Have you given any thought to the condition of Japan lately? I sure haven’t. What’s left to think about? I’ve watched all the stories on CNN the days following the earthquake. I watched the people lose their homes, claim their deceased and have their lives shattered. I watched celebrities go to the airwaves and raise money for Red Cross. I watched it all, but one day it stopped. The world had moved on to the next news story.
As quickly as the disaster struck we have moved on and taken our wallets with us. Just like we moved from Howl for Haiti to Origami Wishes, we will soon prematurely transition to something else. This is just the way we operate, moving from disaster to disaster without really relieving anybody from the pain, except ourselves. I’ve noticed a pattern has developed in how we respond to disasters. The typical course of action for us involves witnessing a disaster strike, and then feeling a responsibility to react.
CNN reported the earthquake in Japan as one of the largest earthquakes in recorded history. According to CNN and The Telegraph, the earthquake left 250,000 without a home and killed more people than the war in Afghanistan, Hurricane Katrina, and September 11 combined. Yet we’re not even a month removed and a quick glance at CNN’s homepage illustrates the news coverage has completely shifted gears to the next big topic. There is not a single mention of Japan. It’d be easy to blame those in the media for this; however, they have a responsibility to cover the world events we care about. But the fact is we don’t care anymore.
We see these events happen and we stand by waiting for one of the actors from our favorite television shows to interrupt our regularly scheduled programming to tell us we must take action by donating a small amount of money. We jump at the opportunity to send in our donations. These small donations add up to go a long way to relieve us from our feelings of responsibility.
Afterwards, the coverage of the disaster loses its hold over you. At some point you’ve tuned any and all coverage out, only reminiscing about it when your monthly cell phone bill comes five dollars higher than normal. Soon the media catches on, shifts focus and presents you with another disaster and you repeat the process.
We’ve finally devised the perfect system for relieving ourselves from the demand of disaster relief. No matter how small, your donation does in fact go a long way. The U.S. Red Cross and USAID reported their combined aid reached $18 million in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake; however, these efforts don’t even break the surface of what’s needed. These disasters do billions of dollars in damage. The LA Times reported Japan’s disaster will likely cost more than $35 billion, reducing our pooled donations to only a drop in the bucket. If we wish to make any type of difference during these disaster relief efforts we must change the way the media controls the efforts we put our donation and aid to.
