While the United States have their problems that, according to their president will ‘scar them for years’, Africa gets the usual stuff (see below, did you notice the news by the way?). Sorry for this cynisism…

KATRINA WILL SCAR US ‘FOR YEARS’
The US states stricken by Hurricane Katrina will take years to recover, President George W Bush has said, after an aerial tour of the disaster zone. He promised his cabinet will take over the aid operation for “one of the worst natural disasters” the US had seen. An extra 10,000 troops are being sent to the worst-hit areas in the coastal states of Louisiana and Mississippi. (Source: BBC World Service)

THOUSANDS STILL TRAPPED IN FLOOD HIT SIERRA LEONE
FREETOWN, Aug 31 (Reuters) – Aid workers in Sierra Leone have managed to distribute aid to about 7,000 people stranded or made homeless by torrential rains in the south of the country, but another 10,000 remain out of reach, the Red Cross said.”We have been able to access eight towns and bring food and non-food items which including blankets, and to supply them with jerry cans to fetch clean drinking water,” said the local Red Cross disaster management coordinator, Vandy Sonnah.(Source: Reuters Alertnet)

Interesting literature about this subject has been writen by Jaap van Ginneken. I recommend the book: Understanding Global News. (Find it under Bibliography)