March 29, 2007: Sewage Tsunami in Gaza

This is from a BBC image gallery of a disaster in Gaza yesterday. It killed at least 5, injured at least 15, and left 70% of the village, of 3000 residents, buried in raw sewage.



Bleh.



They also had to clear out their livestock. Some goats made it...



And some didn't.

another full story

Talk about being buried in shit...

WoW!!! I wonder how big the fan was!

Shoot, i wonder how it happened, but i dont have time to click the link.

Just goes to show - shit happens

I'm in ur sewerz
Spewin' forth shitz

It turns out to have been the result of dirt farming. I shit you not!

The tragedy occurred when an earth embankment around one of the seven holding basins collapsed.

Some reports said the embankments were weakened by rain.

But Gaza City mayor Majid Abu Ramadan blamed the collapse on local residents digging dirt from the structures and selling it to building companies for US$70 a truckload.

The collapse of the sewage reservoir will force officials to divert the waste into the other six basins, putting those in danger as well.

down Shit Creek -- no paddle

Ah...dirt farming. Thus is the fate of unrestrained enterprise. Idiots.

Dypok;328021 wrote:

Ah...dirt farming. Thus is the fate of unrestrained enterprise. Idiots.

The ones selling the dirt lived in the other 30% of the village.

Had five people died, fifteen people been injured and a town for the most part destroyed in the good ole USA i wonder how many of you jokers would still find amusement in it.

All of us?

All but 5.

I don't find amusement in it. But I totally respect the right of other people to make light of an awful situation.

How do you think people keep going in a world where revolting and tragic things happen globally on a daily basis?

Dude with the beard and hat in the second picture has his mouth clamped damn tight there. :thepain:

This tragedy reminds me of robbing the pillars in coal mining. Stupid greed. Plain and simple.

We need to explore the "putting your finger in a dyke" angle, but I can't think of a good one.

Snapple;328033 wrote:

Had five people died, fifteen people been injured and a town for the most part destroyed in the good ole USA i wonder how many of you jokers would still find amusement in it.

Where it occurred has nothing to do with it. God, if we quit finding humor in this crazy world, we're really lost.

It IS horrible. I feel badly that it happened. I'm glad it didn't happen to me, or around here.

Besides, humans anywhere suck. Humans caused it. I feel worse for the goats than I do for the humans. (Should this be in the unpopular opinions thread?)

Between humor and apathy, I'll take humor every time.

HungLikeJesus;328052 wrote:

Between humor and apathy, I'll take humor every time.

And I don't care how funny you are!!!


:D

Flint;328043 wrote:

We need to explore the "putting your finger in a dyke" angle, but I can't think of a good one.

Perhaps you should consider something along the lines of "wrong hole" or "bad place, good thing", "we're gonna need a bigger finger", etc. But forgive me if I don't wait around for the results.

The Hamas movement, the leading partner in a newly formed Palestinian unity government, blamed the disaster on a foreign aid boycott slapped on the Palestinian Authority a year ago when the Islamist hardliners first came to power.

For once it's not Israel's fault, this time you are all to blame.

Flint;328043 wrote:

We need to explore the "putting your finger in a dyke" angle, but I can't think of a good one.

I'm surprised Shel didn't think of this first.

Snapple;328033 wrote:

Had five people died, fifteen people been injured and a town for the most part destroyed in the good ole USA i wonder how many of you jokers would still find amusement in it.

I know I would. While what happened is terrible, I can't help but find humor in the worst situations...including 9/11. Sometimes, it's all we have.

Life is like a shit sandwich
The more bread you have,
the less shit you have to eat

Up Shit Creek *STOP*
Send *STOP*
Money Guns and Lawyers *STOP*

Where's the cane toad? I'm very hungry.

Ah...dirt farming. Thus is the fate of unrestrained enterprise. Idiots.

Idiots? Nah, people struggling to make enough money to feed their families in a country whose economy and infrastructure has all but collapsed.

Maybe we could send 'em some condoms.

Dypok;328021 wrote:

Ah...dirt farming. Thus is the fate of unrestrained enterprise. Idiots.

DanaC;328659 wrote:

Idiots? Nah, people struggling to make enough money to feed their families in a country whose economy and infrastructure has all but collapsed.

Maybe, as Forrest Gump's Mama said, "Stupid is as stupid does."
IE if your actions cause sewage flood that destroys your village (the same one where your struggling, hungry family lives) then you are an idiot.

Shawnee123;328662 wrote:

Maybe we could send 'em some condoms.

Ouch! I doubt these people do have access to free birth control, but I've known enough women desperate to conceive to realise the urge is pretty powerful. Certainly stronger than the urge to eat/ smoke/ drink ourselves to death, which we defend in the West.

Flint;328665 wrote:

Maybe, as Forrest Gump's Mama said, "Stupid is as stupid does."
IE if your actions cause sewage flood that destroys your village (the same one where your struggling, hungry family lives) then you are an idiot.

You do what you can short term. It's called survival. Like whenever carbon emissions are defended on this site with the argument "If we adhere to these guidelines thousands of Americans will be out of work"

I know I'm insensitive in the matter, but people who have to farm dirt (DIRT--the whole freaking world is made of dirt on some level) probably aren't going to have much success raising a non-starving family. I was making this point because the point was made that they were dirt farming in the first place to feed their families, in the process destroying what little they had. To me, tampering the need or desire to procreate only makes sense, and seems much less selfish.

Then again, one of them might be the kid who invents a machine that makes the future of dirt farming a much safer undertaking (insert angels and harp sounds here.) ;)

Shawnee123 wrote:

I know I'm insensitive in the matter, but people who have to farm dirt (DIRT--the whole freaking world is made of dirt on some level) probably aren't going to have much success raising a non-starving family.

For the record, my area is freaking limestone everywhere you look, no such thing as a basement on a house because you'd be drilling down into solid rock, and quantities of dirt for leveling your yard or whatever are actually relatively expensive.

On the other hand, we don't have to buy it from as far away as Gaza, that's for sure.

I didn't know that...I guess I figured somewhere down there it's dirt. Anyway, the idea of farming dirt was a completely foreign concept to me. I'm no geologist, or even a homeowner. :)

Flint;328665 wrote:

IE if your actions cause sewage flood that destroys your village (the same one where your struggling, hungry family lives) then you are an idiot.

"Tragedy of the Commons". Nobody thinks their little bit of dirt will be the one that breaks through. Nobody thinks their little bit of litter is significant. Nobody thinks their motor oil will be noticed in the sewer line.

Snapple;328033 wrote:

Had five people died, fifteen people been injured and a town for the most part destroyed in the good ole USA i wonder how many of you jokers would still find amusement in it.

Pretty much everybody.

Except maybe Dana.

I see humour in tragedy. I just don't see much humour in life-endangering poverty and the casual arrogance of priveleged westerners who can stoop to judge what the desperate do to survive.

The idea of dirt farming isn't without its humour. But dismiss them as idiots? Suggest they can solve their problems by just not having so many children? The privileged have ever thus rationalised the suffering of the less fortunate.

See what I mean?

Oh, for Christ's sake...they weren't dirt farming, they weren't farming at all. they were stealing the soil that held the retention ponds. Duh
Doesn't anyone on this board know what dirt farming is?

Wuh-oh, I take full credit for this one

Doesn't anyone on this board know what dirt farming is?

I can honestly say I don't.....I kind of assumed it involved harvesting dirt in some way.

xoxoxoBruce;328898 wrote:

Oh, for Christ's sake...they weren't dirt farming, they weren't farming at all. they were stealing the soil that held the retention ponds. Duh
Doesn't anyone on this board know what dirt farming is?

I have to admit...I was totally ignorant on the concept.

Undertoad;328903 wrote:

Wuh-oh, I take full credit for this one

Damn city kids don't know nuttin bout farmin.
You might be ok with dirt harvesting, though, in they were harvesting profit from someone else's labor. The "else" that built the retaining ponds.
Bet the people that were paying big bucks for those loads of dirt knew exactly where they were coming from. too.

See what happens when the people don't listen to qualified experts in their field, like bluesdave.

Bet the people that were paying big bucks for those loads of dirt knew exactly where they were coming from. too.

Almost certainly.