Sympathy to countries hit by earthquake

I am sure all members of this board share in expressing their sympathy to those on our board who reside in those Asian countries devastated by the effects of the massive earthquake that hit that region.

A terrible tragedy...

 

I agree.

Watching CNN, this is shaping up to be a disaster of historic proportions. Coastal towns have been devastated in numerous countries, extending over a thousand miles or more.

In the low-lying Maldives, some outlying atolls are not communicating and I fear the worst. The whole west side of northern Sumatra, the area closest to the earthquake, isn't communicating either, and loss of life may turn out to be be very high there, especially in fishing villages along the shore and in areas where many buildings collapsed.

The damage that we are seeing on our TVs seems to be mostly from tourist resort areas with good communications, and they might not correspond to the areas worst hit, so my fear is that the death toll may climb much higher than the 10,000+ already reported.

I hope that countries like the United States, EU nations and Japan move quickly to extend aid and assistance. Australia should move quickly to support their neighbors. Perhaps China needs to put some of its new found wealth to use as well.

 

I'm living in Thailand, the country where we lost more than thousand for the eartquack. Fortunatly, It's happen before I will go for new year celebration.

 

The death toll has moved quickly into the 20,000+, with many areas still unaccounted for. Possibly small island atolls have been completely covered by the tidal waves with a total loss of life.

It is good to see that most developed countries have reacted swiftly with aid support.

 

Death toll now over 50,000 and climbing

Amazing to think about how many people that really is. The official estimate is now over 50,000, and could go over 100,000 based on missing people.

There is a large fear that the spread of cholera and malaria could be worse than the tsunami. Death predictions on that could be another 100,000 or more.

Say our prayers for those people and their families.

 

I express sympathy to those injured and loss in the quake but would like to express that all those elder statesmen in my country that say that they are rich, now is the time to show their generosity and humanity to this disaster, rather than criticising others this is the time to show human kindness. One of our elder statesmen went with a bunch of businessmen and only knew how to criticise other societies, where is his philantropy?

 

Which country are you talking about?

 

Interesting story (but PLEASE turn on your popup controls before you go there).

http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=61781

 

Indeed a "terrible tragedy."

I am glad your post made it. I hope you have corrected your post on another forum wherein you implied you were banned from posting here.

Blessings!

 

Apparently the USA will send $30 million in aid but this pales compared to the $4.4 billion it is spending every month in Iraq.

Is the USA missing an opportunity to counter Bin Laden by demonstrating to the Muslims (and others) in the effected that the USA is a good and caring nation?

(My wife and I are sending a donation to the Red Cross.)

 

Kudos on your donation to the Red Cross.

The relief assistance the U.S. has given nations around the world throughout its history pales in comparison to most other nations combined.

 

Only part of the truth

the US spends more money for foreign aide, than ALL countries in the world! The USA accounts for 40% of all aide, and this does not count the civilian donations. The UN blowhearts need to pull their heads out and realize where their paychecks and support comes from.

As for the US only giving 30 million, again incorrect. The amount was $20 million to be added to the 15 million they already contributed. That makes 35 million.

THIS IS ONLY FOR INITIAL AIR SUPPORT AND LOGISTICAL HELP!

The US government feels they will contribute over 1 BILLION dollars before this is said and done. That's right, 1 BILLION dollars. How much is Al Qaeda and the rest of the muslim world gonna give? Al Qaeda will give nothing, the muslims will contribute tens of millions of dollars, far less than the Billion the us will give.

I get really sick of these countries, blowhearts, self serving individuals, second guessing our every move, condemming us for everything we do, and then come screaming for help everytime there is a crisis. Don't bite the hands that feeds you!

 

The Shame of Sri Lanka

Amid all this horror, the bitter fruit of anti-Semitism ripens. The victims, however, were not Jews this time.

While channel surfing, I caught a story on the Sri Lankan government indignantly rejecting an aid team (to set up field hospitals) composed of Israeli military personnel. Surf to another channel: immediately, a clip of a Sri Lankan man sitting in the wreckage of his home, weeping uncontrollably for his dead. Perhaps I misinterpret. Maybe he was weeping with uncontrolled joy that his government was protecting him from the Jews.

My earlier post, linking to a story about Muslims helping Hindus and Christians in Tamil Nadu, shows the other side of the human coin, and that not very far away. Let us hope that is what prevails.

 

Hey don't forget that $100,000 France donated.

 

Japan should lead in building early warning system...

The greates (per capita) aid pledged thus far comes from Japan and Australia.

This is as it should be.

What's most frustrating for American's is that the closet US military vessels are in Japan; the first carrier dispatched, the USS Lincoln, was in Hong Kong. American assets are just too far away for ready response.

Buit surely with so many carriers, we can afford for two more to go sooner than later.

-Orson

But what about the longer term solutions? The Japan Times editorializes on behalf of Japan: they should lead in building an Indian Ocean early warning network:

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/geted.pl5?ed20041229a1.htm
- - - -[excerpt]
There are always lessons and warnings to be drawn from a natural catastrophe. One flag raised in the latest tragedy is that there is no full-scale tsunami warning system in the Indian Ocean. Another is that coastal towns and villages in the region are almost defenseless against tidal waves in general. In particular, popular resort spots, such as Phuket, Thailand, have no tide embankments along their coastlines.

In the Pacific Ocean, a tsunami warning center was created in Hawaii following the 1960 Chilean earthquake. Warnings are issued on the basis of seismic waves recorded in Pacific Rim countries, which maintain an extensive observation network.

By contrast, countries facing the Indian Ocean are ill-prepared for tsunamis. They probably have observation facilities, but none appears to have any working network for transmitting tsunami information to residents, such as disaster hot lines. Nor do they appear to have adequate programs, including ready-to-use guidelines for evacuation, to enhance public awareness of tsunamis.

A tsunami travels very fast. The waves generated by the Chilean quake reached Japanese shores in just 24 hours, leaving 142 people dead or missing. Simple arithmetic shows that the tsunami raced a distance of about 17,000 km at 700 kph -- about the same speed as a jetliner. The latest tsunami, unleashed by a 9.0-magnitude temblor that occurred off Aceh Province on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, is estimated to have reached Sri Lanka in about two hours. The lesson is obvious: If residents and visitors had been properly warned, much of the tragedy would have been prevented.

Japan should do everything it can to help build a tsunami warning system in the Indian Ocean, one that extends from southern Asia all the way to eastern Africa.

 

I, too, would like to express my sympathy to all those who were killed in the quakes. Oh, wait, they're dead, so they're not reading this anyway.

Okay, then I'll express my sympathy to all whose homes were destroyed the quakes. Oh, wait, their computers were destroyed, so they're not reading this either.

Never mind.

 

$50Million prize money to capture OSAMA dead or alive AND $30Million donation for TSunahmi relief efforts.

 

And how many millions did India spend on developing an atomic bomb instead of an early warning tsunami system?

Oh, I know, it's an impolite question, implying as it does that responsibility begins at home instead of faulting America first. If we do too much, we're interfering. If we do too little, we're indifferent. If we give too much, we're bribing. If we give too little, we're stingy. If we act too slowly, we're indolent. If we act too quickly, we're cowboys. If we do nothing, we're self-absorbed. If we do anything, we're imperialists.

It's funny how the same folks who grouse about the US thinking of itself as the world's policeman complain that the US isn't doing enough to restore order.

Maybe the UN will take up the slack. After all, we all know that UN aid money always gets exactly where it's intended to go.

 

Uncle Janko,

Thank you.

 

It's interesting how quickly this thread has gone from sympathy to hostility.

I would rather feel concern and shared humanity with the victims, rather than anger and hatred directed at favorite political enemies, real or imagined.

I don't think that this is really the occasion for scapegoats.