Disaster and Crisis

Disaster and crisis are inevitable aspects in our day to day life. This is because they occur unexpectedly. The best thing is therefore to put on strategic plans that are aimed towards curbing any form of disasters and crisis once they occur so as to avoid occurrence of major losses that could take different forms for instance destruction, injuries or even death. Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Disaster and Crisis specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More There have been various disasters that have been witnessed in various parts of the world each of them being associated with different effects. This piece of work gives an in depth discussion of the cultural considerations that are faced by disaster and crisis related workers with much emphasis being given to the Hurricane Katrina crisis workers and Sri Lankan tsunami community support officers. There are various response efforts that have been taken by the responsible individuals and agencies in order to curb the Hurricane Katrina and the tsunami in Sri Lanka each of them having different levels of effectiveness in regard to the solutions they provide in the situations. In the case of the tsunami in Sri Lanka, some of the responses taken include provision of medical treatment, accommodation as well as food and drinking water to the affected individuals. Psychological distress was also identified as a major problem and hence the appointment of community based mental health workers to deal with the situations. The fact that the health workers were community based gave them a good opportunity to understand the people due to cultural similarities. Choosing the community support officers based on cultural background was however linked with some limitations as some skills and knowledge was lacking hence making their practices and activities ineffective to a certain degree. A good example is where nine out of 14 communities affected by the tsunami la cked a psychiatrist, an element that is very crucial in dealing with the mentally affected victims and those with varying psychosocial needs (Mahoney et al, 2006).Advertising Looking for essay on environmental studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The Hurricane Katrina victims also suffered from different problems for instance trauma and stress and therefore certain measures had to be put in place to deal with the situation. Some of the needs to be catered for included medical conditions, shelter as well as food. In the evacuation process, cultural aspects led to inefficiency and ineffectiveness which exacerbated the losses incurred especially in terms of death of victims. A relevant example is in regard to the time taken in evacuating people of different cultural backgrounds. The black victims waited for approximately five days to be evacuated while the number of days taken to evacuate the whites was estimated to be three days. Cultural difference is also seen in regard to the number of people employed in different positions to handle the hurricane Katrina crisis. The chances were accorded according to races and hence some of them were incompetent and had no required qualifications such as psychiatric history (Mills, Edmondson Park, 2007). From the above discussion, it is evident that disasters and crisis are associated with various forms of losses and they therefore necessitate effective measures to be taken to prevent them or else handle them once they occur. The Hurricane Katrina and the tsunami are good examples and they provide us with the measures that are undertaken by the responsible people. Culture is an element that has been depicted to have a lot of influence on the response efforts undertaken where it has enhanced some efforts in some instances and dragged some in other instances. Reference List Mahoney, J. et al. (2006).Responding to the mental health and psychosocial needs of the peo ple of Sri Lanka in disasters. International Review of Psychiatry, December 2006; 18(6): 593–597 Mills, M.A, Edmondson, D. Park, L.C. (2007). Trauma and Stress Response Among Hurricane Katrina Evacuees. American Journal of Public Health / Supplement 1, 2007, Vol 97, No. S1Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Disaster and Crisis specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This essay on Disaster and Crisis was written and submitted by user Xander Sweeney to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Short Story Metaphors and Characterizations

Short Story Metaphors and Characterizations It is impossible to write a good short story without a compelling main character or group of characters. The fact that a well-written short story requires refined characterization skills is enough to show why the use of metaphor in the genre is prolific. In such, understanding metaphor as a path to characterization is vitally important for the short story writer and is one of the many factors that make the genre so uniquely complicated to write.In Poetics, the revered Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote: [T]he greatest thing by far is to be a master of metaphor†¦ [it is] a sign of genius, since a good metaphor implies an intuitive perception of the similarity in dissimilars. This perception he speaks of isnt always easy to come by, which means that metaphor, when used correctly and in its most potent form, isnt easy. It involves layers of meaning and imagery, and reflects the authors own scope of knowledge. The way it will be read and interpreted is based on the individual readers unique and varied scope of knowledge, creating thousands of potential possibilities when it comes to interpretation of the work.Beyond the limitless possibilities, metaphor as a literary device allows one or two words to carry the weight of many. With successful use of metaphor, an author can speak volumes through the use of a single word or phrase, and induce the reader to understand the character in a more intimate way or in a more specific way. You can have a character who is pale, but describing a womans bone white skin immediately calls to mind the macabre, and has subtly mixed a mood of mortality and death into the story with the use of that one simple description.Why metaphor worksMetaphor is one of those indispensable literary devises that encourages interpretation based on the readers own experiences and background knowledge. In this way, it serves to create layers of meaning for each individual reader, giving him or her the pleasure of interpretation- an interpretation th at might indeed be vastly different than what the author intended. This unique characteristic of metaphor adds depth to literature, particularly short stories, in that it helps the reader intuit a great deal of information within a short period of time. You could write, he felt nervous opening the door and the reader could empathize with him, at most. However, you could write that his hands were two large land masses quaking, and the door was the fault line, and an entire new layer of interpretation opens up. He isnt just nervous, this isnt just some random door- in fact, opening it could be his very raison dà ªtre.Consider some of the following literary metaphors written by famous authors, and how such language helped solidify these writers place in literary history:All the worlds a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.William ShakespeareDying is a wild night and a new road.Emily DickinsonIn the eastern sky there was a yellow patch like a rug laid for the feet of the coming sun†¦Stephen Crane†¦when I laid down the paper, I was aware of a flash- rush- flow- I do not know what to call it- no word I can find is satisfactorily descriptive- in which I seemed to see that bedroom passing through my room, like a picture impossibly painted on a running river.Charles Dickens†¦impressions poured in upon her of those two men, and to follow her thought was like following a voice which speaks too quickly to be taken down by ones pencil†¦Virginia WoolfThe many faces of metaphorsA common error many beginning writers make is the assumption that metaphor is limited to certain parts of speech when in fact, you can make use of the metaphor in several ways. For example, you can use a metaphor as:A verb (The smile that invaded her face was evidence enough.)An adjective (His imprisoning stare demanded her attention.)An adverb (He spoke musi cally, each word in crescendo.)A prepositional phrase (She looked at me with the eye of an eagle.)A modifier (At her feet lay the pieces of torn paper, a graveyard of ink soaking in the puddled rain.)The eye of a poetUsing metaphor is the only way to achieve profound characterization. No one knows this better than the poet, who is generally more limited in word count than even the short story writer, and must say as much as possible in a format that is famished for words. For this reason, as an exercise in perfecting ones craft and the use of metaphor, try looking at your short storys rough draft with the eyes of a poet. If you had to reduce an entire short story to a poem- and its main character(s) to poetic figures- what images would you use in doing so? Which parts of the story would be the focus and what metaphor or imagery would you use to elicit the desired response from your reader?You can take this exercise one step further and actually write that poem. When its finished, co nvert it back into prose and use the metaphors it introduces as highlights of your short storys climax or dà ©nouement; or, use the imagery randomly throughout your short story to deepen the level of characterization you have already developed.

Fake Brands Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Fake Brands - Case Study Example As promulgated in different copyright laws in various countries, intellectual property rights ought to be observed. In terms of the right to produce and distribute certain products, only firms with patents have the right to do so (Kotler & Armstrong, 2010). Essentially, the aim of each business is to make profits and the interests of different businesses can only be protected by different copyright and intellectual property laws that are designed to protect the interests of individual companies. These laws help to prevent other unscrupulous people from reaping profits where they did not sow in the first place. The sale of counterfeit products is regarded as a form of high degree fraud and also classified as a serious offence. Luxury brands are in most cases the victims of counterfeit trade mainly as a result of the fact that they have premium prices that are beyond the reach of many people. In most cases, counterfeit trade is intentional but it has spiral impacts on the original producers of goods that are imitated. The companies will end up failing to realise their envisaged profits as a result of the fact that the consumers will prefer to buy affordable copycats at the expense of the producers of original brands. On the other hand, unsuspecting consumers can also be defrauded since they are hoodwinked into believing that they are buying original brands only to realise that they are fake when they have been delivered. Counterfeit trade is a problem of serious concern across the whole globe. According to The Gurdian (28 April, 2014), â€Å"A specialist police unit has shut down more than 2,500 websites selling counterfeit goods believed to be worth tens of millions of pounds.† This shows the extent to which this problem is a serious cause of concern in different parts of the globe. Trade of counterfeit goods is a bad product though some people may justify it