Earthquake in Sumatra Worst in 40 Years

What saddens me is that only 25 people have responded in this thread....

I have some friends from Thailand, fortunately they and their families are alright.

This is awful.

I have been to Thailand (actually I was born there, though I have been back since then) and I know of the island -- Phi Phi -- that was destroyed .... it's very strange to think that it's not there anymore. The buildings are collapsed. Most likely I spoke with many people who are dead now.

I wish I could do something other than donate; I don't have a lot of extra cash

At the risk of sounding crass, this reminds me of a quote I heard refering to another disaster:


The unfairness of it all disturbs me almost as much as the tragedy itself. 50,000+ people?!
And with those kind of numbers it's inevitable that thre were a huge number of individuals who were kinder, smarter, more loving, more generous, more responsible...etc than myself or anyone I know. Yet they get killed and I'm still here, goofing around on my computer. What's up with that?
Intellectually I know that being a disaster victim has nothing to do with what kind of person you are, but the irony still bothers me

I know. We're sitting here, Americans, Europeans, in our warm homes -- we get into our warm cars and drive to our work, which usually has a heater, so that's warm too -- then we get back into our car and buy clean fresh vegetables -- and french fries -- and BOTTLED WATER -- and go back home, plug in our cell phones so they don't lose battery power, and vote for the next American Idol.

The people in these countries have enough to deal with as it is -- it's horrible. Not to say that it should have happened to us. But why doesn't it?

I think that there are a few reasons:

1) They are in a part of the world where there is more geological activity. (Though I'm told that the Atlantic Sea Board and the UK coast could be seriously hit if the volcano in the Canary Islands ever erupts.)

2) We have a system that can predict Tsunamis (not a perfect one) but one nevertheless. In fact, NOAA tried to notify Indonesian authorities that they detected activity predicating a Tsunami and could not find the proper person to report it to. I suspect that after this tragedy that this will not happen again.

3. The area where this happened is more populated and devoid of a lot of it's orginal coastal vegatation which would have slowed the Tsunami force somewhat.

4. The area where this happened (probably) did not have building codes that would withstand such force (nor do we in certain coastal areas, but in others we do). Again, this is something that, when they begin to rebuild, I hope will be addressed.

In 1964 following a 9.something earthquake in Alaska the Western sea coast and Hawaii were hit with a Tsunami and in fact I think about 100+ people were killed (by the Tsunami alone). One of the saving graces was that the coast line was still wild and for the most part undeveloped. Natural vegatation helped break the force of the tsunami.

Interestingly, my grandfather took me to the top of the hill and we watched the Tsunami come in and it is something that to this day I can close my eyes and still see vividly. In fact, I still dream about it on occasion. I've been in tornado's, hurricanes and earthquakes but none of them had the impact on me that seeing a Tsunami did.

First the water got like high tide but very high, sort of up to the pier. Then it went way, way out and you could even see fish exposed in some places flopping around. The it began to come in and just looked like this huge wall. It broke the pier into about a hundred little tooth pics and actually moved stores that sat along the beach back like a bulldozer before busting them up.

My heart so goes out to those people who have lost their parents, children, spouses and friends. Unfortunately, these people were not warned and had no idea that the day held anything in store except more sun.

I can only hope that we make the Tsunami warning system global. It won't help them, but it might help people in the future.

I won't be in world until very late, so I wanted to post a JPG poster that I was working on for my own lot. You can use the image to create a billboard or poster on your land. I would recommend that you add a notecard-giver script, and insert support-related info and links into the notecard.

I've heard that an instant low tide is a big red flag that a tsunami is on the way. Unfortunatly, the novelty of the low water line attracts people to go towards the ocean to inspect the stranded fish and exposed ocean floor.

How to help - links to organizations providing aid to tsunami victims:

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/12/28/tsunami.aidsites/index.html

I am sorry, but i can't help to notice the bitter irony in your signature, Rose...

"Most people would die sooner than think; in fact, they do. - Bertrand Russell"

Anyways, i am not sure that a warning could have been enough with such a powerful tsunami... I read that some islands were completely covered by water...
Well, the count of victims is simply overhelming, but i think that even a single more life saved would have been worth every effort.

Paris and I just gave to International Rescue Committee. They are a wonderful agency with a very good reputation.

I am simply blown away after reading this thread in it's entirety.

Death count is up over 100,000 now.