Natural disasters: go or no?
 

Reading Colebatch's report of Russian flood predictions and Mickey D's report of livestock winterkill in Mongolia: I have mixed feelings about a pleasure trip through disaster areas.

Do you adjust your route around areas where people are trying to put their lives back to together after a disaster? Or do you figure they need traveler's dollars/euros/etc more than ever and go through anyway?

.................shu

The answer, like most of the world's answers, is "it depends."

I try not to compete with local people for scarce resources. In even a mild famine, for example, the presence of aid workers can drive up the cost of already-scarce food. Travelers make it even worse. Same goes for water and other necessities. This part of the answer is relatively simple.

But the category "scarce resources" also includes things like use of transport, purchases of gasoline, police and other protection.....you name it, it's likely to be in short supply or available only at jacked-up prices following a major disaster of any sort. Again, I try not to compete with local people under such circumstances. As it happens, the government of Chile (reportedly) asked tourists to stay away for a while following the earthquake for these reasons and more.

At some point, competition for resources becomes less of a factor, but I don't claim to understand how to determine this. Obviously, as a paying tourist I can be in great demand by those who stand to profit directly (hotel owners, restaurant managers, etc.) while all the while my presence interferes with delivery of goods and services to those who really need them. If I'm not contributing directly--by doing disaster relief work, for example--maybe I should stay home or go elsewhere even when they're begging me to come.

My approach is really just a starting point, but it often dictates the terms of my travel. I don't go to the Sahel during what is known as "The Hungry Season" each year. I cleared out of Chile before arriving in the damage zone this past month. And more like that.

I'm interested in hearing more from others, since I sure don't think I've got it figured out just yet.

Mark

(from southern Brazil)

Edit to add: on another notable forum I was roundly ridiculed for suggesting that it made sense to schedule travel to avoid disaster zones. Apparently, even in its simplest form this approach has not won wide adherence among travelers.

Good comments Mark!

All kinds of things can happen on the road, natural disasters, political turmoil, war, Coups, the works. Some countries are pretty much on going disaster areas all the time. (or so it seems to western eyes)

What are you going to do? Seems like every year in El Salvador the rainy season becomes a "national disaster". Is it? No. They just have no infrastructure. (my reference is old, I hear it's more developed today) Disasters bring in foreign aid.

Working in the news, documentary and NGO world I've seen a few disasters up close. Bangladesh floods, Sudan poverty, Colombian mud slides, Ethiopian famine, more.

Traveling on my own in Peru' during an earthquake (minor) and in Guat. when 3 volcanoes went off at once and mid day was like night for 3 days. None of these events was bad enough to totally de-rail order and everything was handled fairly well.

In some countries (like Haiti) corruption is so endemic that no amount of help is going to put things right any time soon. Combine this with no infrastructure and you have a disaster that will take decades to recover from, meanwhile chaos rules.

Seems today more and more moto travelers are not only on the road to be "Tourists" but are looking for "opportunities" for books, movies, articles and seek to extend their "vacation" into a permanent career in "Adventure travel". Some do this well, some not so much.
I have my own personal feelings about this group, but that gets off topic.

I've been through two coups, one bloodless and one real shooting failed Coup attempt. During these events if life wasn't cheap before, its value plummets even further when Coup chaos takes over. Borders close, military check points go up everywhere and people are killed at random. A state of siege is imposed and anything can happen. With news crews I've been jailed, had cocked guns held to my temple and had soldiers from a distance shoot at us for carrying cameras.

By comparison moto travelers get off easy but still are an easy target if things go crazy. Best thing I can suggest is that if things go wrong, stay put. Keep a low profile and don't go out. In any case all travelers should try to keep up on news reports. Trying to move during a disaster is not a good plan. Stay put, do the best you can, try to help if appropriate and communicate with friends and your embassy if possible. :mchappy: