22103: Slavin: Tonight's "Nightline" Floods (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: PSlavin@unicefusa.org

Nightline Daily E-Mail
May 27, 2004


TONIGHT'S FOCUS: No one is really paying attention, but there are reports
that more than 2,000 people have been killed by flooding and mudslides in
the Dominican Republic and Haiti in the last couple of days. If this had
happened anywhere else, it probably would have been front-page news.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

We in the media often get tunnel vision. We focus on something, and it
takes something much worse to make us even think about changing that focus.
And there are parts of the world that we never cover. Haiti and the
Dominican Republic, which share an island, fall into that category. Both
countries face crushing problems, political unrest and instability in
Haiti, and a collapsed economy in the Dominican Republic. Why should we
care? If for no other reason, because problems in those countries cause
desperate people to set out in dangerously unsuitable boats to try to make
the crossing to the U.S in the hopes of finding sanctuary. Out there in the
ocean to stop them, the U.S. Coast Guard, which tries to keep them from
getting to the U.S., often has to rescue them from sinking boats.

And things have just gotten worse. Flash floods from torrential rains have
killed at least 1,000 people, and there are reports that another 1,000
bodies are being recovered in the Haitian town of Mapou. 2,000 people in
the two countries. The death toll will most likely go higher, if and when
rescue workers are ever able to get to the affected areas. It's likely that
many of the bodies will never be found. Add this devastation to the mix,
and it's likely that more and more people will feel they have nothing to
lose by trying to make the ocean crossing.

So we're going to take a break from covering Iraq tonight. We'll hear from
BBC reporter Jeremy Cooke who's on the scene in the Dominican Republic, and
ABC News correspondent Jeffrey Kofman will report from the D.R. on the
economic hardship that drives people to take desperate measures, and also
from a Coast Guard Cutter on patrol in the straits. Ted will anchor
tonight, I hope you'll join us.

Leroy Sievers and the Nightline Staff
Nightline Offices
ABCNEWS Washington D.C.

______________________________
Patrick Slavin, MSc
Senior Writer
U.S. Fund for UNICEF
333 E. 38th St., 6th Floor
New York, NY 10016
212-922-2492, voice
212-779-1679, fax

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