The failures mount with Katrina's toll
卡特里娜飓风:自然的考验 人为的失误 Government needs to prepare for the worst. When the worst comes, as Hurricane Katrina has shown, it may be even more catastrophic than imagined. It may involve not only death and suffering and destruction of property but a descent to a Darwinian contest for survival. From that contest, there is no easy way back to thriving, healthy communities. Even if New Orleans can be rebuilt some day, the larger task will be to strengthen trust and unity of purpose in the United States.
政府需要随时准备如何应付天灾人祸。当象卡特里娜飓风这样的天灾降临时，它造成的危害可能远高于我们的想象。卡特里娜不仅造成了百姓丧生，精神痛苦和财产损失，同时，还应证了达尔文的弱肉强食的理论。人类本身一但发生了弱肉强食的问题，这就很难重建繁荣和健康的社会。虽然新奥尔良来日可以重建，但更大的挑战是加强美国人的相互信任和团结。 These are the lessons of Katrina. The richest country in the world was not prepared. This should frighten all who live in the First World. Unlike developing countries such as Sri Lanka, India and Indonesia, that were caught by surprise when the worst tsunami in 40 years struck last December, the U.S. had several days warning that a hurricane was gathering force and headed for the Gulf region. And if Americans were not prepared for a storm that announced itself ahead of time, what if a major act of terror occurred with no public warning? And how would Canada do?
这些就是卡特里娜带给我们的教训。世界上最有钱的国家没有做好应付天灾的准备，这应该让所有生活在第一世界的人大吃一惊。与斯里兰卡、印度和印尼等发展中国家不同，在没有任何预报的情况下，这几个国家去年12月遭遇了40年来最大的海啸。相比之下，美国人早就知道卡特里娜飓风将袭击美国海湾地区，但他们却没有做好应付她的准备。我们要问，如果事先有预告的天灾都无法应付，一但发生了一个大的恐怖袭击，那情形会是怎样。如果这样的天灾人祸发生在加拿大，那我们又是如何去应付呢？ Canadians have no wish to play armchair quarterback or to sit in judgment of U.S. frailties. Their hearts go out to their American friends, neighbours and relatives in their time of need. Scores of countries around the world are rallying to support the U.S., and Canada is among them -- the Canadian Forces is offering help, and British Columbia is preparing to send a search and rescue team. Canada should also look at itself; the catastrophe should shock this country into a cold-eyed review of its preparations for terrorism and natural disaster.
加拿大人不希望纸上谈兵或对美国的失误指手划脚。但他们关心那些急需帮助的美国朋友、邻居和亲戚。目前全世界的许多国家正在援助美国，加拿大也在其中—加拿大军队已经伸出援助之手，卑诗省正在准备派遣一支搜救队前往受灾地区。加拿大同样也应该看看自己的问题；美国的这次天灾足以提醒加拿大要冷静地去看看，一但恐怖袭击和自然灾害落到我们身上时如何应对。 The deeply unsettling events in Louisiana and Mississippi bring home the original purposes of government, purposes that are still entirely relevant. The basic purpose is to provide security, whether from foreign enemies, natural forces or the baser aspects of human nature. Almost as basic is the need to protect the vulnerable and the sick. In both its basic purposes, U.S. governments and their agencies appear to have failed badly so far on Katrina. That is why the mask of civilized man appears to have fallen -- in the roving gangs of gunmen, in the setting of fires and the shooting at rescue helicopters, in police officers who seem to style themselves as a vigilante force. Katrina was an overwhelming destructive force. But government did not live up to its purposes.
发生在美国路易斯安娜和密西西比天灾人祸远未结束，这让我们联想到当出为何要设立政府的目的，这些目的如今仍然与我们息息相关。成立政府的最基本的目的是在外族入侵时、发生天灾时、或由人类自身的弱点造成的人祸发生时，政府能出面保护百姓。在灾难面前，最需要保护的是老弱病残。在卡特里娜飓风席卷美国海湾后，直到目前为止，美国各级政府和那些救灾机构显然没有向老弱病残们提供保护。其结果，有人将文明丢在一边，开始卷入黑帮枪战、纵火、并向救援直升机和那些完全没有戒备能力的警察放冷枪。卡特里娜飓风破坏力巨大，但政府在救灾方面没有尽到它的职能。 How much more could have or should have been done will no doubt be the stuff of a government inquiry. The tenuous position of New Orleans is no secret. Experts liken it to a soup bowl. It is virtually surrounded by water. If Lake Pontchartrain floods (its levees and sea walls were designed to protect against a storm surge 18 to 20 feet high), then the water fills the bowl.
在这场飓风袭击前后，政府有多少能够做到的或应该做却没有做的，一个听证会将得到答案。新奥尔良的特殊地理位置并不是秘密。该市几乎四面临水，专家将该市比作为一个汤碗。一旦庞恰特雷恩湖（Lake Pontchartrain）的防洪堤决口（它的防洪堤可以抵御18到20英尺高的风浪），那么水就会倒灌到城里。 Although there were computer simulations of massive hurricanes as recently as last summer, questions are being asked as to whether funding constraints held back improvements to the levees. There are also obvious questions to be asked about the failure of evacuations, and about the agonizingly slow rescue efforts. When Katrina hit, thousands of people were stranded for days on their rooftops, and others went without food, water and medicine. "We are like little birds with our mouths open and you don't have to be very smart to know where to drop the worm," said Colonel Terry Ebbert, director of homeland security for New Orleans. "It's criminal within the confines of the United States that within one hour of the hurricane they weren't force-feeding us."
虽然在去年夏天用计算机模拟了高级别的飓风袭击该市的后果，但我们要问，是否由于消减拨款造成了无钱去加固防洪堤。我们还要问，为什么疏散行动没有实现，以及为什么救灾工作如此缓慢。卡特里娜飓风打击后，数千人被困在屋顶上多日，有些人没有食物、饮用水和药物。新奥尔良的紧急措施长官Terry Ebbert说：“我们就象小鸟张着嘴，你不必用高智商来决定向哪里空投救济物品。飓风袭击后的一小时内他们没有提供任何救济，按美国法律，这是犯罪行为。” No one can fail to notice that the vast majority of the vulnerable are black and poor. They are in somewhat the same position as the more than 11,000 elderly people in France who died during the heat wave of two summers ago. They were the least able to get out of the way of the onslaught. Some, no doubt, did not have the money to get out of town or, if they did, to pay for somewhere to stay. It should probably be no surprise that a city lacking in social cohesion during ordinary times falls into despair and near-anarchy when disaster strikes.
你不可能不注意到大多数的飓风受害者是黑人和穷人。他们与两年前在热浪中死去的11,000多法国老人的情形很相似。当天灾降临时，他们是那些最不能逃避灾难的人。有些人毫无疑问是因为没有钱逃离城镇，或者，既使逃离灾区，他们也无法支付避难的费用。所以，我们毫不奇怪，一个平时就缺少社会凝聚力的城市，但灾难降临，就会陷入绝境、几乎变成无政府状态。 A German newspaper said the calamitous scenes from New Orleans were "otherwise known only in African capitals." A local newspaper reporter said the city had been in a state of near-madness. Katrina has reminded the developed world of its frailties. It ignores them at its peril.
一家德国报纸称，新奥尔良的灾难场面“恍如发生在非洲国家”。一家当地报纸的记者称新奥尔良几乎成疯狂状态。卡特里娜飓风已经提醒发达世界关注自己的问题，他们低估了灾难的危害。
编后：以上是加拿大全国发行的最大日报《环球邮报》9月3日发表的社论。理静、贾宁扬编译。
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