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Disaster in SE asia


wunarmdscissor

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It's all horribly sad, every time I turn on the TV, the death toll has risen, and I remember when I thought 1000 was a lot. What annoys me the most is here in NZ, they have all these new pieces about what to do about cricket because the Sri Lankans obviously don't want to play anymore. I think it's just ****ing sad when people worry about sport when thousands of people are dead/dying. Apparently the Srik Lankan cricket team might get fined. I think it's sick. Their relatives, friends and homeland is being destroyed and all the cricket fans are worried about is the damned game! This angers me....

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Millions hunt for food as tsunami toll over 80,000

30 December 2004

BANDA ACEH: Millions of people around the Indian Ocean scrambled for food and clean water today, with the threat of disease and hunger now stalking survivors of the most devastating tsunami on record.

The official death toll rose to 82,847 but the true scale of the disaster may not be known for days, or even weeks, as rescuers struggled to reach stricken areas and grieving survivors searched for relatives.

"Entire villages have been washed away," said Rod Volway, programme manager for Care, Canada's Emergency Response Team which was one of the first aid groups into Indonesia's northern Aceh province, the worst-hit area.

"This isn't just a situation of giving out food and water. Entire towns and villages need to be rebuilt from the ground up. Everything has been destroyed."

The toll could rise to 100,000 when the dead are counted in India's remote Andaman and Nicobar islands, said Peter Rees of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Countries around the world sent rescue teams, food and millions of dollars in aid to the hardest-hit nations of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand to cope with the aftermath of the strongest earthquake in 40 years.

As the world pledged $US220 million ($NZ312 million) in cash and sent an international flotilla of ships and aircraft with hundreds of tonnes of supplies, history's biggest relief operation battled with the enormity of the task.

"Perhaps as many as 5 million people are not able to access what they need for living," David Nabarro, who heads the World Health Organisation's health crisis team, said.

"Either they cannot get water, or their sanitation is inadequate or they cannot get food."

Many villages and resorts, now little more than mud-covered rubble blanketed with the stench of rotting corpses, remained inaccessible to heavy equipment. Thousands of bodies were tumbled into mass graves.

Contaminated water, ruptured sewage systems and mosquito-borne diseases now threaten those who survived Sunday's monster wave, triggered by a 9.0 magnitude underwater quake off the Indonesian island of Sumatra.

The United Nations said it was preparing to issue what could be its largest appeal for donations in its history to cope with its biggest and costliest relief effort.

Anger began to be heard above the grief as families left with no homes or possessions wanted to know why help was taking so long.

"I lost my wife and my youngest child, I lost all my possessions, no one has come forward to help me," said Peter Solomon, 45, a Sri Lankan fisherman.

With a large proportion of Asia's populations under 18, UN officials say up to a third of the victims could be children.

Indonesian aircraft dropped food to isolated areas along the western coast of Sumatra, an island the size of Florida, where the tsunami obliterated entire towns.

"I believe the frustration will be growing in the days and the weeks ahead," said UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland in New York.

Well over a million people have been left homeless. Hospitals are overwhelmed with the injured - an estimated 100,000 or more across the region.

The killer waves dragged family members from each other's clutches, swept trucks and buses through buildings and flipped boats onto land, catching everybody by surprise on a holiday.

The quake was so powerful, US scientists said it made the Earth jolt on its axis and shifted islands.

Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand faced death tolls of catastrophic proportions. Hundreds were killed in the Maldives, Myanmar, Malaysia and East Africa.

US President George W Bush said the US pledge of $US35 million in aid was just a start.

Bush said he had spoken to the leaders of India, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia. "I assured those leaders that this is only the beginning of our help."

The US military's 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force, based in Japan, will set up a forward command post in Thailand to co-ordinate US efforts. The Pentagon is sending the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, a helicopter carrier and a submarine to the region.

Insurers estimated damages at $US13.6 billion but that does not include the costs of lost business and productivity.

Indonesia has suffered the biggest number of victims, with 45,268 known dead, although the toll could rise to 80,000 in Aceh alone, the province closest to the quake's epicentre.

In the provincial capital Banda Aceh, two aftershocks yesterday night woke nervous residents. Many people preferred to sleep outside.

Indian officials estimated their death toll would reach 12,500. Rescuers were struggling to reach remote islands in the Andaman and Nicobar chain.

In Sri Lanka, where the tsunami killed 22,000 people, many said there was still no sign of aid for ruined communities.

More than 2000 Scandinavians are missing in the tsunami-ravaged resorts and 1000 Germans are unaccounted for.

Many of them could be among the 6043 missing in Thailand, where the official death toll rose to 1975.

Forensic teams from Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland flew into Thailand to help identify bodies. Police believe up to 3000 people died in the resort of Khao Lak.

The tsunami is the world's biggest disaster since a cyclone killed 130,000 people in Bangladesh in 1991.

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Cool...Australia has put in a little over $30...why hasn't America contributed much while these "smaller" countries have?

Why the finger pointing at this time? Shouldn't we all be joining together? This some kind of competition? We'll be giving more, don't get too green.

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its not a competition no celumnaz

but its the aid Agencies (and they know what they are talking about) that are criticising america.

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Ultimately the US will be blamed because we either 'caused' the earthquake by not signing the Keoto Treaty or because our SUVs caused 'global warming' and that triggered the EQ.  Already we are being blamed with 'indifference' because we only sent a check for fifteen MILLION dollars the first day after.

427032[/snapback]

Cool...Australia has put in a little over $30...why hasn't America contributed much while these "smaller" countries have?

Why the finger pointing at this time? Shouldn't we all be joining together? This some kind of competition? We'll be giving more, don't get too green.

429287[/snapback]

amerika and australie are the ones who gave the most money right??

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Ultimately the US will be blamed because we either 'caused' the earthquake by not signing the Keoto Treaty or because our SUVs caused 'global warming' and that triggered the EQ.  Already we are being blamed with 'indifference' because we only sent a check for fifteen MILLION dollars the first day after.

427032[/snapback]

Cool...Australia has put in a little over $30...why hasn't America contributed much while these "smaller" countries have?

Why the finger pointing at this time? Shouldn't we all be joining together? This some kind of competition? We'll be giving more, don't get too green.

429287[/snapback]

amerika and australie are the ones who gave the most money right??

429292[/snapback]

No, Australia is right up the top...not that I'm bragging...sorry if anyone got that impression.

As for my comment regarding America...I was merely asking why America, a country that is apparently stinking rich, has barely contributed in comparison to other, smaller, countries.

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Ultimately the US will be blamed because we either 'caused' the earthquake by not signing the Keoto Treaty or because our SUVs caused 'global warming' and that triggered the EQ.  Already we are being blamed with 'indifference' because we only sent a check for fifteen MILLION dollars the first day after.

427032[/snapback]

Cool...Australia has put in a little over $30...why hasn't America contributed much while these "smaller" countries have?

Why the finger pointing at this time? Shouldn't we all be joining together? This some kind of competition? We'll be giving more, don't get too green.

429287[/snapback]

amerika and australie are the ones who gave the most money right??

429292[/snapback]

It's not a contest, it's a tragedy.

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crying.gif I just heard on the radio news the death toll has risen dramatically today, they say it's now at 120,000. So sad. We take far too much for granted in our lives.

sad.gif

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It's not a contest, it's a tragedy.

And thats a typical right wing/capitalist excuse to not contribute as much as is humanly possible.

The aid agencies are telling america $35 million is not enough , if a country the size of the UK and australian can contribute 30 million each then america can contribute AT LEAST 3 times that amount. And it WILL help.

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I just heard, Canada is Sending D.A.R.T. (Dasaster Responce Team) they will be going to the hardest hit places, to help supply Fresh Water and medical supplys.

~Thanato

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Britiain is now the single biggest provider of aid to the disaster zone.

The govt has just pledged £50 million (around $85 million ) , the more money the better.

125 000 dead now its heartbreaking.

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I heard on the news that the money America has given only last 5-6 hours in Iraq (45 million). Surley they can give more if they waste that much in Iraq

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Shut up.

I am so SICK of everyone telling the U.S. they haven't given enough money. Yes, we have money. But it's not ENDLESS. Our own people don't have jobs or healthcare. We can't just pull a billion dollars out of nowhere. I'm sorry it's not ENOUGH money to meet your standards. If you claim we're not giving enough, why don't you just pull a couple million dollars out of your pocket?

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my family donated $100 which is generous. Why don't you contribute something.

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Indonesia Needs Help, Death Toll Expected To Exceed 400,000

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 30 (Bernama) -- The death toll in Acheh, the region worst hit by last Sunday's tsunami, may exceed 400,000 as many affected areas could still not be reached for search and rescue operations, Indonesia's Ambassador to Malaysia Drs H. Rusdihardjo said Thursday.

Full Story

Edited by Sweetpumper
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Shut up.

I am so SICK of everyone telling the U.S. they haven't given enough money. Yes, we have money. But it's not ENDLESS. Our own people don't have jobs or healthcare. We can't just pull a billion dollars out of nowhere. I'm sorry it's not ENOUGH money to meet your standards. If you claim we're not giving enough, why don't you just pull a couple million dollars out of your pocket?

429787[/snapback]

laugh.gifthumbsup.gif I'm with you.

...The US contributes the most money world-wide... wink2.gif We are very generous.

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THIS IS FREAKY....CHECK IT OUT:

Did animals' 'sixth sense' save them from tsunami?

Thursday, December 30, 2004 Posted: 2149 GMT (0549 HKT)

Wild life officials found no evidence of large-scale animal deaths from the massive tsunami at Yala Safari Game Lodge close to Yala Reserve Wildlife Park, southeast of Colombo, Sri Lanka.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (Reuters) -- Wild animals seem to have escaped the Indian Ocean tsunami, adding weight to notions they possess a "sixth sense" for disasters, experts said on Thursday.

Sri Lankan wildlife officials have said the giant waves that killed over 24,000 people along the Indian Ocean island's coast seemingly missed wild beasts, with no dead animals found.

"No elephants are dead, not even a dead hare or rabbit. I think animals can sense disaster. They have a sixth sense. They know when things are happening," H.D. Ratnayake, deputy director of Sri Lanka's Wildlife Department, said on Wednesday.

The waves washed floodwaters up to 3 km (2 miles) inland at Yala National Park in the ravaged southeast, Sri Lanka's biggest wildlife reserve and home to hundreds of wild elephants and several leopards. "There has been a lot of anecdotal evidence about dogs barking or birds migrating before volcanic eruptions or earthquakes. But it has not been proven," said Matthew van Lierop, an animal behaviour specialist at Johannesburg Zoo.

"There have been no specific studies because you can't really test it in a lab or field setting," he told Reuters.

Other authorities concurred with this assessment.

"Wildlife seem to be able to pick up certain phenomenon, especially birds ... there are many reports of birds detecting impending disasters," said Clive Walker, who has written several books on African wildlife.

Animals certainly rely on the known senses such as smell or hearing to avoid danger such as predators.

The notion of an animal "sixth sense" -- or some other mythical power -- is an enduring one which the evidence on Sri Lanka's battered coast is likely to add to.

The Romans saw owls as omens of impending disaster and many ancient cultures viewed elephants as sacred animals endowed with special powers or attributes.

The tsunami was triggered by an earthquake in the Indian Ocean on Sunday. It killed tens of thousands of people in Asia and East Africa.

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They say it hasn't been proven yet that animals know ahead of time. That's proof enough for me. thumbsup.gif

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its not exactly a 6th sense, its just they use their senses a lot better than humans. Especially Hearing and smell

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Thai villagers say wealthy tourists got higher priority

That's because they can bribe everyone. That's just the was the country is. My aunties and uncles get pulled up by the police for no reason and to make them go away requires a bribe

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4,500 dead.

2,000 missing.

Millions homeless.

Something incredile happened this week...at the beggening of the thread this was said...^

Now, more than 135,000 are dead.

It is unknown how many are still missing.

Millions upon millions are homeless.

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