Left Flank

Three of the most populous nations on earth, and two of its democracies are reeling from natural disasters.

Earthquakes took an Olympic break in PRC, where Beijing has seemingly figured out how to deal with such disasters.

But, in India, it's a bureaucratic opera bouffe,

Aid agencies have criticized the government's handling of the crisis saying they should have done more to anticipate the disaster and plan relief operations since the region is hit by monsoon flooding every year.

In Bihar, more than 560,000 people have been evacuated so far, and some 200,000 have been moved to government relief camps, officials said.

Local media reported that the first train carrying Bihar flood victims reached New Delhi on Monday, complaining of having received little or no government help.

«The fields are flooded. There's no way I can sustain my family in the next six months,» Gopal Punia, a farmer from Madhepura was quoted as saying by the Indian Express newspaper.

«I will try to find work here in Delhi.»

Bihar state officials have also said flood refugees would not be welcomed in Patna, the state capital.

«They should return to their respective places by the same trains,» said Raj Kumar Singh, a disaster management official.

And, in the US, it seems the Bush administration has mastered public relations, even if it's still not certain New Orleans is safe.

MARGARET WARNER: Now, General Riley, when you look at -- I mean, we know this storm was a Category 2. And it also, I understand, did not approach -- it was not the kind of direct hit that Katrina leveled at the city, but kind of glanced off to the west.

But what does the response of this system that you've been fortifying all of these years tell you about New Orleans' ability to withstand a Katrina-level storm? How far away are you from that?

MAJ. GEN. DON RILEY: To withstand a Katrina-level storm would take an enormous effort. The system we are now building to withstand the 1 percent-chance storm -- Katrina was about a 400-year storm. This design we're constructing now is about a 100-year storm.

So it will be very substantial, greater than anything they've ever had, but there will still be people at risk. So a large storm like Katrina would still cause major overtopping and flooding. But, again, we're convinced and confident that it would be resistant to any failure due to overtopping.

MARGARET WARNER: But you're only about, what, one-third of the way done on this levee, and floodwall, and pumping rebuilding operation?

MAJ. GEN. DON RILEY: Right, that's correct. What we've done is repair all the damaged areas, and enhanced and reinforced areas that may have been weak, and enhanced other areas. So we've done a substantial amount of work to be able to withstand storms like we saw today, but still they're very vulnerable to larger storms.

Maybe, it's just a lack of press freedom, but Beijing is looking pretty competent these days.

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