Poll: If the Haiti quake had happened in your home country would it be considered worse?

Recommended Videos

KSarty

Senior Member
Aug 5, 2008
995
0
21
TheFacelessOne said:
Well, I'm sure some people around the world would be like "Oh crap" if a serious earthquake hit America (Except Osama Bin Laden, it'd be like the superbowl party)

But I think people wouldn't give as much aid because we're pretty darn wealthy ourselves.
This. I don't remember hearing anything about international aid after Katrina, or all the California wildfires. People help the poverty-stricken countries more because they realize that those countries need it more, which is a good thing.
 

HotFezz8

New member
Nov 1, 2009
1,139
0
0
Julianking93 said:
Probably.

Hate to say it but most people don't really care about the earthquake in Haiti. If it had happened in America, people might have cared a bit more, but the truth is, if its not happening to them, most likely they won't care.
well as katrina showed people didnt care about the rich yankees either...

overall only some people will donate, but they will always donate for whatever the disaster is.
 

Wilbot666

New member
Aug 21, 2009
478
0
0
KSarty said:
But I think people wouldn't give as much aid because we're pretty darn wealthy ourselves.
Our government would probably help, since our last Prime Minister (John Howard) made our country George Dubbaya's ***** (at least a little) and our new PM wants everyone to like him, so he'll convince me to send you 20 bucks. (Yes I'm being facetious.)
 

Enigmers

New member
Dec 14, 2008
1,745
0
0
It's hard to say, as I live in the most boring, tornado-free, earthquake-proof part of Canada and the closest I've seen to a natural disaster was golf-ball-sized-hail that fell on us around June (not last year, but sometime before that)
 

Eliam_Dar

New member
Nov 25, 2009
1,517
0
0
Well we are not axactly a developed nation, though we are far more developed than Haiti and many nations around us, our emergency systems are far better, and due to our country's extension, it would have affected only one major city. Now having said that, Buenos Aires is not prepared to stand an earthquake, cause it has never happened, so it would be a disaster, it is a huge city, with more than 13 million inhabitants, which means that all other major cities in Argentina (Mendoza, Cordoba, Rosario) would not be able to help the capital. To be honest just thinking about it makes it terrifying.
 

DancingStones

New member
Jan 28, 2010
7
0
0
No, I live in a middle-class American neighborhood. The earthquake in Haiti struck at what I believe was pretty much the heart of the country, where the majority of the population lived. They lived in overcrowded, impoverished conditions. Honestly, that's the only reason the earthquake was as devastating as it was. There are few countries financially worse off than Haiti.
 

zelda2fanboy

New member
Oct 6, 2009
2,173
0
0
"Poll: If the Haiti quake had happened in your home country would it be considered worse?

Would Haiti have gotten aid quicker if they weren't a developing nation in many ways?"

These are two separate questions. One has to do with media perception, the other has to do with timing. The reasons for delays in Haiti probably had to do with the fact that it had no infrastructure to move supplies around and get people in fast enough. Immediate speed will be less important as it will be to build the country back up in the next ten years or so.
 

Wilbot666

New member
Aug 21, 2009
478
0
0
The other thing that makes me wonder is this: I'm pretty sure that the Dominican Republic makes up the other part of that island, has anyone heard anything about damage there?

(I could be wrong, geography was never my strong point.)
 

ProfessorLayton

Elite Member
Nov 6, 2008
7,452
0
41
Probably not because Haiti was worse off than us in the first place. So they basically were poor and now what little they had was taken away.

Wilbot666 said:
The other thing that makes me wonder is this: I'm pretty sure that the Dominican Republic makes up the other part of that island, has anyone heard anything about damage there?

(I could be wrong, geography was never my strong point.)
It was on the Haitian side, so really it didn't affect them. Also, they weren't as poor of a country.
 

AvsJoe

Elite Member
May 28, 2009
9,055
0
41
Oh jeez...

If a major city in Canada got hit by a massive quake (which is possible; Vancouver is very near a fault line), the whole world would line up to help us out.

... at least I hope they would ...
 

Eliam_Dar

New member
Nov 25, 2009
1,517
0
0
Archangel357 said:
Eliam_Dar said:
Well we are not axactly a developed nation, though we are far more developed than Haiti and many nations around us, our emergency systems are far better, and due to our country's extension, it would have affected only one major city. Now having said that, Buenos Aires is not prepared to stand an earthquake, cause it has never happened, so it would be a disaster, it is a huge city, with more than 13 million inhabitants, which means that all other major cities in Argentina (Mendoza, Cordoba, Rosario) would not be able to help the capital. To be honest just thinking about it makes it terrifying.
Yeah, I saw what the Bugs did to that place in Starship Troopers. Scary stuff, mate.
hehe, I watched the movie and I find it funny how we were represented. Believe me, we do NOT play anything resembling American Football (as shown at the beginning of the extended version).
 

Vrex360

Badass Alien
Mar 2, 2009
8,379
0
0
Well my home country is Australia so odds are it would be considered a pretty major disaster. However I live in the city of Perth which is hardly what one can call a priority city in this country so really I'm not sure.
 

hotacidbath

New member
Mar 2, 2009
1,046
0
0
Well, considering what happened after Katrina, I actually believe the aid would be slower coming in. It might be considered worse by Americans (I know I would feel that way since it would be happening to me, well maybe not me personally since I don't live near a fault line but you get what I mean), but I don't think it would've gotten the instant response that Haiti did. I think most other countries would just assume we could take care of ourselves and leave it at that.
 

Niccolo

New member
Dec 15, 2007
274
0
0
Goldeneye1989 said:
Gather said:
I live in Australia and we are pretty much immune to earthquakes...

(Well, the important parts at least)
Cough Newcastle 1989 Cough

I dont think so because the death toll would have been far less

Heh heh. We're faaaiiirly immune here. Seriously, Australia has had less tectonic activity in the past million years than Japan's had in the pat decade.

So it'd be... really freaking weird. Scary, yes. Damaging, God yes. Our buildings are less earthquake proof than a ming vase.

Amusing? Probably. If only for the fact that the million-to-one odds had played in the improbable direction.

AvsJoe said:
Oh jeez...

If a major city in Canada got hit by a massive quake (which is possible; Vancouver is very near a fault line), the whole world would line up to help us out.

... at least I hope they would ...
Of course we would. We all LOVE Canada.
...
Provided the city's not in Quebec.
 

Gadzooks

New member
Jun 15, 2009
292
0
0
Vrex360 said:
Well my home country is Australia so odds are it would be considered a pretty major disaster. However I live in the city of Perth which is hardly what one can call a priority city in this country so really I'm not sure.
Hello fellow Perthian.

I'm pretty sure if we got hit by a massive natural disaster, no one would even notice. We are what, like 5000 kilometres from the nearest large city (probably a bit off)? But aid would come slowly, that's for sure, crossing that big desert and all... That's if anyone even wanted to send us sand rats aid.
 

Eliam_Dar

New member
Nov 25, 2009
1,517
0
0
Archangel357 said:
Eliam_Dar said:
Archangel357 said:
Eliam_Dar said:
Well we are not axactly a developed nation, though we are far more developed than Haiti and many nations around us, our emergency systems are far better, and due to our country's extension, it would have affected only one major city. Now having said that, Buenos Aires is not prepared to stand an earthquake, cause it has never happened, so it would be a disaster, it is a huge city, with more than 13 million inhabitants, which means that all other major cities in Argentina (Mendoza, Cordoba, Rosario) would not be able to help the capital. To be honest just thinking about it makes it terrifying.
Yeah, I saw what the Bugs did to that place in Starship Troopers. Scary stuff, mate.
hehe, I watched the movie and I find it funny how we were represented. Believe me, we do NOT play anything resembling American Football (as shown at the beginning of the extended version).
I know, mate, I know.

Is Maradona still telling reporters to suck his dick at press conferences?
yup, he is... a shame, he was a great player, but now.... oh well

and just found out there was an earthquake in the northern part of our country, lower in magnitude than the one in haiti, no material damage, nobody was hurt.
 

PhiMed

New member
Nov 26, 2008
1,483
0
0
It depends on what you mean. Do you mean a 7.0 earthquake, or a disaster that killed over 2% of the population?

If you mean a 7.0 earthquake, then my answer would probably be no, because the death toll wouldn't have been nearly as severe. A couple 7.0 quakes have happened in the U.S. over the past few decades. We dealt with it ourselves. We didn't get a dollar of aid, but there haven't been all that many countries who have been better off financially than the U.S. over that time, so that makes sense. It was a big deal to us, of course, but I doubt any other countries in the world cared or remember it today.

If you mean a natural disaster that destroyed our entire infrastructure and killed more than 2% of our population, a single event that was that big would probably be big enough to affect surrounding countries. They would probably take priority over us, because other than Canada and the US, north and central America is pretty messed up financially. So again, we would probably be left to our own devices.

As an aside, I think it's funny sometimes when people differential between Haiti and "Western" countries. The distinction kind of makes sense if we're talking about China or Iran, but Haiti? It's literally between the U.S. and Europe.

You clarified, and everyone still would've known what you meant even if you hadn't, but I just thought that was interesting how words can come to signify something completely unrelated to their literal meaning.