Floods in Germany, Belgium & the Netherlands

[Vixen]

Not sure what is the difference between the two, but I'm sure for example that BBC kept reporting for a whole month when a similar number of deaths in a flood had happened in India in 1919: https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-india-49311458

And again when there were 50 deaths next year: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-53415254

And again in 2021: https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-india-55970750

And that's just me picking a random country and looking on bbc.com for it. (Not implying in any way that it's a third world country. Just the first that came to mind when I looked at my coworkers)


Frankly, if you were that convinced that there was no news about that kinda thing, it says more that YOU couldn't give a flip to get informed about that kinda thing, not that BBC didn't report it.

That would be the BBC. You'd be amazed how ignorant the average person is. A friend of mine has promised to visit me in Finland for the past couple of years. When I explained to her that Finland was nowhere near Canada - as she had thought - she was totally flummoxed. Likewise, a distant relative in America asked me on WhatsApp - after years of exchanging Christmas cards, family events, such as funerals, etc - 'Is Finland a place in England?' My turn to be floored.


So yeah, whilst the broadsheets and the Beeb feature overseas news in he back pages or 'world' pages, most Brits only ever read about Britain, or Europe if it is related to British politics or ability to go on holiday there.

 

[Vixen]

Here's the sun reporting on a fire in Iran.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/15149664/explosion-iran-oil-refinery-hours-fire-sinks-largest-warship/

The mirror reporting on a fire in Banglasdesh:

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/factory-owner-arrested-murder-after-24505782

The Telegraph on flooding in Africa:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-...-a-lifetime-floods-wreak-havoc-across-africa/

The Daily Mail on flooding in Senegal:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/r...enegal-expose-big-gap-1-4-bln-flood-plan.html

I mean I could go on and on and on. The links above were just grabbed at random.

Yeah, hidden away under 'world news'. The Senegal one under 'wires home'. Who clicks on 'wires home'?

What was unusual was the floods in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands being front page home news. What used to be called 'the headlines'.

 

[GlennB]

Maybe in the BBC World Service, which is aimed at 'the world', especially the English-speaking commonwealth.

We watch standard BBC news and it was full of reports of the floods, damage and casualties.

 

[erwinl]

That would be the BBC. You'd be amazed how ignorant the average person is. A friend of mine has promised to visit me in Finland for the past couple of years. When I explained to her that Finland was nowhere near Canada - as she had thought - she was totally flummoxed. Likewise, a distant relative in America asked me on WhatsApp - after years of exchanging Christmas cards, family events, such as funerals, etc - 'Is Finland a place in England?' My turn to be floored.


So yeah, whilst the broadsheets and the Beeb feature overseas news in he back pages or 'world' pages, most Brits only ever read about Britain, or Europe if it is related to British politics or ability to go on holiday there.

And that’s why a disaster such as happened in the Benelux and Germany, should not be mentioned in the British press?

That’s the only sane way your OP can be read, you know.

 

[GlennB]

That would be the BBC. You'd be amazed how ignorant the average person is. A friend of mine has promised to visit me in Finland for the past couple of years. When I explained to her that Finland was nowhere near Canada - as she had thought - she was totally flummoxed.

If your friend is British then I'd say that s/he is not 'average' but rather at the extremes of ignorance (among Brits) regarding geography.

 

[RolandRat]

Yeah, hidden away under 'world news'. The Senegal one under 'wires home'. Who clicks on 'wires home'?

What was unusual was the floods in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands being front page home news. What used to be called 'the headlines'.

"Hidden" under world news hahaha. Can you seriously see what you are typing? It's world news, where would you expect it to be?

There is absolutely nothing unusual about the European floods being on the front page. This is where all MAJOR disasters are reported, no matter which country they happen to occur in.

 

[RolandRat]

If your friend is British then I'd say that s/he is not 'average' but rather at the extremes of ignorance (among Brits) regarding geography.

Thick as ***** as we say in the local parlance.

 

[RolandRat]

So yeah, whilst the broadsheets and the Beeb feature overseas news in he back pages or 'world' pages, most Brits only ever read about Britain, or Europe if it is related to British politics or ability to go on holiday there.

I'm sure you've got a source for that, right?

 

[SpuriusMaximus]

That would be the BBC. You'd be amazed how ignorant the average person is. A friend of mine has promised to visit me in Finland for the past couple of years. When I explained to her that Finland was nowhere near Canada - as she had thought - she was totally flummoxed. Likewise, a distant relative in America asked me on WhatsApp - after years of exchanging Christmas cards, family events, such as funerals, etc - 'Is Finland a place in England?' My turn to be floored.


So yeah, whilst the broadsheets and the Beeb feature overseas news in he back pages or 'world' pages, most Brits only ever read about Britain, or Europe if it is related to British politics or ability to go on holiday there.

But that's a different complaint than:

Normally in the UK press, one rarely sees references to weather conditions and hazards or crimes outside of the UK unless they are egregious, amusing or there is a high death toll.

Or than:

Of course, the third world has always suffered from natural disasters but now that it hits Europe the mass media takes full notice.

People not being interested in news that don't affect them, sure, I can agree that that happens a lot. Everywhere. But that's not even remotely synonymous with the press not reporting it.

 

[crescent]

That would be the BBC. You'd be amazed how ignorant the average person is. A friend of mine has promised to visit me in Finland for the past couple of years. When I explained to her that Finland was nowhere near Canada - as she had thought - she was totally flummoxed. Likewise, a distant relative in America asked me on WhatsApp - after years of exchanging Christmas cards, family events, such as funerals, etc - 'Is Finland a place in England?' My turn to be floored.

I recently returned to the U.S. from Lower Saxony, Germany. My wife and kids are still over there (unaffected by the flooding, but not terribly far away).

Anway, the plan was to fly from Denver to Frankfurt, then from Frankfurt to Hannover (the capitol of Lower Saxony). At the last minute, the flight from Frankfurt to Hannover was "cancelled" by automatically rescheduling us for a flight that left Frankfurt two hours before we were scheduled to arrive in Frankfurt.

So we went to check in, with our itinerary causing much consternation. We told them not to worry, that my wife's brother would just pick us up at Frankfurt.

This then caused no end of drama, because, as best as I can tell, the person doing check-in (here in Denver) thought Hannover was in Great Britain. She told us that we couldn't just end our tip like that - in Germany. It took us a while to figure out why she was refusing to let us get our luggage in Frankfurt, rather than doing a 36-hour layover before continuing on the last leg of the journey*.

Anyway, back on-subject. My wife's extended family is involved with the local fire brigade. They've sent a few people across the state line to North Rhine-Westphalia to assist with search and rescue and body recovery and such. They hear some pretty grisly stories from the emergency people who witnessed things first hand. One mentioned watching a car floating by with people in and on it hoping to be rescued - and the rescuers unable to help or to even follow the car's progress downstream due to all the on-going damage.


*In fairness, there is a town called Hanover in New England.

 

[Vixen]

I recently returned to the U.S. from Lower Saxony, Germany. My wife and kids are still over there (unaffected by the flooding, but not terribly far away).

Anway, the plan was to fly from Denver to Frankfurt, then from Frankfurt to Hannover (the capitol of Lower Saxony). At the last minute, the flight from Frankfurt to Hannover was "cancelled" by automatically rescheduling us for a flight that left Frankfurt two hours before we were scheduled to arrive in Frankfurt.

So we went to check in, with our itinerary causing much consternation. We told them not to worry, that my wife's brother would just pick us up at Frankfurt.

This then caused no end of drama, because, as best as I can tell, the person doing check-in (here in Denver) thought Hannover was in Great Britain. She told us that we couldn't just end our tip like that - in Germany. It took us a while to figure out why she was refusing to let us get our luggage in Frankfurt, rather than doing a 36-hour layover before continuing on the last leg of the journey*.

Anyway, back on-subject. My wife's extended family is involved with the local fire brigade. They've sent a few people across the state line to North Rhine-Westphalia to assist with search and rescue and body recovery and such. They hear some pretty grisly stories from the emergency people who witnessed things first hand. One mentioned watching a car floating by with people in and on it hoping to be rescued - and the rescuers unable to help or to even follow the car's progress downstream due to all the on-going damage.


*In fairness, there is a town called Hanover in New England.

I have a relative in Köln who said things are pretty bad in his area but he's OK as he's on a fifth-floor apartment, so feels safe.

Maybe the lady at the reception desk was thinking of the American Embassy which used to to be in Hannover Square, London, until quite recently.