Invite to a Disaster
INDIVIDUAL
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INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES
HUMANISTIC -------------------------------------- MECHANISTIC
SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL
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GROUP
"THREE DAYS AFTER THE JANUARY 14, 1907, JAMAICAN EARTHQUAKE, two American naval ships, the Missouri and the Indiana, alerted by their newly installed radio receivers, moored in Kingston Harbour and disembarked sailors who patrolled the streets, shared provisions, and brought the injured to the ship's hospital. ... | |
When the island's British governor, Alexander Swettenham, discovered the American presence, he was apoplectic and demanded an immediate re-embarkation and expelled the US ships. The diplomatic crisis was only resolved weeks later after the governor issued a formal apology and resigned. The incident highlighted the need for international protocols around disaster diplomacy. To attend another country's catastrophe you need an invitation. The following year the first rescuers in Messina the day after the December 28, 1908, earthquake were sailors from the Russian cruiser Admiral Makarov, accompanied by two naval escorts that happened to have been moored down the coast at Augusta. Within days, rival fleets arrived from Britain, France, and the United States. A catastrophe now provided the unanticipated world stage on which nations projected their international status through the strength and speed of their humanitarian missions. Kurt Waldheim, secretary-general of the United Nations, said in 1978: "Four years ago I believed that humanitarian relief was above politics. Now I know that humanitarian relief is politics." pp.201-202. |
Robert Muir-Wood (2016) The Cure for Catastrophe: How We Can Stop Manufacturing Natural Disasters, London: OneWorld Publications. ISBN-10: 1786070057
See also ...
orcid.org/0000-0002-0192-8965