Sir, - If the flooding in Mozambique has taught us anything it is that the international community's preparedness for such disasters is, to say the least, inadequate. Much of the suffering could have been avoided if the response had been more organised and, of course, quicker.
As a matter of urgency the Security Council of the United Nations must sit down and learn the lessons that need to be learned from this and other disasters. There need be only one item on the agenda - why it took the international community weeks instead of hours to react to the plight of people left clinging for dear life to trees and roof tops as the flood waters rose around them.
The general public all over the world has rightly been appalled at the response of the international community and it is time the world's governments ironed this issue out once and for all.
Some sort of rapid response logistics force must be established now before the unfortunate people who find themselves caught up in the next major disaster are left to ponder their fates for weeks on end while they wait for the rest of the world to wake up to their plight.
The Irish Government should act as a catalyst among the international community to establish such a force. If they could convince their colleagues in the UN that this is a worthwhile idea it would indeed be a good day's work - one which many millions of people living in insecure regions around the world would thank them for. - Yours, etc., John O'Shea,
Goal, PO Box 19, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin.