Dear Readers,

The news at the moment is screaming with disaster. Hurricane Harvey and Irma ravage the Americas. Terrorism in Europe.

But very little is said about what’s going on in Asia. Why? Why do Texan cats swimming from flooded areas get more of our screen time than the flooding across the subcontinent?

There are more than 1000 people dead in India (The Times of India, 2017).

140 people perished in Nepal and $8.8 billion worth of crops have been destroyed (The Times of India, 2017).

136 people in Pakistan have died (The Guardian, 2017; The Times of India, 2017).

Death toll exceeds 1200 people across the subcontinent and is one of the deadliest in recent years (ABC News, 2017; The Times of India, 2017).

And yet I haven’t heard anything about it. I know more about the situation in Houston 13,428 km away than in Bangladesh (where two thirds of the country is underwater) 8,799 km from me (ABC News, 2017).

People have lost their families.

Their homes.

Their income.

Their villages.

WHY?

What is it about the situation in America, in the USA more particularly that makes it more important than the severe flooding in other parts of the world? Honestly I hadn’t even heard that Irma had already devastated the Caribbean until I googled it for this letter.

And of course I’m not saying that what’s happening in America isn’t important. It is. But sometimes maybe we should look a little broader. Gain some perspective.

K                                                                     05.09.17