Earthquake

starbug · Post by **starbug** » Dec 27th 2004, 1:11 pm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-p ... 127429.stm

I find this news devastating. Having been to this amazing country, it's desperately sad for me that they just have to keep taking the knocks - by rights it should be a wealthy country with a good standard of living but the civil war has made that impossible. 12,000 dead. I can't help wondering whether all the people we met on our trip along the coast have been killed; they would have had no warning, and the coastline there is basically flat with no coastal defences whatsoever. the road that runs along the coast (and I mean, 20ft from the sea) is the main road and is really the only way to get to places along the coast. the place we stayed, Galle, keeps popping up on the BBC as a picture of devastation, which is so depressing. It's such a beautiful country, and they just don't have the resources and infrastructure to deal with this. I imagine that for those who have never been to the developing world it's pretty hard to comprehend (I know before I went, I had no idea), but the lack of finance and infrastructure means that they will literally take years and years to recover. I cannot imagine what it must be like there at the moment. But let me tell you that we were in a 5* hotel, and the electricity was intermittent; I imagine it's non-existent now. In fact, our hotel probably isn't there anymore. Without roads, electricity, drinking water etc, it's going to be a living hell.

lance · Post by **lance** » Dec 27th 2004, 10:59 pm

During my temp assignment today I just kept looking at pictures from the tsunami.

Just staggering...thoughts and prayers go out to all of the families impacted by the earthquake and tsunami.

-LanceMan

Nostradamus · Post by **Nostradamus** » Dec 27th 2004, 11:04 pm

I thought of your vacation pictures as soon as I saw the news videos. My parents told me that they once considered moving to Sumatra years ago; it was one of the closest landmasses to the epicenter. I have also heard that some of the Maldives islands south of India no longer exist. As huge as this was though, it doesn't even come close to the highest earthquake death-toll. In the 1970's a quake in China killed upwards of 250,000!

pgh kenny · Post by **pgh kenny** » Dec 29th 2004, 12:30 am

The news in the USA is very interesting.

Post by **Natasha (candygirl)** » Dec 29th 2004, 7:48 pm

I'm still trying to get in touch with a friend and his wife who live in Indonesia. They live on Borneo (just east of Sumatra), but I have no idea where they were that day. I know they like to travel so it's possible they were elsewhere when it happened. My mom is also trying to get a hold of my aunt and her family who live in Bangkok. Hopefully they are all safe and sound.

SanDeE* · Post by SanDeE* » Dec 31st 2004, 2:18 am

candygirl, I hope your relatives and friends are safe. I was concerned about a friend of mine who is from Thailand and his family, but he sent an email saying that they are fine. Mother nature is so interesting and powerful. It sort of made me think of the The Day After Tomorrow movie, with all seriousness. It's a shame that they had no warning. I saw something on the news that said the earthquake moved an entire island 100 feet from it's original position. The name of the island escapes me now. I wish that there was more I could do to help.

lance · Post by **lance** » Dec 31st 2004, 11:09 pm

You can now contribute to the American Red Cross via Amazon.com to help out with disaster relief. Quick, simple and you will feel good.

http://s1.amazon.com/exec/varzea/ts/my- ... 25-9296015

I gave $10 last night and the contributions of Amazon customers was past 6 million US. As of this post it is now past $10 million US.

-LanceMan

SanDeE* · Post by SanDeE* » Jan 2nd 2005, 12:29 am

Does anyone know which contribution places are scams? Not that the Amazon one is, I just thought I heard on the news or in passing that there are some scams out there for the relief effort. It is disgusting that people would take a devious advantage of an already tragic situation.

starbug · Post by **starbug** » Jan 4th 2005, 5:49 am

Candygirl, I hope you have made contact with your family by now, and that they are all safe.
What a mess.
The death toll just keeps going up...
the BBC is providing pretty much round the clock coverage - there is about 3 mins of news on iraq and around 25 on Asia in each half-hour segment. I'm proud of how my country has reacted, especially making £60m donations almost immediately - that's from the public. Mr. S and I gave £50 immediately... I'm pretty confident it will get to the people that need it. I think the donations will come flooding in from the US now too... and that will really count for a lot.

there's one guy in court here for sending hoax emails telling the families of the victims that their relatives had been found dead. What a piece of scum: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/linc ... 142463.stm

SanDeE* · Post by SanDeE* » Jan 4th 2005, 4:17 pm

I have O+ blood type, which makes me a universal donor. I wonder if I gave blood here in the states it would go to people who need it over in Thailand??? That is something I think I could do. I don't really have any extra money.

lance · Post by **lance** » Jan 4th 2005, 11:38 pm

starbug wrote:Candygirl, I hope you have made contact with your family by now, and that they are all safe.
What a mess.
The death toll just keeps going up...
the BBC is providing pretty much round the clock coverage - there is about 3 mins of news on iraq and around 25 on Asia in each half-hour segment. I'm proud of how my country has reacted, especially making £60m donations almost immediately - that's from the public. Mr. S and I gave £50 immediately... I'm pretty confident it will get to the people that need it. I think the donations will come flooding in from the US now too... and that will really count for a lot.

there's one guy in court here for sending hoax emails telling the families of the victims that their relatives had been found dead. What a piece of scum: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/linc ... 142463.stm

Way to go UK.

-LanceMan

wicked · Post by **wicked** » Jan 5th 2005, 11:26 am

I know Walmart ( evil thoug it is) is taking donations here in Canada that go directly to the Red Cross ( 100% of you donation goes, and the Candian Red Cross has verified it.)

Blood you donate will probably not get to the affected areas, HOWEVER it might free up resources that would otherwise not be avlain\ble ( did that make sense?)

Anything you do is better than nothing!

imagine if everyone just gave 1$ how much that would be wordl wide.

oops..sorry

CANDYGIRL I hope you've found your frineds and family safe. I will keep them in my thoughts.

Post by **Natasha (candygirl)** » Jan 9th 2005, 10:14 pm

My mom finally got a hold of my aunt who said she had been down at the beach just two days before. I also heard back from my friend, who was travelling at the time. He said normally they go through Phuket, but for some reason they decided to take a different route. He said they didn't even know what had happened until four days later because the island they were visiting had barely any electricity. Then it took a few more days for him and his wife to get back to Borneo because they couldn't get a flight out of Bali. Thanks for all your well wishes. I was really sitting on pins and needles for a few days there.

Kristin, google has a list of some legitimate organizations taking donations. You can also view a list of organizations at US Aid.

starbug · Post by **starbug** » Jan 10th 2005, 6:15 am

Glad to hear that your family and friends are safe and well

. Phew.

SanDeE* · Post by SanDeE* » Jan 10th 2005, 1:04 pm

Thanks for the links, candygirl. I'm glad your loved ones are okay.

Forum

Earthquake

Earthquake

Who is online