Dear News Media,
Please stop asking. I have heard this question asked several times, by reporters from many different networks, and it is getting old.
You have been told time and again, and the answer is significant.
When interviewing search & rescue team members, STOP ASKING WHY THEY AREN'T DOING ANYTHING WITH THE DEAD BODIES. They are still trying to rescue LIVING HUMAN BEINGS from the area, some of whom may have been stranded for a week or more without food or clean water. Do you actually think that dirty, starving, possibly sick people should wait around and twiddle their thumbs while rescuers move corpses around the city?
It may sound harsh, and I mean no disrespect for the dead. But from where I'm sitting, it seems as though the dead bodies are in no hurry to get anywhere in particular. I am not so sure I would feel the same if I were stuck with my wife and family somewhere, in need of rescue.
So please, give it a rest. I know it makes for good shock value ("The situation is so awful that even dead bodies are being ignored and piling up in the street!"), but we are all aware that there are bodies everywhere.
Let the rescuers tend to the living first. That's more important.
Posted by wrodina at September 8, 2005 1:21 PM | TrackBack