Before and after satellite imagery of war and conflict

[thewayne]

Not pretty pictures.

http://www.wired.com/science/planetearth/multimedia/2008/06/gallery_warfromspace?slide=1&slideView=9

Comments

[silveradept]

Not pretty at all. I wonder if some of those pictures are what it looked like before the pilot dropped the bomb and afterward.

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

In most, if not all, cases the satellite imagery is several months after the fighting in the area is over.

[silveradept]

So several months afterward, it still looks like someone dropped a bomb on the place and said "To hell with it, kill 'em all and let $DEITY sort them out."

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

I would say that's a fair assessment. If you look at it from an economic perspective, the ones with the most money have the biggest weapons, and it's those who can most ill afford to rebuild who are on the receiving end of those weapons. Not to mention that those on the receiving end are frequently dead, thus increasing the difficulty of rebuilding.

[silveradept]

Quite. Not to mention that situations like the ones that tend to produce those hollowed-out shells of villages are not usually one-shot affairs, and so the danger has to calm down before people can come back and rebuild.

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

Yep. No point in trying to rebuild if there are still opposition forces or patrols in the area.