What happens to a city when an earthquake hits AND ALL THE MEN LEAVE?

[LJ_Reloaded]

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35008255

When an earthquake hit Nepal in April, 9,000 people were killed and many more lost their homes. Thousands of men are now facing a difficult choice - should they stay to rebuild the country, or travel abroad where they can earn more money?

...

"It's not only about the money," says Sabin, who is back home from his job in Qatar for the first time in two years. "So many of the men have gone away there's no-one left here now to repair the earthquake damage and build the houses. No-one to do the pipes, the electricity - they're all gone."

More than three-and-a-half million Nepalis - that's well over 10% of the population of this mountainous, underdeveloped country - have left to work abroad over the past 20 years.

 

[Aella_]

As I see it, the article touches upon two issues : gender relations and obligations in times of crises, and immigration/patriotism.


A. re IMIGRATION/PATRIOTISM IN TIMES OF CRISIS

Your topic for debate interests me a lot, LJ, since it's a bit related to my own experiences. Therefore, I'll weave in some of my own experiences when presenting my pov :

1.I'm an immigrant too, yet my circumstances were totally different. My departure had absolutely no impact on my community (it wouldn't have fallen apart if I left).

At the same time, while I do care about (and try to help, if possible) other people, I think that my self-interest is much more important to me.
- On a smaller scale, I wouldn't sacrifice my life or my future for others. But I always lived in developed countries where people are generally looked after to some degree.
- On a larger scale, I don't think I have that much of a sense of loyalty to any country (my experiences made me identify myself, ultimately, as 'trans-national'). So I wouldn't sacrifice my future for more abstract terms such as national identity, patriotism etc. either.

2.But in circumstances that are different from my own (like that terrible crisis situation in a small community) :
I'd like to think that those concepts (altruism or patriotism) would have trumped my self-interest or my own sense of self-preservation. And that I would have stayed to help or rebuild my community before leaving.

But I don't know how I would react.
I was raised in a large city as opposed to a small community, so I don't have those ties. And I never experienced anything similar to that disastruous situation, to be able to judge.


B. re GENDER ROLES AND EXPECTATIONS IN TIMES OF CRISIS

If I were a man: In western countries gender seems to be less and less relevant, so -I think- that my gender would have no bearing on my decision.
But in Nepal: there seems to be an additional dimension, given that it seems to have maintained the traditional gender roles and expectations.

 

[LJ_Reloaded]

As I see it, the article touches upon two issues : gender relations and obligations in times of crises, and immigration/patriotism.


A. re IMIGRATION/PATRIOTISM IN TIMES OF CRISIS

Your topic for debate interests me a lot, LJ, since it's a bit related to my own experiences. Therefore, I'll weave in some of my own experiences when presenting my pov :

1.I'm an immigrant too, yet my circumstances were totally different. My departure had absolutely no impact on my community (it wouldn't have fallen apart if I left).

At the same time, while I do care about (and try to help, if possible) other people, I think that my self-interest is much more important to me.
- On a smaller scale, I wouldn't sacrifice my life or my future for others. But I always lived in developed countries where people are generally looked after to some degree.
- On a larger scale, I don't think I have that much of a sense of loyalty to any country (my experiences made me identify myself, ultimately, as 'trans-national'). So I wouldn't sacrifice my future for more abstract terms such as national identity, patriotism etc. either.

2.But in circumstances that are different from my own (like that terrible crisis situation in a small community) :
I'd like to think that those concepts (altruism or patriotism) would have trumped my self-interest or my own sense of self-preservation. And that I would have stayed to help or rebuild my community before leaving.

But I don't know how I would react.
I was raised in a large city as opposed to a small community, so I don't have those ties. And I never experienced anything similar to that disastruous situation, to be able to judge.


B. re GENDER ROLES AND EXPECTATIONS IN TIMES OF CRISIS

If I were a man: In western countries gender seems to be less and less relevant, so -I think- that my gender would have no bearing on my decision.
But in Nepal: there seems to be an additional dimension, given that it seems to have maintained the traditional gender roles and expectations.

Nature looks at males to be the workhorses of almost every known species in existence.

The flaw in nature's big stupid plan gets exposed when, consequentially, the males pack up and leave.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

Faggots and niggers skedaddle first, white men stick around to help the women and children get out.

 

[Aella_]

Oh boy… Misogyny and homophobia and racism.
There go my sweat'n tears, my attempt to come up with an essay : straight to the garbage bin.

 

[oggbashan]

Without money to buy building supplies and the massive shipping costs, they can't rebuild.

Nepal is a poor country. The average ANNUAL income is $700. The income from the men overseas is essential.

One source of income is by being guides and porters for those wishing to climb Everest and other mountains. It is seasonal and dangerous.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Mount_Everest_avalanche

A Mount Everest guide typically earns about US$125/day per climb. Most come from climbing families, are raised on stories of wealth from climbs, with relatively few other economic opportunities. Between 350 and 450 guides, most of them Sherpas, work each year's climbing season. A guide can earn up to $5,000 a year, compared with Nepal's average annual salary of $700.

In the years prior to the avalanche, foreigners began bringing their own guides, causing tension with locals. Eight people, including one of the most experienced Sherpa guides, died on Mount Everest in 2013.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

Oh boy… Misogyny and homophobia and racism.
There go my sweat'n tears, my attempt to come up with an essay : straight to the garbage bin.

But its true, no black or gay has ever been honored for real heroism.

 

[LJ_Reloaded]

Without money to buy building supplies and the massive shipping costs, they can't rebuild.

Nepal is a poor country. The average ANNUAL income is $700. The income from the men overseas is essential.

One source of income is by being guides and porters for those wishing to climb Everest and other mountains. It is seasonal and dangerous.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Mount_Everest_avalanche

A Mount Everest guide typically earns about US$125/day per climb. Most come from climbing families, are raised on stories of wealth from climbs, with relatively few other economic opportunities. Between 350 and 450 guides, most of them Sherpas, work each year's climbing season. A guide can earn up to $5,000 a year, compared with Nepal's average annual salary of $700.

In the years prior to the avalanche, foreigners began bringing their own guides, causing tension with locals. Eight people, including one of the most experienced Sherpa guides, died on Mount Everest in 2013.

You can give Nepal a trillion dollars in shiny gold bullion

but what is that money going to do if all the men are not there to do the labor?

It's like physics and shit... ya gotta convert that money to actual work.

 

[oggbashan]

You can give Nepal a trillion dollars in shiny gold bullion

but what is that money going to do if all the men are not there to do the labor?

It's like physics and shit... ya gotta convert that money to actual work.

If you gave that amount of money to Nepal, the men wouldn't have to leave to find an income for their families.

Gurkha soldiers (from Nepal) have served with the British for nearly 200 years. You don't mess with a Gurkha.

But they become soldiers because that is one of the few ways they can support their families.

Local Gurkhas are very popular as neighbours. You don't get any anti-social behaviour if there's a Gurkha close by, which is why many retired Gurkhas work as security personnel. They might be small, but their hand to hand skills are deadly.

A couple of years ago an aggressive drunk repeatedly tried assaulting a Gurkha outside a night club. The drunk ended up in hospital when he turned on a couple of young women.

The drunk mates' verdict?

Crass stupidity!

 

[LJ_Reloaded]

If you gave that amount of money to Nepal, the men wouldn't have to leave to find an income for their families.

Yes, this is all quite true.

But the point of the OP is that a lot of feminists think they can survive without men, period. This situation shows a different reality: when the men leave, shit don't get fixed.

 

[PoppingTom]

Yes, this is all quite true.

But the point of the OP is that a lot of feminists think they can survive without men, period.

Well, a lot of women face this unvoluntarily.

And to the OP: that's usual, not only in Nepal. If men or anybody else can make more money outside, they do it.

 

[LJ_Reloaded]

Well, a lot of women face this unvoluntarily.

Unvoluntarily? What do you mean?

 

[PoppingTom]

Unvoluntarily? What do you mean?

There are quite a lot of women out there who have to survive without men - whether they like it or not. Not every baby mother got a man at home.