When my sister-in-law spent three months in Tanzania it was pretty much guaranteed that that power would go out every day. They spent more time without power than with it.
I think that reinforces his point. That crisis involved only a small number of blackouts (four periods of 1-2 days of blackouts over the course of a year, according to that page), and this was still considered bad enough to make headlines and be labeled a "crisis".
The difference is, third world countries have these 'crisis' on a daily basis and it's a part of life. That's not a real crisis anymore for them.