Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)

I wish to share my time with Deputy Finian McGrath.

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate. The sheer scale of the disaster in terms of the numbers of people affected in the Kashmir-Pakistan region is breathtaking and very difficult to take in. We must understand how exceptional it is in terms of our response. While there is a limit to what can be done in the days and weeks ahead, we cannot lose sight of the fact that there is need for an ongoing contribution to help people to rebuild their lives. While the region is politically volatile, I share the views of other Members on the unity displayed in the region, which is important.

I listened carefully to what Deputy Higgins said about Central America and I recognise that this is part of what is being debated today. People understand that there must be a second response by way of putting people's lives back together, in which charitable donations play an important role. However, when the television coverage ends, these donations can dry up, which is where the Government's response must come in.

There is a third and important response, namely, learning from these disasters. Science indicates that this area is on an earthquake fault line where these disasters will recur. Therefore, it is important to predict and plan for these disasters. For example, in Japan, there is a very good model whereby people who live in these geographical locations are informed where to go to be safe and materials that may be helpful are identified. It is dreadful to witness people trying to remove rubble with their bare hands which may be covering human beings who are still alive underneath. Very often the rescue effort takes far too long to put into operation. We must influence how policy develops in terms of predicting and responding to disasters so that we can try to minimise the number of lives lost, particularly in the case of earthquakes.

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