Travelling to Disasters

While I can – kind of – empathise with people who are worried about their relatives/ family in situations like the earthquake in Pakistan, I really don’t understand what it is they think they can achieve by travelling out there.

It’s a phenomenon I’ve noticed more recently, and particularly since last year’s Boxing Day tsunami, where the news seemed to cover a lot of people doing this. Yes, sure, some of the people travelling over will have uses (on the news this morning I saw bits about doctors going over with supplies, that kind of thing) but the majority seem to be people saying “We’ve not heard from x, y and z so I’m going over to see if I can find out anything”. Why? Surely it’s best to stay at home, rather than adding to an already disastrous area by going over and getting in the way while looking for one’s family.

Frankly, to my mind I can see better priorities than going over there yourself. But hey, what would I know?