130,000+ people die due to tidal wave in Asia... (1 Viewer)

[Michael Hedman]

The US death toll is 15 dead. Sweden is worst hit of the foreign countries with 59 dead and 3.559 reported missing so far. The swedish final death toll is feared to exceed 1.000.

 

[Mark_vdH]

For what's it's worth, I've heard nothing about other countries bashing the US over their contributions, absolutely nothing. Criticism from within the US itself (New York Times) after the first contribution has been reported over here though.

The arrival of US helicopters from the USS Lincoln bringing supplies to inaccesable areas has been pretty big news over here (probably more so than my country's relief efforts are in the US ), but I guess it just wouldn't make for a nice "the rest of the world likes us" news story in the US...

 

[Mike Voigt]

Let's keep the politics out of this, please.

Many have complained about the initial pledges. There is no real issue here - ALL projects start out with what might be called "starter capital" and this one is no different. The 7M to 35M barely pays for moving some of the personnel and equipment over there.

This is a HUGE area to cover. While Indonesia is hardest hit, other areas have also been affected - clear across the Indian Ocean. That is NOT a small distance; as the crow flies, the distance between Indonesia and Somalia is that between Texas and Hawaii - or about 30% more than the widest part of the 48 US states. There are a number of islands out there.

For that matter, we can call ourselves "lucky" - if that is appropriate language - that this happened on the East side of Indonesia. If it had happened on the West side, this tidal wave would have smashed into what used to be called Micronesia - and most of those islands would have been literally swept. As did those in the Indian Ocean.

The US has some great delivery methods - the landing hovercraft used by the armed forces can get around fairly easily, the helicopters can get where the hovercraft cannot. What's more, you can deliver tons of material with those craft. This will become critical during the next week or so, as food, rebuilding crews, etc are delivered to the areas. Hence the 10 base camps, 20 boats, etc. being called for by the UN. The best would be to let the UN handle the logistics - they will rely on the US and others to take care of it, but it will be centrally administered and coordinated with other efforts. The Un is quite good at these activities, as is NATO. I suspect we will see quite a bit of this kind of involvement in a short while.

The biggest problem is the logistics in the area; the airports are small, and deep-sea port facilities got a good whack from the tsunami. The US - and others - will help, but none of this comes w/o cost. The goverment will incur a huge bill just to handle all of this.

I wish the effort all the best; whoever gets to coordinate all of this has a massive amount of work in front of them.

Mike

 

[Craig S]

Film critic Roger Ebert is a correspondent of writer Arthur C. Clarke, perhaps Sri Lanka's most famous resident. He has published a report from Mr. Clarke and an appeal for aid for his adopted country:

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/...SAYS/412310303

Mr. Clarke endorses Sarvodaya, a Sri Lankan relief agency with a long track record in that country.

Just an FYI for those looking for a good place to contribute to.

 

[Scott L]

http://nydailynews.com/front/story/266958p-228627c.html
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/050102/ap/d87bjr6o1.html

 

[Wes]

The LDS Church is putting 100% of the monthy Fast Offerings donated from members to the disaster relief. But anyone can donate to and be assured 100% of your money will go to help the victims out.
http://www.lds.org/ldsfoundation/wel...POSTER,00.html

If your looking for a safe place to donate!

Here are some other sites I would imagine are safe bets also!
http://www.usaid.gov/locations/asia_...i/ngolist.html

Wes

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

Not to cast any doubt on your sincerity, but I'm sure there are a lot of agencies making the same claims - some of them even true. :rolleyes
I also think that soliciting church donations for any purpose is highly inappropriate on this forum.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

No need for the rolleyes, Jeff. Just someone trying to help. I plan on using the link Craig included. But this type of event is what churches are for, frankly.

Getting away from the politics (which, thanks to the international members here, is basically a US media lightning rod, meaning nothing), it's a time for countries to pull together and do what they can. My thanks are with every group, government, or individual helping out and looking for a way to make it better for the survivors. Everything else is cheap, tawdry whining, one way or the other.

As always, my thoughts are with the immense number of people affected by this tragedy.

Take care,
Chuck

 

[Glenn Overholt]

Scott, those were sad stories. I won't even go into the 2nd one, but that happens all of the time when there isn't any kind of social structure.

As for the first one, that is almost funny. I heard a hotel manager say the other day that his hotel is still open. Ok, you save up for a vacation for a year and when you get there, well, should a few big waves spoil it?

Sorry, that wasn't my call, but theirs. I don't know what they are going to tell their friends when they get back, or if they feel any remorse for not doing anything. Maybe the local authority just told them to stay out of the way, though.

Todd - they haven't mentioned it in several days, but there are either 200 or 2000 missing from the USA.

They also mentioned rebuilding, and I am wonding if that is such a smart idea in some cases. Would anyone want to rebuild right on the beach again? (Assuming the beach is still there, of course.)

What if they just moved whatever (store/hotel lobby) up to the 3rd floor?

Glenn

 

[Chris]

That's what was up with my sister.. they bolted from ground floor up to the fifth floor as the thing came in, and she said it filled up the bulding like a glass, all the way to the 3rd floor.

That having been said, she says the work there is slow but steady and that the relief aid coming from US helicopters and others is unbelievable, especially with food and fresh water and purification units.

There are more resources coming.

At the same time, there is a growing unhappiness in the island with resorters.. the US ordered all citizens basically to leave or start helping at the beginning of last week, and most did one or the other, but everyone was told no lounging around.. last night at one of the resorts, guests primarily from eastern europe and russia threw a party complete with fireworks display ;( It apparently went off very poorly amongst a lot of the locals, who did not think it was too kind of a thing.. *shrug* from the way I took it, I wouldn't want to be in their shoes if they keep that kind of behavior up

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

Well the insurance companies are giddy that they won't be taking huge losses on this disaster due to the fact that no one had any tsunami coverage, including the majority of tourists, who can't claim losses or even cancel their prebooked flights and vacations now.

While I can understand someone who thought they were headed for a week of fun in the sun not wanting to fish corpses out of the river, it does seem in pretty poor taste to expect resort treatment after a disaster like this.

 

[todd s]

I had heard that a lot of the people and government in Thailand want the tourist back asap. Tourism generates 10 billion dollars a year in revenue for the country. But, I agree the tourists need to be a little more sensitive.

 

[Danny Tse]

Sandra Bullock just donated $1 million to American Red Cross for relief efforts due to the earthquake and tsunamis.

 

[Chris]

Sandra Bullock also donated $1M post 9-11 to Red Cross. She has been one of Red Cross's largest contributors in the world (period) donating more then many nations. Kudos to those that have money and put it to good cause.

 

[Kirk Gunn]

Didn't take long for the 419 folks to start e-mailing.... makes me frickin' ill...

Dear Ms
My name is Marco Nula; I am a victim of the recent Earthquake followed by the Tsunami that wrecked our whole society of Banda Aceh Province in Indonesia resulting in painful death of my Parents.

My Father and Mother owned a tourist resort and grocery store at No 71 Panglima Polim Street, Banda Aceh in Indonesia

please I am hereby soliciting for your assistance at clearing my Late father’s money Euros 3.2Million in The Netherlands, I have asked the Lawyer to provide me with all documents, I shall have send them to you when you show sincere intentions to help me and my Sister,

 

[todd s]

They showed something this morning that was horrifying. Not bodies...but, nobody. A reporter was on a boat going from coatal town to coastal town in Indonesia. The first big town only one in ten survived and the only building standing was a mosque. The next town is what was so sad. It was a town surrounded by hills on all three sides. So it channeled the water faster and farther into town. It scoured the entire town and the only thing left was also a mosque. There were NO survivors. It was a town completly wiped from existence. :frowning:

They say that over 5k Americans are listed as missing.

 

[Malcolm R]

We do it in the US all the time after hurricanes. Common sense doesn't apply much when beachfront property is involved.

 

[Glenn Overholt]

Let's hear it for beachfront property! At 2 feet feet below sea level (after they drain the water out). I wouldn't even want to SEE the insurance bill on those!

In other good news, I guess someone is doing something

http://www.millenniumstadium.com/197...a4b9b98 f4f71

A benefit concert! Yes! I already can't wait for the DVD's to come out - so more money can be donated.

Glenn

 

[ZacharyTait]

Kirk,

That just makes me sick. I can't believe there are people out there who take advantage of any tragedy for their personal gain. There was a lady here in Grand Rapids who scammed a 9/11 agency out of $75,000.

 

[BrianW]

I suppose it makes sense to include destroyed towns and villages into the cost of the devastation, but I'm not sure I see the sense of rebuilding a town if there's nobody left to live in it.