Up to 100,000 dead from heavy rains in Venezuela

[naaman fletcher]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/02/AR2010120204447.html

CARACAS, Venezuela -- President Hugo Chavez says more than 30 people have been killed in floods and landslides in Venezuela, and he is pledging to speed construction of public housing to help thousands of evacuees.

Speaking to evacuees on Thursday, Chavez said they would receive homes and vowed to accelerate construction of public housing projects in the Caracas area.

Chavez said the government was assisting more than 15,000 families that fled homes amid torrential rains. He said the government has more than 300 disaster shelters open across the country.

The heavy rains during the past month have continued well past the usual end of the wet season in Venezuela.

[CJvR]

1. 100.000!?!?!

What happened did the Guri dam burst?

[social_critic]

2. I think it's a typo

He must have meant homeless. I have been looking at the reports, and it sure looks pretty bad. And I saw a report that Chavez told Caracas hotels to take refugees. If it's true, and they really do it, it's going to be hard to go on a business trip to Caracas.

[Bacchus39]

3. I think he meant its no longer necessary to be accurate regarding information posted here

100,000 covers the bases. fortunately at this point it is nowhere near that estimate.

[ChangoLoa]

4. Pájaro de mal agüero

Don't joke with that. My aunt's house roof was cut in two yesterday by a huge tree.

:spank:

[Mika]

5. Tragedy is a joke to some here.

New lows being plumbed by the anti social ists here.

[social_critic]

6. This reminds me

I'm supposed to donate to Operation Smile, a doctor friend mentioned it. Since I'm a US citizen, and want to get a tax deduction, where should I send the money?

[Mika]

7. Sure. Here.

http://www.operationsmile.org/ways_to_give/

Its easy for all to see. You are a good humanitarian.

social_critic (167 posts) Mon Nov-22-10 09:25 AM
Response to Original message

1. Let there be cholera

I guess Haiti is becoming more and more of a basket case. It's a very good example of a collapsed society. Overpopulation, environmental degradation, anarchy. That country is a huge eyesore from the air, the best solution is to take most of them out of there and send them elsewhere, and re-build the country from the ground up. And the next time, don't let them rule themselves. They have shown they can't do it. The country should be a ward of the UN for the next 100 years.

social_critic

permalink: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=405&topic_id=44779&mesg_id=44782

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[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Peace Patriot]

11. 30 vs 100,000 (flood deaths) is quite a bit different than 476 vs "up to 2,000," when...

...ALL the reports that I read and referenced here said "up to 2,000" bodies had been found "in a mass grave" in La Macarena, Colombia. EVERY report said that, including the report of Colombia's own Attorney General. I knew that the matter was still being investigated. And I think I'd read somewhere that the UN was sending a team. I didn't know that they had fixed on a number (476 or whatever it was), and I don't know that that is conclusive. And I'm going to continue saying "up to 2,000" until I know that it is. (Why is there such a discrepancy with Colombia's own AG?)

I was--and am not--exaggerating, as you are. I was repeating the REPORTS of RESPONSIBLE AUTHORITIES. You are inventing 100,000, out of 30, and furthermore making a joke out of peoples' deaths.

And all of this is yet another rightwing tactic of distraction from the FACT that the Colombian military has been MURDERING CIVIILIANS--luring young boys with job offers, murdering them and dressing them up like FARC guerrillas, to up their "body count"; murdering trade unionists, teachers, journalists, human rights workers, peasant farmers and others. This sick fascist regime has been murdering thousands of people. The sick fascist who was presiding over this was spying on everybody--judges, prosecutors, journalists, labor unions, NGOs--and stating publicly that everyone who opposed him is a "terrorist."

Only sick minds would ignore this or treat it as a trifle.

[ChangoLoa]

9. Is naaman anti-socialist? No one's ever asked him. nt

[social_critic]

10. Well, this is like Flora or Katrina.

Bad news. The headline is wrong, but it's still raining, and the floods are getting bad. Colombia is getting hit hard too, so I guess Venezuela won't be able to import food from Colombia in the quantities they need - plus Colombia will see Venezuela as a secondary market because the Venezuelans have a tendency not to pay their bills on time.

They had better get cracking buying food in Uruguay and Brazil and hope it gets there on time, because Venezuela already imports a lot of food, and the fraction it does grow is getting flooded. And imagine what's going to happen if it keeps raining, they had 20,000 killed in 1999 when it rained hard in December, from landslides and floods. And I don't think much has been done to change the condition of housing in the landslide prone areas.