New Orleans vs. Mumbai
My flag-waving cousin from India emailed me a shocking comparison between hurricane Katrina and the recent flooding in Mumbai. I have not validated the numbers, nor do I think that the two disasters or cities are necessarily comparable...
- disasters: class 4-5 hurricane + breach in levees vs. 24 hours (and thensome) of continuous downpour
- cities: New Orleans is a small, impoverished, mostly blue collar city; Mumbai is the New York City of India
--
inches of rain in
inches of rain in mumbai (July 27th): 37.1
population of
population of mumbai: 12,622,500
deaths in
deaths in mumbai within 48hours of rain: 37
number of people to be evacuated in
number of people evacuated in mumbai: 10,000
cases of shooting and violence in
cases of shooting and violence in mumbai: none
time taken for
time taken for Indian army and navy to reach mumbai: 12hours
new orleans status 48 hours later: still waiting for relief, army
mumbai status 48hours later: back on its feet and business as usual
posted by Seema @ 10:21 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Hi seema
You make interesting comparison between New Orleans and Mumbai.
With comparison, think why different things happen in different cities during natural calamities.
I think the Americans are more dependent on government. So when government system collapses there is chaos. In India nobody believes in efficiency of government system. Everybody knows governments working agencies are disastrous. So ultimately people take responsibility of others. That’s why after 26July disaster everybody in Mumbai tries to help other. Secondly Indians are united by unique ancient culture not by documents like constitution. In contrast American only believes in government system. They think it is best. So when it fails naturally there is chaotic situation. Secondly Americans are united by constitution not by culture. So still homogeneous society is not developed in America. In India as you know there are many languages, many religions still it has homogeneous culture. This unique culture respects some values; that’s why crime graph comes to zero after 26 July deluge. What you think?
Rajendra, you make some very interesting points. Having been raised with strong indian values and having been to india numerous times, I do agree that in India there is a stronger sense of community. Children are raised by the community and the concept of 'stranger' is foreign - everyone is some form of uncle or auntie. :)
I remember that during my last visit to Mumbai, my family in Borivali invited the taxi driver up for cha before we left for the airport... That sort of open, bright-eyed hospitality is not as common in the U.S. (quite possibly due to the short cultural history that you mentioned), but it's not non-existent.
We do rely quite heavily on our government... we have an infrastructure that for the most part works quite well and we hold our government officials to very high standards. (Every now and then some monkey will get by us.) However, there is still a very strong sense of community, especially in the face of tragedy and calamity, and I think this is a result of the human spirit that penetrates all cultures and socieites.
The situation in New Orleans was just tragic at every level. Many wanted to help but were left with very few options since there were very limited access points to those in need. The rain in Mumbai came over the course of a day and allowed people to take the appropriate action. The hurricane in New Orleans was greatly underestimated, and once the levees gave way, the city was almost instantly drowned.
Anyway, thanks for commenting. I enjoyed the insights!
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