I have no quarrel with the bulk of the criticism regarding the
slowness of the help, the failure to provide proper evacuation to
those without their own transport, etc.
But I do take strong exception to the view that rescue workers/troops
who did not remove bodies because they had instructions to take care
of the living were being insensitive. Those people are going to be
traumatized for years by what they've had to deal with. You've seen
it on TV; they've had to *wor*k in the stench and crippling heat,
risk their own health in the putrid waters, and put up with being
fired on by the people they are trying to help. They were working
extremely long shifts trying to help the living. If they had instead
(and it would have been instead, not in addition, because there are
limits to human endurance) picked up bodies and allowed still more
living people to die because they were not found in time, the
criticism would have also been overwhelming - and justified. Yes,
respect for the dead and simple sanitation require that bodies be
dealt with - but not at the cost of ignoring the desperate living.
--
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Martha Krieg [EMAIL PROTECTED] in Michigan
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