad fires nor the kind of weather that devastated Myanmar.

The 40 or 50 killed by tornadoes in various states shocks us. Do we not appreciate just how lucky we are and have been?

Answer 1

Not in the numbers you are talking...it would be like the great storm and flood that Galveston experienced with around 8,000 dead...no one remembers Sept 8th 1900.  That does not compute to the modern mind no more than the body count during various civil war battles.  Antietam as an example.  Insensitive...or desensitized not sure.

Answer 2

I know for a fact that if you were to ask anyone schooler-12th grade for instance what WW2  was about they couldnt even tell you-The nation has gotten to be a place of ungratful people-im NOT saying everyone is.,but we act like spoiled brats..Its sad when lives mean little to us..no matter where you are...Perhaps school systems should spend one day-maybe even two to discuss our nation and what a honor it is to be here .You can bet.,my grandchildren know....

Answer 3

I can't.

But what I really cannot comprehend is why the Myanmar leaders will not allow their suffering populace to be aided by humanitarian aid from US !

Answer 4

What we cant see we forget (like people in jail)

and we try not to think of mass deaths

so we can have happy lives !

Its sad sometimes to sad to keep world views on our minds

all the time when its so expensive to live here we tend to

say i have my own problems or try to forget in many ways

because like myself cant help them anyway.

I just pray and move on. I Cant send money,or help someone on my block more or less help someone on the other side of the world. but those who could help and dont (thats a shame)

but depends on income and we america is loosing to many jobs to help anyone

Answer 5

After Katrina, I believe we have a completely new comprehensive understanding of massive tragedies no matter where they occur.  Sometimes it takes getting hit at home to understand.

It is a tragedy that goes on forever.

Answer 6

look at Katrina, so many dead tat are unacknowledged, and 9/11 no one at fault.

Answer 7

One does not have to have experienced a world disaster first hand to comprehend - I do not think you are giving Americans true respect for this

Perhaps like some Brits - me included - we are so sick of shelling out and being cricised for it - and the US has taken its fair share here - some correctly and a great deal not correctly - that they perhaps think ......eff off.

I do -

Answer 8

I see what you mean it does rather put things into perspective.

I always feel humbled by others misfortunes but we are lacking of people who feel humble or have any feelings towards others.

What occurred was natural but maybe more attention needs paying to buildings from engineering advancements with alternative shock absorbing devices and flexible walls that move with nature these could be so interesting and clever. Japan have already done this.

Or special shelters available to everyone that can withstand such forces.

I think China's overcrowding was partly the downfall like many civilisations that over-use resources the land were people congregate should be more evenly distributed so buildings don't conflict with other buildings leaving a sanctuary of safe space in between.

Answer 9

So what do you want from us?....To say "Sorry Myanmar, China, and other countries for not being unlucky enough to be struck by a disaster of epic proportions and suffer a mass death toll from it."

Just because we had it "easy" does not mean we can't cry  or be shocked for the people we lost on those "small potatoes" disasters.

Answer 10

It's not a matter of not caring. We live here and worry about the price of gas, the higher costs of groceries, the health programs, etc. We have worries too, not on a level you seem to be worried about.

     I'm seventy and have been in wars, 'Nam for two years, wound twice.  I've seen how people live and survive. I did try and help, I had to survive along with them, while they were trying to kill me.

     I'm now trying to live on what the government says is a survival income. I now have serious health problems. I had to be proclaimed as below lower income to get my meds free, for over ten years I couldn't get my heart meds due to making over three dollars over the limit, I was told they had to draw a line somewhere, I had a major heart attack and had to have six bypasses, and, your telling me I should worry about another country. I don't want to sound callous but, don't make me feel guilty either. I have my problem here and now, I feel sorry for them but, how many have never served their country ?

      By the way, you mentioned the American kids and how they feel. My Grandson has been in Iraq for four years now, he has three kids, a high school in the next town had six, yes six kids from the football team join the Marine Corps. We've had a total of about 30 kids from our area that have been killed or wounded in Iraq. I believe they are doing their duty to mankind.

      The other day while in Wal-Mart I noticed three vets in wheel chairs and one honbbling on a crutch, one leg missing. You ask if we care, I say yes but, in other ways, we can't be the baby sitters of the world. Or, the police of the world. I'm sorry.

Answer 11

If someone will buy me a plane ticket, ill go help out in China or Myanmar!



I'm 15, i have no job...I'm serious!!

  

most Americans don't care thou...

Answer 12

Well, the 40 or 50 killed by those tornadoes and their relatives probably didn't feel that "lucky". Did you think about that?.

Answer 13

i am not an american but i do know that trying to comprehend any disaster in any part of the world ,may it be hurricanes ,tornadoes ,snow storm or terrorist attack could only be understood by the ppl in which the country/state is hit by such tragedy...some of us do get to be lucky and survive while others...try their best in surviving another day.i do admit that ppl nowadays tend to not care of what's happening around them and that is sad...coz ppl seriously believe that they have their own troubles and so the rest of the world is less important...everyone leads a different life.does not mean that they do not care...just that they care less...

Answer 14

Comprehend? I don't think anyone, except those actually living there, and being in the thick of it, can truly comprehend it. Someone could think about, acknowledge it, know it was a really sad event, but to truly comprehend it? I don't think so. I think in fact that a humans ability to acknowledge something without actually themselves "living through" the event by placing themselves in the situation within their own minds is a survival technique. If we empathized at that level with every horrid event, we would probably not be able to cope with the sadness. I think it needs to be added though, that to someone that losses a  loved one, one person is as important at 10 thousand to that person. As to whether people appreciate how fortunate they are to not have an earthquake that kills 10 thousand, I am sure people are. Myself, I am saddened that somehow 10 thousand dying in one event is supposed to be somehow more horrific then the thousands of people that die each and every day because of true hate within mankind, but the numbers shock, and they stand out, far more then the one here and there.