Soul Searching

here are some photos that had no place anywhere else. the bulk of them were taken on the way to ground zero, near the town of melabeu. it is where most of the aid work is concentrated. many of the agencies are reluctant to go further out, where there is far more need. the roads are outrageously bad and there is little infrastructure to support minimal living standards. interestingly it became clear that the bulk of the aid workers here get paid quite handsomely for their work. some, like the UN people, get paid as much as corporate executives in the US…

this was on the way to town

i was thinking “this ain’t so bad.” little did i know what was in store…

most of the streets in town are like this

god only knows what they’re burning

this was a typical kitchen outdoors. they make jetfuel, which they call coffee, to which they ad about half a bag of sugar. they also make instant noodles. it’s a mainstay in the diet here. almost no nutritional value.

some ngo’s are trying to support sustainable agriculture and construction. this is part of a project on bamboo construction. there’s tons of it in the area, and if there’s another earthquake or tsunami it’ll be vastly more likely to stay standing. for soem reason all the big ngo’s are building brick houses, at far more expense. to quote homer, du’oh!