S.N.A.F.U. Take 3
We had almost no rain during last winter. We've had a warmer than normal Spring. Until a few days ago we've had a very hot Summer, fortunately it's a bit cooler now. Our government tells us not to waste water, although every municipality can be accused of doing so. This terrible draught together with the weather conditions made it easy to predict forest fires would be a big problem this year. What did our government do to prepare for it? Nothing! Everything was kept the same way it was two years ago. Not the same way it was last year. Last year the previous government had spent too much on such things. When the problem started to get out of control the firefighters asked for extra help. The population asked for special measures. What did our Prime Minister do? Oh, right, he was on holiday and he wasn't even in the country. Kenya, wasn't it? Yeah, but it's ok, his number 2 told us he had called him and assured him everything was normal and under control, that is why he didn't come back to the country (he DID say this on parliament!!!).Now the government asked the EU for help. Now Spain, France and Germany are helping. I thank the leaders and the people of those countries. The problem is now it's a bit too late. Too much has burned. And who is to blame? Surely not the ones who are helping us, nor our brave firefighters who risk their lives, most of them voluntarily...
PS: This is completely off topic, but I wouldn't mind doing a photo-safari in Kenya.
posted by DCveR at 11:07 AM
12 Comments:
i think you deffinitely need to do a photo-safari! (since you got plenty of vacation time ;)
does your president have a vacation home in kenya?
OHH sucks, i just saw the "guess what food it is" post... i TOTALY KNEW what it was! ;)
The problem is I get the time but my finances don't always keep up with my holidays.
I don't think he has a house there, but Kenya is a very popular destination among nature lovers. The Masai Mara Park is on my wishlist. Next holiday will be US again though.
Maybe one of these days I'll post another dish. :)
Between you and Vit, I'm reading about the fires, but I couldn't imagine they were so bad. Until I saw her do a drawing of some place that was charred.
That is tragic, so many places burning.
I hope something is done about it.
GG: I didn't even take any pictures. Too sad to take pictures.
i've been watching the news all day... it's incredible to see even parts of coimbra on fire... very very scary.
The fires are just awful.
Photo-safari in Keya...that sounds like fun, and yes, off-topic. lol
That is terrible. What is going on with the weather everywhere?
Firefighters are amazing people, I find heat unbearable.
vit: I wish your rain dance would work
G.D.: This is being one of the worst years as far as forest fires are concerned
Lisa: The stupid thing is that sometimes people blame them for not being able to stop the fires. The same politicians who don't give them equipment tell the common folks that the problem is lack training.
This is something that happens in California a lot. There are people who say that California does not have four seasons, but those of us who have grown up there know better, there are the same four:
Fire, flood, mud and drought.
Sorry you are having this happen in Portugal. Way too pretty a place to be burning up. Hope you get some rain soon.
As you know, I lived in Africa, but the west side! Never saw the east. I can relate to that phrase though: "My finances can't keep up with my holidays." So true.
kris:
The last few days it seemd liuke it would rain, but today is sunny and hot again.
One of the problems is having to pay for a lot of travelling to and from Oregon for both of us. When this is all over we hopefully will be able to travel a bit more to other places.
I hope you can rack up some frequent flyer miles, although I understand the programs in Europe vary a bit from ours. (And are stricter.)
Sigh...know the feeling of being desperate for rain. We've had droughts in Hawaii, and as you know, many of us in rural Hawaii depend on rain alone for our household water.
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