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  • #16
    Re: Hawai'i and Tsunamis

    It doesn't pay to mess with Mother Nature, because she might just fight back!

    The Year the Earth Fought Back
    By Simon Winchester, The New York Times, Wednesday 29 December 2004
    London - Like two bookends of calamity, earthquakes at Bam in Iran and off Sumatra in Indonesia have delineated a year of unusual seismic ferocity - a year, one might say, of living dangerously. Twelve months, almost to the very hour, before Sunday's extraordinary release of stress at the India-Burma tectonic plate boundary, a similar jolt at the boundary of the Arabian and the Eurasian Plates devastated one of the most celebrated of Persian caravan cities. The televised images of Bam's collapsed citadel and the sight of thousands of bodies being carried from the desert ruins haunted the world then just as the images of the drowned around the shores of the Bay of Bengal do today.

    But that has not been the half of it. True, these two disasters were, in terms of their numbers of casualties, by far the most lethal. But in the 12 months that separated them, there have been many other ruinous and seismically ominous events, occurring in places that seem at first blush to be entirely disconnected.
    Miulang
    Last edited by admin; December 30, 2004, 09:19 AM. Reason: Replaced full article text with excerpt, link.
    "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

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    • #17
      Re: Hawai'i and Tsunamis

      Ms. Miulang, Mahalo again. Wanted to tell you, that it's not psychological! Damn doctocrs can't make up their minds. now, could be nuerological...another sereis of testing begins. I'm not grumbling. 80,000+ have more worse problems!
      Be AKAMAI ~ KOKUA Hawai`i!
      Philippians 4:13 --- I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

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      • #18
        Re: Deadly Indian Ocean Tsunami

        Individual donations collected by Amazon.com alone have surpased $5.4 million.

        Meanwhile, three videos taken by people who witnessed the disaster (Sri Lanka, Patong Beach and Phuket) first hand are being archived and served up over at IFILM. In this day of big-screen million-dollar mega-effects, it's amazing just how horrifying and breathtaking a few seconds of grainy, web-encoded amateur video can still be.
        Last edited by pzarquon; December 30, 2004, 09:30 AM.

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        • #19
          Re: Deadly Indian Ocean Tsunami

          The main obstacle to getting people help now is not that aid supplies aren't available, it's that the infrastructure of most of the towns affected (roads damaged, etc.) don't allow trucks to bring the aid to the people. So they are having to air drop supplies to the most isolated areas.

          I think by the time all the counting's done, individual US contributions will put USAID numbers to shame. It's not that America isn't generous, it's that the government has other priorities. The people themselves are extremely generous in times of crisis; I know. I used to work for one of the NGOs (nongovernmental organization) and whenever there was a famine in Africa or floods in Bangladesh, money would come streaming in.

          Miulang

          P.S. The decaying, bloated bodies still lying in the tropical sun are not what's going to kill many of the survivors; what will kill them is contaminated water that will give them malaria, dysentery (pretty lethal in babies), cholera and measles. The saddest thing about this disaster is that a whole generation of young children has been decimated.
          "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

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          • #20
            Re: Deadly Indian Ocean Tsunami

            Death Toll:
            400,000 ?!

            http://drudgereport.com/flash5.htm

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            • #21
              Re: Deadly Indian Ocean Tsunami

              Here's scientific information about the earthquake/tsunamis in SE Asia (including past events). Very interesting, if you like learning new things (even has an animated clip about tsunamis):

              http://iri.columbia.edu/~lareef/tsunami/

              Miulang
              "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

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              • #22
                Re: Deadly Indian Ocean Tsunami

                In case there are skeptics out there who are wondering where the donations are coming from, here's a link to an Australian site which will keep track of who's giving what. You might notice that Pfizer (the American drug company) has given as much aid to the survivors as the American government (USAID).

                Miulang

                http://www.crikey.com.au/business/2004/12/30-0009.html
                "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

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                • #23
                  Re: Deadly Indian Ocean Tsunami

                  amazing. Catholic Relief Services, the relief arm of the American Catholic Church, has pledged $25 million to aid the earthquake and tsunami victims. That's only $10 million less than our government can come up with. The Catholics are obviously putting their religion aside with this gesture, because Indonesia and Sri Lanka, especially, are predominantly Muslim countries.

                  http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...atholic_relief

                  Miulang
                  "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

                  Comment


                  • #24
                    Re: Deadly Indian Ocean Tsunami

                    The U.S. boosted its monetary pledge to $35 million (in addition to military/logistical support already deployed) after the "stingy" accusation. Many are pointing out that the amount is roughly what will be spent on George W. Bush's fancy inauguration ceremony, and still not enough.

                    The Amazon.com drive has already netted $9,146,415.04. So one narrow channel of people have independently raised more than a quarter of what an entire government has pledged? I suspect Red Cross collections may have already surpassed that mark.

                    The whole tsunami aid issue has sparked a game of one-upsmanship that's pretty silly. But of all things for nations to get competitive about, I suppose this is as good a "contest" as any.

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                    • #25
                      Re: Deadly Indian Ocean Tsunami

                      American Red Cross is bumping $20M already, and not-so-curious George has now upped the US contribution to $350M.
                      http://www.linkmeister.com/wordpress/

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                      • #26
                        Re: Hawai'i and Tsunamis

                        Got this off the Kim Kommando website, it's a link to one of the most comprehensive websites devoted to the Indian Ocean earthquake. Quite impressive:

                        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_In...ean_earthquake
                        Life is what you make of it...so please read the instructions carefully.

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                        • #27
                          Re: Deadly Indian Ocean Tsunami

                          Originally posted by Linkmeister
                          American Red Cross is bumping $20M already, and not-so-curious George has now upped the US contribution to $350M.
                          I thing ol George got shamed into upping the ante because Japan pledged $500 million.

                          This morning in a TV interview Colin Powell said that wasn't the case, but watching his face tells me that something changed between Friday and today.

                          Miulang
                          "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

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                          • #28
                            Re: Deadly Indian Ocean Tsunami

                            Wow. What a PR coup. Dubya convinced his dad and Bubba to be the American face of the SE Asia Tsunami Disaster Relief efforts. They're even making condolence visits today to all the embassies of the countries affected.

                            One of the talk show people up here made an observation this morning that it made him proud to see pictures of our Navy helicopters dropping supplies to isolated villages. He, as do I, believe that these humanitarian efforts (as well as all of the cash that individual Americans are contributing) will help change the perception some of the people in those Muslim countries have of us. Which would be a welcome relief to what's going on in the Middle East where we are deliberately taking lives of innocent Muslim people. A natural disaster is a time for people everywhere to recognize that if you take away the person's language, color of skin and political belief, we are all one. A political disaster as in Iraq only shows how ideologies can get in the way of humanity.

                            Miulang
                            "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

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                            • #29
                              Re: Deadly Indian Ocean Tsunami

                              From PBN:

                              Top restaurants pitch in for Tsunami relief

                              Many of Honolulu's top restaurants have agreed to pitch in their culinary talents for a tsunami-relief fundraiser at Aloha Tower Marketplace next Monday.

                              The goal is to raise $100,000, with all proceeds going to the American Red Cross, Hawaii Chapter.

                              "After seeing the devastation and mounting mortality rates, I think we all need to contribute to this global humanitarian effort," said Chai Chaowasaree, owner and chef of Chai's Island Bistro and one of the event's organizers.

                              The fund-raiser will cost $60 per person and take place Monday, Jan. 10, at the Aloha Tower Marketplace, with food booths open from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.

                              Participating restaurants include Alan Wong's, Roy's Restaurant, 3660 on the Rise, Sansei, Mariposa, Side Street Inn, Gordon Biersch Brewery and Hy's Steak House.

                              Southern Wine & Spirits, Fine Wine Imports, Better Brand, Chambers and Chambers and Hawaiian Isle Water agreed to supply spirits for the event.

                              Island entertainers also are pitching in. Among those scheduled to play are The Brothers Cazimero, Hapa, Na Palapalai, Jake Shimabukuro and Henry Kapono.
                              Sounds like good food and entertainment. If I were in the neighborhood I'd go.
                              http://www.linkmeister.com/wordpress/

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                              • #30
                                Re: Deadly Indian Ocean Tsunami

                                Your interesting thought to ponder for today: According to various news reports, the world has thus far committed to sending a little over $2 billion to the victims of the SE Asian earthquake and tsunami. While that sum appears to be a staggering amount of money, consider that we in the US burn $180 million each and every day we are in Iraq to support our war machine. There's something perversely and grossly wrong with these priorities.

                                I think, as Colin Powell put it (and as I surmised a few days ago on this thread), sending relief money to Muslim-held countries like Indonesia and Sri Lanka will do more to stop the threat of terrorists than all the bullets and bombs we use in Iraq.

                                Miulang
                                Last edited by Miulang; January 4, 2005, 03:24 PM.
                                "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

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