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-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Policy Focus: G7: G-192 Discussion
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2009 08:11:36 -0800
From: "Stephen M. Apatow" <s.m.apatow@humanitarian.net>
To: Emergency Food and Shelter National Board Program
CC: Human Rights Institute, International Bar
Association, Pascal Lamy, Secretary General, World Trade Organization,
UN: WHO/OIE/FAO Group
Dear Colleagues,
Last evening, leaders in 192 member states of the United
Nations (in a Y2K
level dialogue) reviewed the presentation entitled "House of Cards"
hosted by David Faber at CNBC, that reported on the progression that
facilitated our current global economic crisis. Included in the
global documentary review were leaders, members of the academic
community, front line service programs, peace and interfaith
organizations, newspaper, radio and television network reporters.
Understanding the causative factors associated with
our current national disaster/state of emergency, is crucial for for
strategic planning and development, stabilization in our communities
and G-192 landscape. This global discussion will be a focus point
at the G7 meetings in
Rome this weekend.
We are in a Katrina level economic disaster (Wickpedia):
A disaster is the tragedy of a natural or human-made
hazard that negatively affects society or environment.
In contemporary academia, disasters are seen as the consequence of
inappropriately managed risk. These risks are the product of hazards
and vulnerability. Hazards that strike in areas with low vulnerability
are not considered a disaster, as is the case in uninhabited regions. [1]
Developing countries suffer the greatest costs when a disaster hits –
more than 95 percent of all deaths caused by disasters occur in
developing
countries, and losses due to natural disasters are 20 times greater (as
a percentage of GDP) in developing countries than in industrialized
countries.[2: World Bank Disaster Management]
In the United States, emergency economic relief, funded
by the American taxpayer to address the damage caused by a lack of
regulatory controls and criminal activities in the shadow banking system, is nothing short of
outrageous..... Today, there remains no transparency
regarding the shadow banking system, where the majority of
taxpayer funds have been directed, while the
household/buisness/corporate level across America spirals in crisis.
The American taxpayer is the victim of the crime and our children
should not
be responsible for the bill, they should be compensated for damages.
The scenario is equivalent to a bank that has just been
robbed, the criminal released and innocent customers were being accused
of the crime, penalized a fine that in some cases resulted in the
liquidation
of all their assets. For those who lost their retirement
accounts,
a life sentence.
In the context of immediate stabilization and recovery in this
national economic disaster/state of emergency, the protections
afforded in a major
disaster declaration include:
- Individual
Assistance - aid to individuals and households;
- Public
Assistance - aid to public and tribal (and certain private non-profit)
entities for certain emergency services and the repair or replacement
of disaster
damaged public facilities; and
- Hazard
Mitigation Assistance - funding for measures designed to reduce future
losses to public and private property. Some declarations will provide
only individual assistance or only public assistance. Hazard mitigation
opportunities are assessed in most situations.
Immediate emergency funding and relief must be
available to stabilize the household level, businesses and corporate
level facing
an emergency, with assistance proportional to the needs required
for
the duration of this transition. On the global scale, America
must
take the lead in humanitarian relief on the G-192 level.
Related: CountryUp.org:
News & Information:
Stephen M. Apatow
Founder, Director of Research & Development
Humanitarian Resource Institute
Humanitarian University Consortium Graduate Studies
Center for Medicine, Veterinary Medicine & Law
Phone: 203-668-0282
Email: s.m.apatow@humanitarian.net
Internet: www.humanitarian.net
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