Tsunami in Asia

C M Edwards · 2004-12-29 14:31:02

*First of all, the current human death toll is over 72,000. The Red Cross sadly predicts over 100,000 deaths.

One of the most powerful earthquakes since the invention of the seismograph.

Palomar · 2004-12-29 19:32:50

*Just thought I'd mention that the local Catholic Diocese in my area is collecting donations to be given directly to relief organizations helping the tsunami victims. This is good news to me -- direct cash donation versus the wait of mailing a check/money order, or donation via credit card (I dislike using credit). For my fellow U.S. citizens, perhaps the Catholic Diocese in your area is doing the same. My city is on the small side, and out here in the desert SW is a bit isolated (like all towns). There is no longer a resident Red Cross chapter, so the Catholic Diocese office is, in this circumstance, an excellent "go-between."

This should have been top news, IMO, from the local and most popular TV station. But was it? Nooooooo. A football game (University of El Paso at Texas team) was given top priority -- headline news -- even over where locals can give cash donations to help the tsunami victims (mentioned above). The TV station even considered it "breaking news" that some football fans were suddenly without electricity and couldn't watch the game. Oh boo-hoo-hoo. That's more important than the tsunami victims (80,000 dead; more probably dead; thousands more missing; disease is already beginning to spread; all those folks without food, water, medicine, halfway decent sanitation; most with only the clothing on their backs) and aftermath?
I don't frickin' think so!! :rant:

I wrote and told them just as much. I'll stop here. :angry:

--Cindy

RobS · 2004-12-29 23:47:11

Local Red Cross chapters are collecting contributions as well, for those near such a chapter. Two Sri Lankan Baha'i friends of mine who live in Arizona lost several relatives. A work colleague of mine was on vacation in Bangkok and was scheduled to go to Phukit Island on Saturday, but decided not to go at the last minute because it was so far away. It may have saved his life.

-- RobS

Shaun Barrett · 2004-12-30 04:33:33

Cindy:-

This should have been top news, IMO, from the local and most popular TV station. But was it? Nooooooo. A football game (University of El Paso at Texas team) was given top priority -- headline news -- even over where locals can give cash donations to help the tsunami victims (mentioned above). The TV station even considered it "breaking news" that some football fans were suddenly without electricity and couldn't watch the game. Oh boo-hoo-hoo. That's more important than the tsunami victims (80,000 dead; more probably dead; thousands more missing; disease is already beginning to spread; all those folks without food, water, medicine, halfway decent sanitation; most with only the clothing on their backs) and aftermath?
I don't frickin' think so!!

I'll second that emotion!!! :realllymad:
We're bedevilled with sport-lunacy in Australia, too. ???

GraemeSkinner · 2004-12-30 05:16:54

Just seen on the news that coastal areas are being cleared due to fears from an aftershock this AM. Estimated to be around 5.7 on the richter scale they don't think it will cause a Tsunami though they are warning people just in case. The problem is, with the temperatures they have down there the more they stop clearing away the dead the more disease will take hold by the time they return - not a job I'd want!

Graeme

DonPanic · 2004-12-30 07:22:08

And 2,000 of my countrymen are still reported "missing".

LO
Unfortunately,the number of scandinavian as well as the number of french tourists definitively missing will overpass many hundreds.
There is an unprecedented private people as well as public institutions mobilisation for money gifts to Red Cross and other humanitarians.

Palomar · 2004-12-30 07:50:18

Just seen on the news that coastal areas are being cleared due to fears from an aftershock this AM. Estimated to be around 5.7 on the richter scale they don't think it will cause a Tsunami though they are warning people just in case. The problem is, with the temperatures they have down there the more they stop clearing away the dead the more disease will take hold by the time they return - not a job I'd want!
Graeme

*This is incomprehensible. When I signed on this morning -- two hours ago -- the death toll was at 80,000 and expected to hit 100,000. Now it's "rocketed" to 114,000.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=s … ami]Update

Fortunately the warning that more tsunamis may be imminent proved a false alarm.

Shaun: I'll second that emotion!!! :realllymad:
We're bedevilled with sport-lunacy in Australia, too.

*Yeah, I feel like writing -another- scathing letter to that TV station's feedback e-mail address, showing them the latest headline (above) and asking sarcastically if those football fans survived missing their precious game because {gasp, horror!} their electricity was out for about an hour. Poor, poor them. NOT!! :angry: Stupid crybaby idiots.

I wonder if the economies of these nations can survive. How could they? Heard a few days ago that chances are their economies were likely recoverable...but geez, I just really don't see how. I hope so, but...

--Cindy

Rxke · 2004-12-30 09:14:05

They'll recover... Through tourism, I guess. Already saw footage of a lonely sunbathing tourist on a debris strewn beach(!!!)
Sick, if you ask me, but... Tourists are money, so they won't mind, they'll encourage it

RobS · 2004-12-30 09:59:36

More ideas about financial assistance: most of you live in an area that has a Hindu temple, a Buddhist temple, or a Muslim mosque. You may be unaware that they are there, but usually they are. Chicago, for example, has about 40 mosques, and a similar number of Buddhist and Hindu temples, including a few that are huge multi-million dollar affairs. Here in South Bend, Indiana, an area with 250,000 people, we have a Hindu Cultural Society and a mosque mostly for Middle Eastern and Indo-Pakistani immigrants.

Most of these places of worship are collecting money to assist victims. This is a chance for you to meet some neighbors you might not otherwise meet and share some humanity with them. Surely, we Mars folks should appreciate the value of supporting all humanity in its crisis; after all, from space national boundaries are invisible.

If you want national or large local organizations instead, the Council for American Islamic Relations (CAIR), the premiere Muslim civil rights organization in the US (which also has a Canadian branch, CAIR-Canada) is collecting money for victim relief. They have a website. I get their emails every day. And Wat Dhamaram, a huge Thai Buddhist temple in Chicago, just sent me an email about their fund raising effort, which I will be glad to forward to others. It has their address and such.

Finally, it is worth noting that something like 10,000 people are dying of AIDS in Africa every day, many of them innocent children. That's the REAL disaster on the earth right now. The tsunami is terrible, but it's temporary. AIDS goes on and on.

-- RobS

Palomar · 2004-12-30 10:03:11

Already saw footage of a lonely sunbathing tourist on a debris strewn beach(!!!)
Sick, if you ask me, but...

*Well, that strikes me as unforgiveably callous and selfish.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=s … unami_un]5 million people lack basic supplies

That's the latest from the World Health Organization. ::shakes head::

Also saw a headline about the Maldives having lost 42 islands. It was a brief article, however, and I'm not sure if they meant lost as in submerged or simply razed and devastated by the tsunamis. ??? Can't find that article again, darn it.

--Cindy

ERRORIST · 2004-12-30 11:08:13

The real sad thing is that hundreds of thousands are still missing. Perhaps, they were washed out to sea and eaten by sharks and crocs.

SpaceNut · 2004-12-30 11:37:55

I see this as a chance to maybe stop some of the fighting in Iraq if the Budhist, Musilums and christians especially those in Iraq unite to care for those that have been devistated by the tsunami.
There is no need for a continued war against insurgents by the US. Can not the insurgence see that mother nature is angry... The insurgence must have some nation at one time that they called home and if it were one of these hard hit countries why not stop and go help in being a solution, rather than a hinderance in the Iraq affair.

Palomar · 2004-12-30 12:16:15

Finally, it is worth noting that something like 10,000 people are dying of AIDS in Africa every day, many of them innocent children. That's the REAL disaster on the earth right now. The tsunami is terrible, but it's temporary. AIDS goes on and on.
-- RobS

*I was going to mention the AIDS scourge in conjunction with the tsunami catastrophy the other day -- to the effect that not only have Idonesian nations suffered a severe blow to their populace, but there's also the ongoing (yes) situation of many people dying in Africa every day of AIDS. Where will it all lead? ??? (Also, China and Russia have recently been WARNED by the World Health Organization that they face a similar drastic AIDS situation as Africa if they don't start taking serious preventative measures now)

Rob -- good ideas. There are no Buddhist temples in my area. There is a small mosque, and they seem a very quiet congregation...as is the small Jewish temple. I'm not sure if either of those two are volunteering to act as "go-between" for humanitarian agencies, though I presume privately they are acting as well to help.

I only mentioned the Catholic Diocese because it is openly publicizing being willing to handle donations for direct humanitarian relief efforts in Asia. I'm not a Catholic; I'm not even religious.

In times like these, though, it doesn't matter. The help needs to get there.

--Cindy

Yang Liwei Rocket · 2004-12-30 13:32:29

And 2,000 of my countrymen are still reported "missing".
LO
Unfortunately,the number of scandinavian as well as the number of french tourists definitively missing will overpass many hundreds.
There is an unprecedented private people as well as public institutions mobilisation for money gifts to Red Cross and other humanitarians.

I got this post from another site, its very sad those poor people they need lots of help

Many people on holiday or outsiders living in the area like Americans going to India, may also be dead

280 miles (450 kilometers) above

But even from that height, you can get a sense of the waves' power.
http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Compo … ...rge.jpg

typical image of the coastline at Kalutara in southwestern Sri Lanka is shown at left, taken by DigitalGlobe's QuickBird satellite in January 2004. At right, a Quickbird image of the same area shows the devastation left behind by the Dec. 26 tsunami about an hour after the first wave hit. Click on the image to see larger views from NASA.

Thousands of jobs destroyed, thousands of families homelesss in Thailand, Indonesia...
Many foreigners also killed

With a large proportion of Asia's populations under 18, U.N. officials have said up to a third of the victims could be children.
"There is no food here whatsoever. We need rice. We need petrol. We need medicine," said Vaiti Usman, an Indonesian woman in Indonesia's devastated Aceh province where tens of thousands died. "I haven't eaten in two days."
In many areas, health experts said the relief operation looked woefully inadequate with shortages of coffins, equipment and medicine, while emergency workers struggled with power outages, destroyed communications and badly damaged roads.
In parts of India's Tamil Nadu state, officials gave up counting the dead in their hurry to bury them in mass graves.
Fresh television pictures on Wednesday gave some idea of the unforgiving force of the killer wave, dragging terrified family members from each other's clutches, sweeping trucks and buses through buildings, flipping ships on to land.
1,000 Germans, 440 Norwegians and 200 Finns. By Wednesday, more than 1,200 bodies had been recovered at southern Thai beach resorts, but officials said the toll could be more than 3,000.

U.S. embassy officials continued to hunt for 2,000 to 3,000 Americans who remain unaccounted for, and asked travelers to check in with families. At least 12 Americans are known to be dead.
Norway's government said the tsunami threatened to become one of the worst disasters for its nation in modern times.
At Khao Lak beach, where officials say up to 3,000 people may have died, Thai and German rescuers searched the wreckage of a half-built luxury hotel on Wednesday after villagers said they had heard calls for help from people trapped inside.
In Washington, one U.S. official said Thailand's death toll was likely to be much higher because rescue teams had yet to reach some areas.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Pacific Command, the military command that operates in that part of the world, also said it is deploying 20 ships from docks in Hong Kong, Guam and the island of Diego Garcia.
The ships, many of which will take several days to arrive, are loaded with medical equipment and mobile hospitals, 41 helicopters, 2,100 Marines, 1,400 sailors and the capacity to generate 600,000 gallons of fresh water daily.
death toll from the devastating tsunamis topped 87,400.
Worried officials in the area believe disease could double that figure.
More than a million people have been left homeless by the disaster, and hospitals have been overwhelmed by at least 100,000 injured.
European leaders were also preparing their citizens for a grim New Year.
419 Danes, 263 Finns, 200 Czechs and 294 Singaporean tourists are among those reported missing.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has said hundreds of his countrymen probably died in the disaster.
A deputy foreign minister said on Thursday 33 Germans were confirmed dead, while more than 1,000 were missing

Thousands of tourists enjoying their Christmas holidays at Indian Ocean resorts, principally in Thailand, could be among the victims. Some 1,500 Swedes, 1,000 Germans, 600 Italians were missing.
It's very sad, the news just keeps getting worse every day for these people. Let's hope enough help can be given to them

BWhite · 2004-12-30 13:49:20

Here is the real]http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3944374]"real global war" - - everything is else is merely sideshow.

Palomar · 2004-12-30 16:00:06

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u … 1520]Scuba diving couple leave paradise beach, return "to hell"

"I was being tossed around like I was inside a washing machine,"

*They still didn't know what had caused all the underwater pandemonium and made another dive (their last), before resurfacing and going ashore.

How awful to start seeing corpses floating along as you're swimming inland. They assisted in some recovery efforts. :up:

Current death toll is 125,000 as of most recent Reuters update.

--Cindy

Grypd · 2004-12-30 17:14:18

Cindy this is a spacedaily article

http://www.spacedaily.com/2004/04123009 … l]Maldives loses 42 islands

Hope this helps

DonPanic · 2004-12-30 17:33:36

Here is the real]http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3944374]"real global war" - - everything is else is merely sideshow.

LO
Another Bush's obscenity is to try to take advantage of a human catastrophe to manipulate the world opinion.
(when US help is under 1/1500 of the money wasted for war at Irak and armaments)
Looks like some of these so brigth Condy's advices.
Answer of one humanitarian organisation, already acting in the devastated areas and just before an airplane taking off from Paris with filtering pumps bound to provide drinking water, to Bush is to sit upon his new coalition.
Yet Indian authorities, as a member of that new coalition, act as stupidly as can be, denying any help for fierce nationalist pride. They can be so proud for having no tsunami warning system and to have set more mess and panic by spreading false alerts, when entire regions have still not received any governemental help.

Palomar · 2004-12-30 18:11:02

Cindy this is a spacedaily article
http://www.spacedaily.com/2004/04123009 … l]Maldives loses 42 islands
Hope this helps

*Thank you, Grypd. Yes, that is the information I was looking for. :up:

"DonPanic: Yet Indian authorities...act as stupidly as can be, denying any help for fierce nationalist pride. They can be so proud for having no tsunami warning system and to have set more mess and panic by spreading false alerts, when entire regions have still not received any governemental help."

*And those Indian authorities sit in New Delhi, I presume -- having lost nothing and all their families are safe. And yet they deny their own people the help they need. :down:

I don't care if the UN gets the $ to the tsunami victims or the US gov't and friends or all of them...I just want the help to get there.

Human bickering and pettiness. :realllymad: I'm sick of it (not directed at anyone here -- I'm directing that at the authorities and governments).

Just saw a news items wherein poor Thai villagers have complained that foreign tourists -- who of course are wealthier -- received assistance first and were treated better overall. Injustice even in tragedy. :realllymad:

--Cindy

DonPanic · 2004-12-30 19:07:01

*And those Indian authorities sit in New Delhi, I presume -- having lost nothing and all their families are safe. And yet they deny their own people the help they need. :down:

LO
Or may be, these politicians in new Delhi are brahmanees when the poors are untouchables ?

GraemeSkinner · 2004-12-31 02:18:57

You can now make a donation through Amazon to the Red Cross - you don't even have to go outside :;):

Graeme

DonPanic · 2004-12-31 03:48:00

LO
To remind how SHAMEFULLY MEAN are the US, French and generally all the other indutrial countries governmental help,
20 millions $ is what french government allocated to repair the Chateau de Versailles and its park when 10000 trees had fallen following the violent tempest Europe had suffer in year 2000.

The US has already pledged $35m and sent its navy to help the aid effort.

Since the french governmental help has risen and is about 50 millions dollars, far under british governmental help with about 100 million dollars, taking the lead among doneur countries.
So, we agree for coordination in help effort, but the legitimate leader should be the most generous country in regard of its prosperity, not the mean coalition leader !

(My 8 years old nephew I presented Xmas with a 100€ checknote has decided to give half this amount to Red Cross)

GraemeSkinner · 2004-12-31 03:55:47

To remind how SHAMEFULLY MEAN are the US, French and generally all the other indutrial countries governmental help,
20 millions $ is what french government allocated to repair the Chateau de Versailles and its park when 10000 trees had fallen following the violent tempest Europe had suffer in year 2000.

The British government spent 750 million on the millennium dome which had the sole purpose of being a exhibition centre for the year 2000. If the public show enough concern the governments will give more aid - once the public stops watching the aid slows to a trickle from governments and is often left to the charity workers (etc.) to finish the mopping up.

Graeme

Palomar · 2005-01-01 17:40:11

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u … ypsies]Sea gypsies' lives saved: Elders' wisdom

*They headed for the hills...literally.

--Cindy

C M Edwards · 2005-01-01 20:13:19

There is a Japanese folk tale about an entire village that ran out onto the beach to collect fish and shells left behind by a "miraculously" receeding sea. They were saved by one old man who ran the other direction and set fire to the rice fields to make the villagers come before the tidal waves did.

The moral of the story (aside from the obvious endorsement for the wisdom of our elders) is: When the sea suddenly retreats half a mile from shore in one direction, you should run a mile in the other direction.

New Mars Forums

Announcement

#26 2004-12-29 14:31:02

Re: Tsunami in Asia

#27 2004-12-29 19:32:50

Re: Tsunami in Asia

#28 2004-12-29 23:47:11

Re: Tsunami in Asia

#29 2004-12-30 04:33:33

Re: Tsunami in Asia

#30 2004-12-30 05:16:54

Re: Tsunami in Asia

#31 2004-12-30 07:22:08

Re: Tsunami in Asia

#32 2004-12-30 07:50:18

Re: Tsunami in Asia

#33 2004-12-30 09:14:05

Re: Tsunami in Asia

#34 2004-12-30 09:59:36

Re: Tsunami in Asia

#35 2004-12-30 10:03:11

Re: Tsunami in Asia

#36 2004-12-30 11:08:13

Re: Tsunami in Asia

#37 2004-12-30 11:37:55

Re: Tsunami in Asia

#38 2004-12-30 12:16:15

Re: Tsunami in Asia

#39 2004-12-30 13:32:29

Re: Tsunami in Asia

#40 2004-12-30 13:49:20

Re: Tsunami in Asia

#41 2004-12-30 16:00:06

Re: Tsunami in Asia

#42 2004-12-30 17:14:18

Re: Tsunami in Asia

#43 2004-12-30 17:33:36

Re: Tsunami in Asia

#44 2004-12-30 18:11:02

Re: Tsunami in Asia

#45 2004-12-30 19:07:01

Re: Tsunami in Asia

#46 2004-12-31 02:18:57

Re: Tsunami in Asia

#47 2004-12-31 03:48:00

Re: Tsunami in Asia

#48 2004-12-31 03:55:47

Re: Tsunami in Asia

#49 2005-01-01 17:40:11

Re: Tsunami in Asia

#50 2005-01-01 20:13:19

Re: Tsunami in Asia

Board footer