Handyman response to water damage example of good service, human kindness

[caption id="attachment_21133" align="alignleft" width="225"] Larry Alfieri, good service[/caption]

Carol Forsloff----At a time of hurricanes, floods, wind storms of all kinds and weather disasters everywhere, it's difficult to get construction done, given the numbers of people and structures affected, unless you are lucky enough to live in the Beaverton-Hillsboro Portland, Oregon corridor and you know Larry Alfieri.

Nothing can bring the holidays down in mood and direction than a water tank break. Add to that a cold snap with rain already and snow in the offing, and a condominium with limited space becomes even more uncomfortable with belongings everywhere and clean clothes at a premium. Insurance company promises and delays are one thing, but finding the right people to help at the right time can also be an issue, especially when many people need repairs or upgrades, as the Christmas holidays approach.

A visit to a local hardware store brought a valued name of a valuable “handyman” whose title should be much more, given his all-around skills. This Do-All name that is the monikker of the man's business outlines the real facts. He does it all and well.

Humanitarian approaches to services means a focus on real needs and having real concerns about a customer and the problems faced when a call is made, especially when it's urgent. So a handyman who does repairs is often the only individual outside of an insurance company representative that folks can interact with regarding their feelings and concerns when there is a household disaster. While neighbors may rally for support, the real thrust of help comes from where the money and work flows, as that often means the future for individuals and families.

[caption id="attachment_21134" align="alignright" width="300"] Water damage clutter[/caption]

In areas along the East Coast, impacted by Hurricane Sandy in 2012, people still wait for help. In New Orleans it has taken people many years to recover economically from Hurricane Katrina, and construction delays and fraud was everywhere for months, if not years, leaving people to manage their feelings of depression and anger in sometimes desperate ways. But how about finding something or someone good, who knows how to meet the crisis and do the right thing, just because it's the right thing to do? That's the Larry Alfieri model. Having the skills to repair construction damage is important, but the people skills needed to support folks impacted by the damage is also very important, and sometimes lacking, as folks look for serious help when problems occur.

The bedroom closet where the water heater broke is nearing completion, even as clothes and belongings remain scattered everywhere, which will be part of the clean up process faced by the condo occupants. But the process of correcting the damage from the water offers information about not just the work itself by how to do it well, in a manner others might use as an example, as the work unfolds in phases. And in a year fraught with difficulties, as has occurred with the occupants of the condo with water heater damage, having someone whose gifts of service and helping others around to correct the problems can be a blessing, and a real symbol of what being good to others really means.

WMO advances need for disaster intervention for persons with disabilities

[caption id="attachment_6147" align="alignleft" width="300"] Hurricane Katrina flooding - wikimedia commons[/caption]

WMO and JHA Ed--As  natural disasters and conflicts in local areas brings displacement and personal travail, the World Metereological Organization offers insight into the needs of persons living with disabilities, who are particularly vulnerable to disaster.  This is particularly important due to the impact of climate change.

WMO joins with the global community in marking the International Day for Disaster Reduction 13 October, which this year focuses on living with disability and disaster. An estimated 15% of the world’s population lives with some form of disability. The U.N. Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) said its new global survey showed why persons living with disabilities die, or are injured, in disproportionate numbers in disasters.

“Whether in multi-hazard prone United States of America or Bangladesh, earthquake-prone Italy or flood-prone Thailand, people living with disabilities across the world say they are rarely consulted about their needs and only 20% could evacuate immediately without difficulty in the event of a sudden disaster event, the remainder could only do so with a degree of difficulty and 6% would not be able to do so at all,” said UNISDR.

If given sufficient time, the percentage of those who could evacuate with no difficulty rises from 20% to 38% but 58% feel they would still have either some, or a lot of, difficulty while 4% would still not be able to evacuate, according to the survey. Over the last 30 years natural disasters took the lives of over 2 million people. Almost 90 percent of such disasters, more than 70 percent of the casualties and almost 80 percent of the economic losses were caused by weather-, climate- or water-related hazards such as tropical cyclones, storm surges, heat waves, droughts and floods.

Disaster risk reduction is therefore one of the top priorities of the Global Framework for Climate Services to provide accurate, user-driven climate services around the world. National Meteorological and Hydrological Services play a vital role in protecting life and property through weather forecasts and early warnings. Improvements in early warning systems and preparedness have allowed significant reductions in casualties.

Advances in mobile technology are helping to strengthen early warning systems, giving people – including those living with disabilities – vital additional time to evacuate or take precautions in the event of a disaster. The meteorological, disaster risk reduction and information technology communities will continue to cooperate in future to protect the lives of the most vulnerable in our society. As a new potential disaster looms in India with an approaching weather disaster anticipated to be as devastating as Hurricane Katrina, having plans in place for the vulnerable can be especially important.

Pakistan floods: children auctioned by poor family

Ernest Dempsey – Natural disasters remind us how fierce nature can get to contradict the human delusion of being the most advanced species. Sadly, in some places, these kinds of emergencies also make the human attachment to their children stagger, and give way. What happened in Punjab province in Pakistan on Friday, September 9, is a living example.

Following the latest flash of Monsoon rain in the country, a poor family in Punjab had to auction their children in the hope that they will be saved by their buyers from starvation. The incident took place in Dera Ghazi Khan (Punjab) where a poor, flood-affected couple took their eight kids to the commissioner’s office to complain that the government had done nothing to provide food to flood victims in the area. Since the couple lost all to the latest flood, they could not afford to buy any food, and hence were compelled by poverty to auction away their children. And that they did.

After the commissioner’s office drove the family out, even torturing them, they put their children for auction outside the commissioner’s office for the simple reason that the provincial government, which is supposed to be responsible for reaching out to its people in times of need, did not care to help and to ensure the lives of their kids, the poor couple had to make a gut-wrenching choice. Interestingly, the leader of the province’s ruling party gave a statement in the same newspaper, saying that politicians are obligated to help flood victims. At that time, this senior leader was visiting Sindh province, apparently to provide support (but not financial).

Certainly, we can and should blame the poor public for bringing so many children into the world even half of which they cannot support easily, let alone bring them up well. Most poor people in traditional Pakistani culture believe that religion encourages producing more kids and that family-planning or use of contraceptives is sinful. But the government too has failed badly in reaching out to the dregs that are the ultimate victims of all disasters—natural, financial, and political. Even the non-governmental organizations, some of which are doing some really good helpful work, are not there for the poor in times of need. Since rain was predicted and flash floods were very much expected, the NGOs should have been ready to address the flood victims at the earliest.

Yet, in the end, these were the innocent souls that had to be sold to keep them safe from physical starvation. Will more families will be torn by the neglect of the provincial governments in flood-hit areas? Probably, yes. But hopefully, this incident of the poor couple auctioning their very children will prove a didactic episode to both the government and the public in preventing such tragedies in the coming days.

Pick your poison

[caption id="attachment_5553" align="alignleft" width="256" caption="Poison"][/caption]

Joel S. Hirschhorn - One of the hardest truths to accept is that for most sources of pain hitting humans there seems to be nothing effective for government to do.  Nowadays, those of us who do not gobble various distractions but work to stay connected to reality see two dreadful conditions.  Nature seems mad as hell.  People are dying or suffering from earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, tornadoes, wildfires, hurricanes, extreme heat, huge snow storms and more.  While some idiots keep trying to deny the reality of global climate change, those of us who have lived a long time see firsthand that killer weather events are more prevalent than ever.

While you may be fighting your paranoia about being victimized by foul weather the other ugly reality already devastating the lives of so many people is a dismal set of economic conditions.  Contrary to all the usual lies by politicians about the economic recovery, a mountain of data shows non-delusional people that only the wealthy have escaped economic pain.

According to a recent Pew Charitable Trusts poll, 55 percent of Americans still rate the national economy as poor, and just 47 percent believe their kids will have a higher standard of living than they enjoy.  If more people paid closer attention to the facts, those percentages should be more like 80 or 90 percent.

The US has recovered just 1.8 million of the nearly 9 million jobs lost in the downturn versus an average 5.3 million job gains in the same period of the 1970s and 1980s recoveries.  The number of people with jobs has barely changed since June 2009 — up just 0.4 percent.  Many economists say the turnaround shows no signs of generating the 300,000 to 400,000 monthly payroll additions needed to rapidly lower the unemployment rate.  There are probably about 50 million Americans who are unemployed, underemployed or no longer trying to get decent jobs, or who are close relatives of them.  The rise of the official unemployment rate in May, 2011 (the real level is twice as high) and a paltry new number of jobs just rubbed salt in the wound.  There simply is no basis for believing that many millions of new, good jobs will be created for many years.

Add the latest news that the housing market has turned even worse again, leading to the distressful conclusion that a double-dip recession has hit housing, which portends even wider economic pain.  Single family home prices dropped in March, 2011 to their lowest level since April 2009.  Millions of home foreclosures will be followed by even more.  Of all homes with mortgages 23 percent are worth less than what is owed. job losses, President Obama

And don’t forget that there are enormous numbers of Americans fighting hunger even though 68 percent of Americans are obese or overweight.  Forty four million Americans are getting food stamps.

Meanwhile higher prices for key necessities show that inflation is eating away at quality of life and living standards.  Gas prices climbed 52 percent over the past two years, according to the Department of Energy, and are only now decreasing a little as many Americans have cut back on their driving.  Food costs are also rising just like health care.

Nothing the government has done worked for ordinary Americans.  Many billions of dollars spent on reviving the economy have mainly helped the business sector and the rich.  Congress and President Obama have shown themselves to be utterly useless.  They mostly serve corporate interests.

Both the economic and climate futures look bleak, because they are bleak.

Pick your poison.  We are living in a time when natural and economic conditions are out of control and frightening.  But wait, there is some good news!

According to a new report by Boston Consulting Group, the number of millionaire households in the world grew by 12.2 percent in 2010, to 12.5 million. Here is how millionaires are defined: Those with $1 million or more in investible assets, excluding homes, luxury goods and ownership in one’s own company.  Can you relate?  Even better news: The US still leads the world in millionaires, with 5.2 million millionaire households.

An even bigger truth is this: The world’s millionaires represent just 0.9 percent of the global population but control 39 percent of the world’s wealth, up from 37 percent in 2009.  Even more truth about economic inequality: Those with $5 million or more, who represent only 0.1 percent of the population, control 22 percent of the world’s wealth, up from 20 percent in 2009.  The rich are really getting richer.

If you face reality, remember that Obama promised back in February 2009 that his $830 billion stimulus plan would unleash "a new wave of innovation, activity and construction" and "ignite spending by businesses and consumers."  Yet this did not happen.

And in June 2010, Obama announced that the recovery was "well under way" and that it "is getting stronger by the day." This is more poisonous propaganda.

A couple months later, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner wrote a New York Times op-ed headlined "Welcome to the Recovery."  More self-serving garbage is provided with this statement.

In reality, two years after the recession officially ended there are few places beyond the stock market and corporate profits that have shown improvement, but even now the stock market is hurting.  The rich and powerful have not suffered.  But over the past decade, real private-sector wage growth has been a terrible 4 percent, just below the 5 percent increase from 1929 to 1939 during the Great Depression.

The Republicans who grabbed so much power in the last midterm elections show no capacity whatsoever to fix anything.  That Sarah Palin just as Donald Trump can grab so much media attention demonstrates how decrepit our nation is.

What is to be learned?  No member of Congress or the President deserves to be reelected.  Neither does any other Republican or Democrat.  Like extreme weather calamities, economic evils will continue to poison our lives.  Those who deny climate change and economic injustice are either stupid or delusional.  Waiting for divine intervention makes as much sense as anything, except that all the awful stuff happening, if God’s will, suggests such hope is folly.  Pass the poison.  Or wait for a tornado, home loss, or financial ruin to hit.  More bad news is coming.  But have you ever seen pictures of tornadoes destroying McMansions?



[Contact Joel S. Hirschhorn through delusionaldemocracy.com.]