Thursday, May 25, 2006

Reuters AlertNet - What do you mean you don't speak English?

Reuters AlertNet - What do you mean you don't speak English?: "Jack Campbell, from ActionAid's Emergencies and Conflict team, says the new U.N. 'cluster' approach to disasters isn't working, if experience after October's Kashmir quake is anything to go by.

Imagine disaster strikes in a corner of France. Casualties are high, chaos is total. An international relief effort rolls in, and proceeds to carry out all meetings and briefings in English, with not a French translator in sight. It just wouldn't happen.

But in Pakistan, ActionAid found that the United Nations failed to provide Urdu translators in coordination meetings in the aftermath of the Kashmir earthquake."

No comments: