Natural disasters, donations and the softpower of Japan

My due respects to all the victims of natural disasters everywhere; But I find it tragic that Singaporeans are donating much greater amounts to a rich country, and disgracefully tiny amounts to much poorer countries such as Haiti & Pakistan whose disaster victims have lost what little they had and whose fellow citizens have no means of helping them at all.

Facebook wall status is a microcosm of current thoughts, sympathies and fashion, or at least of one's FB friends. The postings of the past week has shown the softpower and attractiveness of Japan as a nation, culture and civilisation. The outpouring of emotions and sympathies for Japanese victims far exceed the postings I have seen for the many more deaths of disasters in China, Haiti and Pakistan.

Comments

fsminad said…
Finally, someone who dares to post this up. Like you, I find what happened to Japan was tragic but I'm also sad that Haiti, Pakistan and other middle east countries receive far much lesser.

Oh well, we can only hope for the best.