Baby Wipes in Mozambique

Hurricane Floyd is probably still fresh in our memories. For first-years it meant cancelled "Through the Gates" orientation excursions, for Quadlings there was yet another reason to complain about the shuttle schedule, and for some upperclassmen the Registrar's office had to waive their late registration fees because of Logan's shutdown.

But there was more to it than just minor inconveniences. With at least 50 deaths--in part due to the subsequent floods--Floyd was the deadliest tropical cyclone that has struck the United States since Agnes in 1972. In North Carolina, the state most severely hit, Floyd destroyed 6,500 homes and damaged another 50,000. More than 10,200 North Carolinians had to spend the nights following the hurricane in shelters.

Now let's shift our attention to Mozambique, a country on the Southeast Coast of Africa, about six times the size of North Carolina, though not nearly as densely populated. Nevertheless, three-week long rains, a cyclone and the accompanying floods have displaced at least 200,000 people, and up to 800,000 are in urgent need of food and medical care. Within the last week, helicopters have rescued more than 13,000 people from roofs and trees.

Focusing on more pressing issues than counting bodies, Mozambique has not updated the official death toll for more than a week, when it was still at only 150, but estimates cite several thousand deaths. And another cyclone looming off the coast of Mozambique as well as outbreaks of disease will most likely cost even more lives.

Disturbing? Yes, of course; but there isn't really anything we can do to prevent it. Granted, the most significant impact of global warming is likely to be a dramatic increase in the frequency of extreme weather events. If we dare to draw the connection between driving to work--with the resulting greenhouse gas emissions--and global warming, we can count ourselves as one factor contributing to such "natural" catastrophes.

But even more disturbing is the juxtaposition of these two disasters. North Carolina lost fifty of its residents, Mozambique a few thousand. Floyd caused tens of thousands of people to spend nights at shelters or with relatives and friends; the catastrophe in Mozambique resulted in hundreds of thousands of displaced people. Yet, the damage estimate for Floyd easily topped a billion dollars. Mozambique's president estimated the aid his country would need over the next year to be approximately $250 million.

I wonder what causes these discrepancies. Could it be that after Floyd had hit North Carolina, the Emergency Animal Rescue Service asked for donations of leashes, collars, kitty litter, and muzzles? Or maybe we can attribute it to the call of a regional newspaper that decided to publish a list of what victims displaced from their homes most urgently needed: nonperishable food, cleaning supplies, shovels--and the list goes on. Sure, bleach and other cleaners might count as luxuries, but after all we are talking about the United States here--not some remote African country with people living on less than a dollar a day.

Right below nonperishable food, however, the newspaper lists a range of other "most basic necessities" such as deodorant and shavers, just to name a few. I wonder whether the official damage statistics considered these items. Should we ask Mozambique's President whether his number includes baby wipes?

--Gernot Wagner