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The death toll after the Iranian earthquake has is now over 40 000.
To me, that number is almost inconceivable.
Let us all hope that the number doesn't rise any further, and that all countries give and continue giving aid to help the situation.
Posts: 4393 | Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
Thanks Imogen for not letting us forget about this terrible tragedy.
One of my biggest pet peeves is the media bias towards death. For example, I read yesterday that somewhere around 100 people have died worldwide from Mad Cow disease and yet there is this firestorm of media attention on the topic.
I would venture to guess that close to 40,000 people die every day from diarrhea, yet it's not cool enough of a topic to address on the news.
Sorry if I derailed this thread to a new topic, but there's my daily rant.
Posts: 995 | Registered: May 2003
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In fact I think they are worried about dysentery in Iran with the survivors because of all of the decomposing bodies, and contaminated water supplies.
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What exactly can we do to prevent diarrhea in the 3rd world?
Change the culture, change living conditions, generally lift the whole society out of poverty and bad plumbing. . . No easy task, and thus, my assertion.
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There are a number of new water purification devices similar to the ones AJ linked to. I'm having trouble finding a link, but I remember, 6 months or so ago, reading in New Scientist about a completely passive water treatment "system" that basically was composed of nothing more than a bottle made of a plastic whose properties were such that when sunlight passed through it, it killed the bacteria in the water within the bottle.
The AquaCone looks even better, though, since it'll remove salts and heavy metals as well.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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The aquacone is more expensive than the solar pastureization. It is listed as $US200 rightnow. However I don't know if it is actually being mass produced yet and I imagine the price would go down if it was. Imagine one of those on every lifeboat though. You'd never have to be worried about running out of water if your ship sank. It is the only solution for arsenic contamination as well.
However dysentery comes mostly from biological agents, and that is more easily solved with the solar pasturezation method.
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Both have their place. I can't wait until this technology is being mass produced. Not too long ago I read about someone who had created a non-electrically powered mine detector too, which is great. The user generates the power necessary to run the thing by swinging it back and forth like a weed whip (which is essentially what the thing looks like). It's pretty cheap to produce too. If we can prevent death and illness from both contaminated water and old land mines, we'll have gone a long way toward improving life in a lot of the world.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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It isn't about monetary cost-- it's about social change.
For example, you can throw all the money you want into providing condoms to prevent AIDS in Africa-- but until the stigma AGAINST using condoms is dealt with, you're wasting time.
Same with dysentary and it's variants. It's not that the goal is unworthy or unacheivable, but vastly more difficult than changing a few laws to keep bad cow out of American diets.
Posts: 14554 | Registered: Dec 1999
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Well as far as water goes, I know your average tribal villager, would like better TASTING water if nothing else. Taste just might be the convincing factor. Distilled water tastes far better than well water with minerals in it. Also I think in this global information age, while there are pockets of totally isolated people, you underestimate the budding sohphistication that is possible in 3rd world countries. There is almost always someone trustworthy in greater contact with the outside world and if that person tells them that it will lower dysentery they will probably try it.
quote:BananaOJ said: Distilled water tastes far better than well water with minerals in it.
Actually, distilled water is kind of gross. Well water with the right minerals is much better tasting. Most desalinization plants add a minute amount of mineral back into the water. It's also why water softeners are generally not connected to drinking water supply lines.
However, I can't imagine dysentary-inducing water generally tastes very good, anyway. I know unsafe water can taste and smell normal, but from the reports I've read, the unsafe water is generally quite foul, too.
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