Tsunami kills mother fuckers!

[Crazy Elf]

<a href=http://www.theage.com.au/news/World/Tsu ... ml>Woah</a>. Ignore the Australian-centric slant of the article. Christ could be resurected and the Age would still report, "Three Australians missing in Iraq" on the front page, go figure. Anyway, major fuckoff tsunami came the fuck out of nowhere and totally killed a whole bunch of people. Major fuckoff earthquake associated with it, too:

One seismologist likened the power of the massive 9 quake to a million atomic bombs the size of those dropped on Japan in World War II, and said the shaking had been so powerful it even disturbed the Earth's rotation.

Fucked up, eh?

[Johnny the Bull]

Heard about it whilst watching the football. Glad as fuck I turned down a holiday to India.

[lorg]

Lots of new witnesses to the awesome power of nature.

We get stupid reporting like that to, think most countries do. It is 12k dead and X nationals and it is the hooooorrror of the X nationals that is being mentioned, the others become like a giant sidenote.


Disturbed the rotation of the earth, ey that is pretty powerful. So will that have any kind of effect in the short and long runs?

[DV8]

The eartquake was 8.9 on the Richter scale, which is the highest recorded earthquake in 40 years, and the second highest recorded earthquake ever. The highest was a 9.2 on the Richter scale.

Large parts of Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka as well as others have been flooded. Thailand's famous Patpong Road has been flooded, so I guess my vacation's off.

[Moto42]

Speaking of Nation-centric reporting. In about ten minutes of Fox News coverage the only injuries they talked about were "8 dead americans", then talked about the history of tsunamis on US shores, then they switched to weather/iraq/8 dead americans...

Does anyone here have friends/family in the affected areas we should be keeping specificly in our thoughts?

[Gunny]

Moto: That's interesting. When I tuned in to Fox this morning, my screen was overwhelmed with scenes of the disaster, updates on the death count, estimated damage cost, countries that have sent notice of intent to assist, etc.

Then they briefly mentioned 3 children that died in a fire over Christmas before going back to talking about the natural disaster.

[Moto42]

I must have hit an exceptional ten minutes then. my bad.

[Gunny]

Well, let's also remember our different locations..

[Crazy Elf]

Check this out, it almost killed <a href=http://www.kungfucinema.com/news/2004/122705.htm>Jet Li</a>!

See, wushu can make you look really impressive before someone kicks your arse, or a tsunami eats you.

[lorg]

So his Kung Fu is indeed strong ... well Arthur C Clark survived ... his diving equipment didn't.

[Mjelvis]

Obviously, his staff would just have grabbed some scuba gear and toughed it out.

[Salvation122]

Speaking of Nation-centric reporting. In about ten minutes of Fox News coverage the only injuries they talked about were "8 dead americans", then talked about the history of tsunamis on US shores, then they switched to weather/iraq/8 dead americans...

They also reported that the US Red Cross was sending seven million in relief, while the EU had pledged four, which I found really fuckin' weird. Are individual EU nations sending their own relief packages as well?

Does anyone here have friends/family in the affected areas we should be keeping specificly in our thoughts?[/quote]

[DV8]

I know France are sending rescue and emergency teams, as are the Netherlands and England. I'm not sure about money, however.

[Angel]

Two things which I find appalling about in the aftermath of this disaster is the way CNN is reporting internation aid in such a way as to make it look like it's a competition, and how reporters for CNN (and those people they're interviewing) are reporting about when resorts will be "up and running".

CNN just showed a list of the internation aid pledged by various countries and it made a point of saying that America has pledged 35 million dollars while France supposedly "only donated 140,000 dollars", the reporter actually questioned a British government official about whether or not Britan would send troops and equipment equaled to what American has in transist (700 Marines are in flights from somewhere in Japan to Thailand). Maybe the idea of being last on any pledge list might encourage governments to send aid, but I doubt that countries such as France are limiting their assistance to 140,000 dollars.

More about the reporters and interviewees, they're constantly bringing up the idea that factories, resorts, and shops should be open again for business in "no longer than a fortnight", who cares? Honestly, when at least 35,000 people have died in horrible deaths does it make sense for an international news agency to be reporting whether or not a shirt manufacturer will be producing clothes again soon?

On the Australian thing, I'm hoping that I just misinterpretted what the guy said, but about 20 minutes ago CNN interviewed an aid worker from Austrailia he this is what he said "There's no way anyone can compare this to the pain Austrailians felt about the Bali bombing, but we're trying to assist Austrailians as best we can." ??????????

[Crazy Elf]

Angel, when the Bali thing happened, a large chunk of the explodiees were Australian, around 80 or so, maybe more, I forget details. In any case, it was more than the few that Australia lost here.

Still, I think that aid workers are forgetting the remarkably high Asian population that Australia has. In the area I'm in the large majority of faces I see walking down the street are Asian. Australian nationals may not have died, but the family of those who are living here may be impacted to a far larger degree than from a bunch of moronic drunken footballers getting blown up.

In other words, that aid worker is retarded.

[MooCow]

More about the reporters and interviewees, they're constantly bringing up the idea that factories, resorts, and shops should be open again for business in "no longer than a fortnight", who cares?

The people who work at those plants, and the families they have to feed. The countries whose economies benefit from their operation. The governments that need the tax dollars that those businesses generate in order to pay for the relief effort. The international investers who depend on profits from those companies to feed their families.

55,000 people are dead. Very tragic. Guess what? Nothing we can do about it now. They're dead, so spending any time worrying about them is idiotic. What we need to worry about are the people left behind, and getting those businesses back up and running is essential to taking care of them.

Money runs the world. Without money, nothing gets done. It's a basic fact of life.

[lorg]

They also reported that the US Red Cross was sending seven million in relief, while the EU had pledged four, which I found really fuckin' weird. Are individual EU nations sending their own relief packages as well?

As far as I know we send in both ways, first there is a portion that is taken from the EU budget and then each country usually sends more, so it is hard to know if that EU figure is the EU figure or a combined one.

[DV8]

There's all kinds of stuff happening here to raise money. Disaster relief funds, mostly, but there are also slightly more colourful endeavours, like radio djs that take request by SMS and each SMS received donates X euros to the Red Cross, etc.

[DV8]

Of the thirty UN countries that responded to its call for aid these are the following figures (in euros) for the top 9 (thisis excluding private donations and military aid):

UK: 70 m
France: 41.3 m
Japan: 29.3 m
US: 25.7 m
Netherlands: 25 m
Germany: 19.8 m
Australia: 19.8 m
Switzerland: 16 m
Saudi Arabia: 7.3 m

[MissTeja]

Over 3 billion. Good. That seems to have increased since the last figures I saw relative to those.

[FlameBlade]

Here's something to ponder. 3 billion dollars to Florida after Hurricane.

and 3 billion dollars to several different countries total after Tsumani.

[MissTeja]

Not that they're equivilant by any means, but I would expect the U.S. to proportionally dole out more money for a disater relief needed in it's own country. As well, while the tsunami hit once, Flordians experienced bash after bash, after bash, after bash, from that weather over a rather extended period of time. I would still have liked to see the U.S. aid amount be far higher than it was, but I'm not in the Wight House.

[FlameBlade]

Wight House? You want to be present, Teja?

TEJA FOR PRESIDENT!

[MissTeja]

With all of the pictures out there floating around of me dancing on bars and kissing women and toting cigarettes? Ha! Only in my dreams.

[DV8]

Over 3 billion. Good. That seems to have increased since the last figures I saw relative to those.

A little over 250 million, actually.

[Bishop]

The U.S. has also raised it's aid relief from around $35 million to $350 million. The aid now tops out at $1.6 Billion, I believe. Now people have to start donating helicopters and such to get the aid to where it's really needed in such places as Indonesia.

[MissTeja]

A little over 250 million, actually.

Hey, I never claimed to be a math major. lol Actually, I'm surprised Flame didn't catch that.

[FlameBlade]

Because I am on vacation. That's why.

[Cash]

Japan has upped its offer to 500 million...

[3278]

Two things which I find appalling about in the aftermath of this disaster is the way CNN is reporting internation aid in such a way as to make it look like it's a competition...

Of course they are. Look at this thread. I don't think it's any less appalling here.

[Szechuan]

With all of the pictures out there floating around of me dancing on bars and kissing women and toting cigarettes? Ha! Only in my dreams.

Jigga what? Those are, like, some of the best reasons for you to be the president!

[Angel]

The Prime Minister of Thailand (in an interview two days ago) said that his country and most likely several more of the countries hit by the disaster are not soliciting money donations, they're not in need of cash, what they're in need of is experts in identifying corpses, water purification experts, and rescue teams. He went on to say that putting a monetary value on the disaster was inappropriate since no one in his country has given any thought to anything other than helping those who need fresh water and shelter in order to survive.

Throwing money at a problem and then bragging or pointing fingers at each other about the amounts isn't helping those people in need. C-130s full of water treatment equipment and food, and medical/rescue teams are what will help these people.

And yes, I am aware that many countries are sending those things, but some of those same countires newsagencies are at the same time trying to make a point about money, money doesn't cure all ills or woes, in fact it can cause even more.

[lorg]

Trapped in the spam filter durring the xmas holiday...

Greetings,
My name is Princess Surasit Mangkut. I am sending this mail from Khaolak north of
the resort Island of Phuket in Thailand were I have lived all my married life. The
reason for getting in touch with you is as a result of the Tsunami waves disaster
which has severely affected 9 countries on the coast of the Indian Ocean from
Malaysia in Asia all the way to Somalia in Africa. I saw my whole family washed
away, the helplessness of the situation most especially watching my crippled
diabetic husband die has left me totally shaken.

I will be very direct with you. This is not a plea of any sort for any kind of help
from you but rather it is more of a business proposal due to the fact that I now
find myself in a totally confused and regrettable situation. Briefly I will explain
what this is all about.

My husband over the years was directly involved in the government development of
tourism and awarding contracts for the building of hotels and resorts. From over
invoicing contracts he was able to stash away the sum of $24,000.000.00 (twenty four
million United States dollars) in Europe. This money was intended as security for
our future and the future of our three sons and grand children. However that will
never be as I am the sole survivor of my family following the Tsunami incidence.
Watching my whole family, children and grandchildren die has left me with a change
of heart towards life. I am totally ashamed of myself in the selfish and greedy
manner I have carried on in life and I pray that I can make amends in anyway that is
possible. However I have been diagnosed as being terminally ill with cancer, doctors
have given me 6 months. We were having a family Christmas in our luxury villa were
we broke the news of my cancer to the family when disaster struck. The reason I
survived I do not know. I can only attribute it to a miracle that I wish never
happened.

This money ($24,000,000.00) is held in trust. I cannot collect the money directly
because of the manner the trust was set up, because at the time my husband wanted no
direct link back to himself. I cannot do much as literally I am counting my days.
I propose to make you the beneficiary of the trust. I have all the required
documentation and authority to do this. Also it will be done through an attorney who
is specialist in this area. For all your trouble I will give you 25% of the total
amount.
70% will be given to charity and the balance 5% I intend to give to all those in
anyway involved with looking after me in my dieing days.

Please do not be quick to judge me. As I mentioned earlier it is with total regret
and remorse that I look back at the life I have lived. If for any reason you find
this mail offensive please pardon me. Please get in touch with me by email. I will
wait for your go ahead so that we can proceed. If I do not hear from you then I take
it in good faith that you are not interested.

My prayers and thoughts go to all those who have lost their lives in this crisis.
Most especially the grieving families. Please together let us help those in need.


Regards
Surasit
surasitm@princess.co.jp

[3278]

Throwing money at a problem and then bragging or pointing fingers at each other about the amounts isn't helping those people in need. C-130s full of water treatment equipment and food, and medical/rescue teams are what will help these people.

That's an interesting point I've been trying to make recently, when people complain about how low the US cash donation is. If this is going to be a competition, let's let it be a fair one, yeah? Let's include the amount of money the US spent developing and building the C-130s bringing equipment in. Let's include the amount of money the US has spent training experts in these fields, and advancing the expertise in these fields. Let's include the ridiculous amount of technological innovation brought to bear by the European countries involved, the water purification techniques and the [hard-learned] lessons about flooding. Let's include the private donations, the corporate matched donations, the charities like Red Cross and so on.

And, of course, in the end, let's ignore it all, because it's not a race, it's not a competition. So long as these people are cared for, what does it matter? [No matter my opinion, that it's not the responsibility of the US or Chile or Madagascar to make certain these people are cared for.] I think it's just another sad way of dividing us all, of competing with each other, of shaming the US, when we should be focusing on the tragedy at hand.

[Angel]

32, perfectly said.

[Sock_Monkey]

Interesting bit I came across from someone I know who has been to indonesia recently (he got back here on Christmas day, narrowly avoiding the disaster) who says the parts of indonesia hit worst by the flooding were those controlled by rebel groups - area where known terrorist training camps have been situated. The rebels who have been up to now stand off-ish with the indonesian government are now begging for aid...

Guess maybe God's not on their side...

But it might also explain some of the secrecy in which some of the US forces deployed in aid work might be up to.

[mrmooky]

The rebels who have been up to now stand off-ish with the indonesian government are now begging for aid...

But in fact, not all of them are. Three Indonesian police were shot dead by rebels while trying to deliver aid in Aceh. The various militant groups seem hell bent on finishing the tsunami's job. It's been estimated that a third of people in some parts of Aceh were killed by the tsunami. By stopping aid from getting to the starving and diseased, the rebels may well end up killing another third. By the time they're finished, there won't be any Aceh left for them to fight for.

[Sock_Monkey]

Well I didn't say all the rebels were looking for aid...

Some people are just too fucked up to care.

[Crazy Elf]

I'm sure it's a lot more complicated than people simply being "fucked up" as you put it.

[Sock_Monkey]

Well I'm sure too, but its not really the space for me to elaborate on why or how they might be fucked up, but to simplify my opinion on the matter, "fucked up" will suffice.

[FlakJacket]

The scale of it all really does hit you when you see pictures like this. Before and after.

[Johnny the Bull]

Australia puts in $1bn USD.

[Daki]

I would be curious to know how the total amount in donations compares to the national income of the affected countries. At this point, I think money is a rather moot point. It is not what they need right now, manpower and transportation is. The money will be needed later for rebuilding. I believe the US has already dispatched two ships to the area to assist with more on the way. I'm going off what I remember of the news report from a few days ago, but I believe it was two battleships with a carrier en route.

[MissTeja]

Everything costs money though, man. Even that manpower and transportation costs a lot. Heck, getting that manpower and transportation to them in the first place is expensive, but then to keep it going only increases it.

The amount of supplies needed to house, feed, clean, dress, etc. over a million people who are so spread out has to just be phenomenal. I cannot imagine that those things would just quit after the first little while either. It's going to need to be a continual relief effort, that wouldn't surprise me if it is still going on a good year from now. Hopefully the charity will be enough to sustain them that long.

To me, it strikes me as being that only once all of this mass care is completed and all the poisoned water has washed away that they'll probably start thinking of building plans. No clue how they'll fund such things.

[Sock_Monkey]

Well sounding cruel and heartless, yet cynically versed in the ways of the world, they probably won't. Your bottom man on the ground will be probably left to rot. How much of the money will probably end up in swiss bank accounts somewhere? Don't think their government could possibly be that corrupt? Here's one to bake your noodle - the US and Canadian governments have had a Tsunami warning system in place for quite a while now - given any seismic disturbance it can be forcasted within minutes of the effects anywhere in the world. Now do you think no one in our wonderful free world told the poor Indonesians, Sri Lankans, etc that this thing was on its way? Of course they did. Did their own authorities do anything about it? Hell no. Aside from foreign tourists a majority of the people affected by the disaster were the poor - left to rot. So now we expect that throwing a large chunk of change at this place is going to help that much? The only thing all the talk about giving relief money is going to do is sooth the consiences of us white people. Another thought for you: Indonesia being a muslim country one wonders how much change the rest of the muslim world is chunking down? I definitely don't hear Saudi Arabia making any big contributions. Maybe they know better.

[3278]

Here's one to bake your noodle - the US and Canadian governments have had a Tsunami warning system in place for quite a while now - given any seismic disturbance it can be forcasted within minutes of the effects anywhere in the world. Now do you think no one in our wonderful free world told the poor Indonesians, Sri Lankans, etc that this thing was on its way? Of course they did.

I confess to a degree of suspicion. Do you have any evidence of this fact? I had been given to understand that there was no early warning system for the Indian Ocean as there was for the Pacific, and this lack of an early warning system was one factor in causing such a high loss of life. If there is already a tsunami warning system in place, why is so much money being invested in installing one?

[Szechuan]

Not sure if I can answer those questions, but doesn't it seem odd to you that an undersea quake strong enough to (apparently) fuck with the earth's rotation wasn't picked up by /anybody/?

[Marius]

It was. Drudge had it up, like, right away. News of the tsunami followed it by some hours. Now I'm just assuming that the time lapse between "Hey, there was an earthquake," and "Hey, there was a tsunami," relates to a time lapse between the actual events. But the second I saw a story about an 8.9 quake in the ocean, the first thing I thought was, "Woah, there's going to be one hell of a wave coming."

[TheScamp]

We did pick up the earthquake early enough to warn people. The only problem is that because there was no system in place for the Indian Ocean area, the scientists who knew the wave was coming had no way of contacting those in danger.

[Szechuan]

Marius: I'd assume it was. I was in conspiracy-theory mode.

Scamp: Perhaps, but would they not have had some way to contact government bodies that could do so?