Political Conflict vs Natural Disasters

Paul Currion has been working in the technology-side of crisis situations for a long time. He just finished some time in Georgia, and has written a piece venting some of his frustrations on the situation there. One particular quote stood out to me (though you should really read it all):

"In a natural disaster, government agencies and international organisations are usually relatively comfortable to share information about the situation - but in a conflict, they clam up tighter than my wallet around Christmas. This is because natural disasters have fewer political implications than complex emergencies; while in a natural disaster the worst thing you can say about a government is that they’re negligent, in a conflict situation the government is usually a belligerent. This means that timely / reliable / accurate information is hard to come by in Georgia..."

When people look at situations like Georgia, Kenya, Zimbabwe or Sudan everything becomes a little more fuzzy than in a post-hurricane or tsunami incident. No one wants to say anything publicly because they're worried about upsetting the wrong people and getting kicked out, shut down or silenced. It's no wonder that guys like Paul are frustrated, just a little cooperation would go a long way, yet so little of that happens when it's needed most - from aid organizations or from the government.