How to avoid disasters?
 

The recent tragic events in New Orleans and neighbouring areas reminds us that stuff happens. It also reminds us that as travelers we can be especially vulnerable in part because we often do not follow the local news either because we don't have time or do not speak the language. When we travel in Europe we are sometimes able to watch English language news such as BBC World or CNN. Sometimes we watch the news in the local language and have fun trying to figure out what is going on. However, more often we are blissfully ignorant of what is happening. After reading accounts of trapped visitors in New Orleans my wife has become more concerned with staying in touch with important local news when we travel. Does anybody pack shortwave radios or do visits to Intenet cafes make more sense? Does anybody else worry about such things?

I would think that you would become informed by local citizens or your hotel reception... or even your own family...
It is a good idea to tune into some tv news or an internet cafe for 10 minutes, while you're checking email...

It is doubtful travelers who were in New Orleans were unaware of what was coming...most people who remained in the city
- a)did so by choice (they were thinking to ride out the hurricane, not survive a catastrophic flood) or
- b)had no way to leave

visits to internet cafes make more sense to me, you can easily get the headlines, though that depends if your local stations have updated websites with headlines.
In my experience, most local news is traffic accidents and political corruption, for really important stories, the major news organizations like CNN, nytimes.com, washingtonpost.com, etc will have the headlines on their websites. You can also sign up for email news alerts, and just check your own email for important news.

If something really dreadful happened at home, surely someone would contact you?

Internet cafes are a marvel -- cheap, everywhere (we even found one in a remote corner of Laos), and avoid problems with time zones between where you are and the time zone back home. As others say, you can tap reliable news sources 24 hours a day no matter where. We've found their operators usually are young, eager to use their English, and quite hip. Once, in Moscow, we were ushered to their only machine that had an English-language keyboard -- they were so proud to have an American see how up-to-date they were!

Hi Gavin, one other thought. Newsstands often have the International Herald Tribune which does a pretty good job of keeping travellers up to date on news in the US and worldwide.

Dear G,

>After reading accounts of trapped visitors in New Orleans my wife has become more concerned with staying in touch with important local news when we travel.<

If a disaster a la NO or the floods in Prague occurs, the locals will let you know.

There is nothing you could do about it anyway.

Don't worry, be happy.

((I))

In case anyone is going to Spain there is a post here on Fodors that they are having a flood problem also. Mother Nature is in a nasty mood it seems. Safe travels everyone!

Gavin-First and foremost, always, always ALWAYS remember to register your trip on the State Dept. website before you leave! One need only go to State's main website now- www.state.gov-and discover that there are missing citizens from all over the world who were caught in New Orleans-15 missing Italians, I read in the Italian newspapers just before I left Italy a couple of days ago, as an example.

Other countries do not offer this service to their citizens, Americans should be very glad that their State Dept. does-and it could make all the difference in a life or death situation, as well as providing an additional line of identification which family members left behind would be able to plug into in case you were caught in an emergency abroad. Remember, unlike other countries, with so much smaller populations, there are 280 million Americans, give or take a million or so-you DO want someone in the USG to have a record of your whereabouts abroad-otherwise, the tracking system becomes so very difficult, so it is recommended you register for the sake of your family members at home if nothing else.

You can read the State Dept.'s advice on Emergencies here:

ravel.state.gov/travel/tips/emergencies/emergencies_1212.html

And you can register your trip information with the State Dept. here:

travel.state.gov/travel/tips/registration/registration_1186.html

I can also say, having just returned from Italy, that Hurricane Katrina was headline news there, as expected, and that top Italian politicals from the center left have been quite critical of the USG's response to Katrina; one of them, a former top Italian official to the EU, said the following, translated:

"What we see are seeing these days is of great historical importance-what has happened in NO is that the societal protection system for its citizens is broken-and that no one thinks any more about anyone else there-all this is not casual -because the example of the American city demonstrates that it is an act of abandonment of the collective system of aid. We must reflect upon this example, and reconstruct our own protection systems before it is too late."

Although Professor Romano Prodi's words are, of course, an oversimplification of the situation seen from afar, and moreover, attached to a political agenda concerning the current Italian govt., there is no mistaking the harshly negative, and disbelieving impression our Govt.'s initial response to Katarina has left on leaders and citizens of countries all over the world. The impression that the US has things under control may well be forever shattered, and no amount of aid and support after the fact may be able to undo that initial lack of response.

The people who need to know where I am have the information...

Carrying cash-US or local- always helps in a disaster. With cash you can get help from private resources/citizens that otherwise might not be available. Keep this cash someplace other than your wallet

During the aftermath of Katrina I spent over an hour in line for gas only to discover they only wanted cash.

I don't get why registering my trip on a government website would provide me with an advantage. Surely if I provide my itinerary and passport number to family or friends, they would have the necessary information should I need to be tracked down.
The State Department would spontaneously start looking for me if there were a disaster somewhere?

Disaster -a sudden calamitous event
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I am in complete agreement with ira. You can only prepare for so much. The nature of a disaster is that it surprises you..they are hard to avoid.
Just be sure your family knows where you are.
If in the case of the tsunami, finding a way to contact the family as soon as possible is the most important thing.
so take a good mans advice, Don't worry , Be happy :)

We always watch the news wherever we are to see what's going on - and have seen some interesting events - although not disasters for us _ the Mt St Helena explosion, the OJ slow speed chas, election reuslts etc. - also we want to see the weather for the day.

Almost every hotel I have been in has either CNN or BBC news on their TV - and you can usually pick up anything really momentous from the local news. (An exploding volcano looks the same in German as it does in English.)

I just assumed everyone did this - like skimming the newspaper every morning.

And I just can;t imagine being so disconnected as not to do this.