Where is Pakistan again? I know the -stan means I shouldn't care.

Should we care really? The only other recent news to come out of Pakistan has hardly been in their favor. They harbor terrorists and are possibly not so allied as we might think. No doubt overblown news reports with only scant amount of merit. The real nail in the coffin for Pakistan is their position on the map. About as far away from the United States as possible. Too bad. Don't expect to see any celebrity-enriched telethons guilt-tripping you into sending 10 dollars via text to help flood victims in Pakistan. No, it's much too far away to bother us.

8 million people are without either food, shelter, drinking water, and medical care.  The flooding isn't over.

And to be fair there is money making its way there from donors all over the world, and the US still the most. But hardly enough. Which is true for all such disasters. There will never be enough, especially when the destroyed countries are already beleaguered nations.

It's easy for me to vilify American apathy in regards to natural disasters the world over. It's easy to say we aren't doing enough and not fulfilling our responsibilities to the rest of the world. But it's obviously not so simple.

If this year has been any indication, mother nature is out to get us. I'm not inviting a discussion about global warming only drawing our attention to the abnormally high amount of natural disasters we've seen this year. Whether or not this is a trend that will continue remains to be seen. But that doesn't matter. What matters is the global response to natural disasters. The current system is not working.

After the Haiti earthquake the country received an immediate and massive amount of monetary support from donors all over the world. This brought in all of those things which are immediately necessary after such a disaster: shelter, food, water, and medical support. In all natural disasters these should be the first necessities addressed.  

But what happens next? When a country's infrastructure is radically impaired. There's the sense that money is only part of the solution. And if, a big if, these natural disasters continue to rise there is going to be an obvious drain on aid money. If there is a giant earthquake in two different countries a month apart, the second nation is never going to get as much support. It's a sad truth.

So what should be done? What can be done? If this trend continues the world will quickly fall to pieces as entire nations crumble, unable to support political infrastructure. If a government can't provide for it's own people, another government will. There are reports already coming out of Pakistan that radical Islamic groups have been the first response to the flood. They are getting people clothed and they are opening up soup kitchens. Whose loyalties will the people have after this ends?

It seems to me that nature is going to be the game-changer in the next few decades. If anything can alter geo-political power it's mother nature.