Thunderbirds and the Aussie Floods/Haiti earthquake etc

The flooding in Australia has now spread to five of our six states (we have bushfires in the sixth state). Its weird going from massive drought to massive floodwaters in such a short time.

We are talking astronomical amounts of water being poured out on us, a lot of flooded houses and much heartbreak and also many positive stories of courage, love and respect. There are 22 000 volunteers mobilised this weekend in Brisbane to clean up houses, streets, schools and community facilities.

Our hearts go out to the families of those who have died. We are also mindful that 560 people have died in Brazil this weekend in their worst ever flood disaster.

I always liked the show Thunderbirds. The characters worked for an agency called International Rescue- which has been created to help those in grave danger using technically advanced equipment and machinery. I am full of admiration for the amazing rescuers from across the globe who in the last year have rescued and rebuilt in Haiti, Pakistan,  Russia, Greece, indonesia, New Zealand and now Brazil and Australia.

I was wondering is it time we created an International Rescue agency for the globe's natural disasters? We all still seem to be taken by surprise by them, fundraising and infrastructure rebuilding is seemingly ad hoc. For example, I guarantee that the rebuilding in Brisbane, Australia will be swifter than that in Haiti. There are some in Australia who will have the right type of insurances and others who don't. There  were four million  Pakistanis made homeless in 2010. Many of them currently still love in tents. Is any of this right?

New Zealand has an amazing scheme the Earthquake Commission (EQC) set up in 1945 to provide New Zealand residential property owners payouts for damage caused by earthquake, natural landslip, volcanic eruption, hydrothermal activity, tsunami; in the case of residential land, a storm or flood; or fire caused by any of these.

For more than 60 years it has been collecting premiums for a fund called the Natural Disaster Fund backed up by reinsurance from overseas groups and a Government Guarantee.

EQC also researches about matters relevant to natural disaster damage and it has brilliant education and information programs to help people prevent and mitigate damage caused by natural disasters.

Surely, something similar on a global scale would help our world?



My prayers and concern to everyone around the world who face displacement, homelessness, fear and pain. And thanks to the amazing team of "International Rescuers"