Heard from my friend in Toowoomba, QLD

[i_am2bz]

Neko-chan, the news in the states show very little about anything that happens down under. Flooding in Brazil is all over the news, but a major flood in Australia barely gets a mention. I go online to find out what is happening. I also check the news from other nations. I learn more about what is happening in my own country that way too.

I've seen a lot of the footage on NBC Nightly News & on Fox News. Really awful stuff. The cars just being thrown around like they were toys, knocking over trees...entire houses floating away. It looks just devastating.

I'm amazed that "only" 15 people have been killed, as bad as it looks.

 

[Neko-chan]

...

 

[ORChick]

That's the problem with the US. They (the media) focus so much on the US or who is near the US that other places hardly get a mention at all. Same way in schools. It's a whole lot about the US, and very little about anywhere else in the world, unless it was in direct correlation to the US.

Way off the flood topic, but having to do with US-centric media - DH is not at all into sports, but he used to occasionally watch bits of the Olympics back when we had TV. He was always complaining that the news would be all about the US getting medals, and nothing about anyone else. Even if the US medel was bronze, the gold and silver were not mentioned. Drove him nuts as, of course, he was also interested in how Germany was doing.

 

[FarmerDenise]

That's the problem with the US. They (the media) focus so much on the US or who is near the US that other places hardly get a mention at all. Same way in schools. It's a whole lot about the US, and very little about anywhere else in the world, unless it was in direct correlation to the US.

Way off the flood topic, but having to do with US-centric media - DH is not at all into sports, but he used to occasionally watch bits of the Olympics back when we had TV. He was always complaining that the news would be all about the US getting medals, and nothing about anyone else. Even if the US medel was bronze, the gold and silver were not mentioned. Drove him nuts as, of course, he was also interested in how Germany was doing.

That always drives me crazy too. I also wanted to know how Germany was doing. I was really into sports as a kid in Germany and still have a big interest in gymnastics. I stopped watching.

The news in our area hasn't mentioned much about the flood in Australia, they didn't mention the mining accident (where so many miners lost their lives) or the fires or the 6.9 earthquake on one of the islands north east of Australia either. A volcanic island at that!

The flooding has gotten an occasional blurb. We saw more about it on the weather channel.