Save lives by urging media to provide coverage for earthquake in South Asia
This petition is to urge the major media outlets around the world to provide coverage for earthquake in South Asia. With 3 million homeless and more than 75,000 injured in hard to reach area, this is the biggest relief operation the modern world has ever seen but has been completely ignored in the media. With harsh winter approaching, time is running out for the survivors. Media must play its role by providing extensive coverage of this tragedy.
This is a petition to urge all the media outlets to provide coverage for the earthquake in South Asia.
The October 8th 2005 earthquake in South Asia has already claimed 60,000 lives, with 75,000 injured and close to 3 million
people homeless. With close to 15% of the affected area still not reached, these numbers are certain to climb even
further.
Just to give an idea of the magnitude of this disaster, below are a few quotes from UN, Unicef and WHo officals.
- "A bigger catastrophe than last year's tsunami in terms of the number of people made homeless and the extent of destruction to infrastructure" ,source WHO regional director Hussein A. Gezairy.
- "This is a very major earthquake but it is ... aggravated a thousand times by the topography," U.N. chief emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland
- "We have never had this kind of logistical nightmare ever. We thought the tsunami was bad, this is worse," U.N. chief emergency relief.
- World failed to grasp scale of disaster: UN
- Survivors of the Pakistan earthquake will be engulfed in a "wave of death" unless the international aid effort is stepped up immediately, the United Nations secretary-general Kofi Anan.
- As many as 120,000 children remain unreached in the mountains on the Pakistan side of the line of control, of whom the agency estimated some 10,000 could die of hunger, hypothermia and disease within the next few weeks, UNICEF
Unfortunately, this enormous disaster has been effectively shut out from the US media and the coverage has been spotty in the World Media. To a large extent, this inadequate coverage is responsible for lack of awareness of this disaster amongst general public and hence a lack of response.
With winter approaching, time is running out and media must play it's critical role in saving thousands of families and children from certain death.
As a consumer and more importantly as a human being I strongly urge the media to immediately provide extensive coverage of this disaster and the most difficult rescue operation the modern world has ever seen.
