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Indonesia quake said among most powerful
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It is said to be the strongest earthquake in 40 years and the 5th most powerful in history since 1900. The Pacific Ring of Fire is angry at something. The quake caused major tsunami all over the Indian oceans. Latest news said that over 1,000 killed in more than 5 countries. |
The Bam earthquake in Iran also happened one year ago today. Eery coincidence.
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Be safe, moe.ron
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A good friend of my mother's was to leave today for a short-term mission in Thailand. With that 8.9 on the Richtar scale, I'm hoping that she doesn't go right now!
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I've never experienced one, but we have had two close calls where school was cancelled because of tsunami warnings. Living smack dab in the Pacific Rim is scary because every time we hear of an earthquake in Alaska, Japan, or Chile, we cringe.
My pops lived in Hilo when the massive tsunami killed thousands of people in 1960. He had nightmares about it for years. I'm so sorry to hear about the devastation in Indonesia. :( |
News report states the grandson of the King of Thailand is rmissing, possibly swept out to sea in the tsunamis.
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This is the second big one on that side of the Ring of Fire.
So, where does the big one happen on OUR side of the Ring? I don't want to think about it. Tsunamis, tidal waves, whatever. I have such a fear of them. Growing up right on the Atlantic I used to have such nightmares about giant waves as a kid. I can't watch any news show about them. I can't even watch those surfing contests on ESPN. Those poor folks. :eek: |
It is so sad what happened. That is such a big quake, and those Tsunamis, I can't even imagine. Living along the ring of fire though, I try not to think about it too much. If there's a big tsunami, then Vancouver Island will break it (it did during the Alaska quake in 64). And it is inevitable there will be a big one, one day around here. But you can't spend your life thinking about that.
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How is the family moe.ron? Is everything okay? One of my dearest friends from college has family who still lives in Sri Lanka--I will call him tomorrow to check up.
As some of you know, I'm headed to Bangkok Wednesday night. I haven't heard anything to the effect of our trip being cancelled. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, however. |
It's eerie to read about this.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4125837.stm Reporters' log: Asian quake disaster Several countries around the Indian Ocean have been hit by devastating sea surges. The BBC's correspondents report from the affected areas as rescue attempts begin. Matthew Grant : Madras, India : 2007 GMT Many people were out walking or playing cricket on the beaches of Madras when the tidal wave struck. Police have recovered hundreds of bodies from the city and along the coast. Others have been washed ashore. Some were thrown into lorries while others were carried to hospital on carts or in sacks. Locals say they felt the rumble of the earthquake early this morning from its epicentre thousands of miles away in the Indian Ocean. Then, just over an hour later came what they describe as the wall of water. It slammed into the coastline. It's now dark in Madras and most of the water's gone back out to sea but along the coast there's still signs of devastation. Many of the roads there are closed and strewn with debris. Some of the shanty towns by the beaches are completely destroyed and out to see hundreds of fishermen are still believed to be missing. Kylie Morris : Phuket, Thailand : 1635 GMT I've just arrived at Phuket's airport where there are chaotic scenes. Hundreds of tourists are trying to leave. Many British people on group holidays are desperate to get off the island and back to Bangkok. Many individual stories of bravery and terror are emerging. One man told me he had tried and failed to resuscitate a young Thai boy. I just met a couple at the airport who were leaving without their passport, without any of their belongings. They had been swept from their hotel room after being given five minutes warning to get out. They couldn't get out in time. The husband tried to hold onto his wife as long as he possibly could. She was swept away. He caught up with her again, but he burnt his hands when he grabbed hold of electrical wires to try and brace himself against the waters. Sanjeev Srivastava : Delhi, India : 1615GMT There was no warning at all, which makes this tragedy unexplainable in the eyes of many people. This part of the country is used to cyclones. There are a substantial number of people killed every year because of these. Either because they can't move in time, or they are too poor to move. But this tragedy has not differentiated between the rich and poor. In some cases the more well-to-do have suffered more as they were on the beaches, or travelling as tourists. Rachel Harvey : Jakarta, Indonesia : 1510 GMT We've now had a sudden leap in the official casualty figures, which now stand at 1,847 people dead. The worst affected part of Indonesia is Aceh, a province which has been sealed off for the last 18 months because of an ongoing conflict between the government and separatist rebels. But it now seems clear that they're going to have to open up this province in order to allow the relief effort in. Gina Wilkinson : Colombo, Sri Lanka : 1430 GMT In the district of Trincomalee on the east coast, military officials say tsunami waves swept more than two kilometres inland washing away entire villages. The injured are being moved inland amid fears of more tsunamis. President Chandrika Kumaratunga has declared a state of national disaster and is appealing for help from the international community. Sanjeev Srivastava : Delhi, India : 1325 GMT A number of cities have been badly hit. One is the town of Velakanni, a small fishing village in Tamil Nadu which is also a pilgrim town. It is famous for its church. A number of pilgrims were taking a bath in the holy waters there. 400 or maybe 500 of them have drowned in those waters. But the numbers are pure guesswork at the moment. Andrew Harding : Singapore : 1255 GMT Some felt the quake first, others saw the sea sucked away from beaches only to return minutes later as a wall of water up to 30 feet high. The tsunamis have left a ring of devastation around the Indian Ocean, giant ripples travelling at the speed of a jet. There have been more aftershocks but none as big as the original quake. The focus now is on searching for survivors and for bodies, and waiting to see if thousands of fishing boats will ever come home. Navdip Dhariwal : Delhi, India : 1215 GMT The state of Tamil Nadu has been worst hit after tidal waves lashed the south-eastern coast line. Crashing waves rising almost two feet have trapped 500 tourists on a Rock memorial and a nuclear reactor has been forced to close down. The Indian prime minister has put the Army, Navy and Air Force on full alert. Gina Wilkinson : Colombo, Sri Lanka : 1120 GMT A military spokesman says damage from the tsunami wave stretches all the way from Jaffna in the north of Sri Lanka to the popular beaches in the south. More than ten thousand military personnel, backed by naval vessels and helicopters are combing the coastline searching for survivors and pulling bodies from the sea. In the district of Trincolome on the east coast officials say massive waves have dislodged landmines laid during the country's civil war hampering rescue efforts. In the southern town of Maderapu police say more than 100 people died when a tsunami hit a weekend market, washing shoppers and vehicles out to sea. There's also been extensive damage at a string of tourist resorts on the south coast packed with local and foreign holidaymakers. Officials say they expect the death toll to rise, communications problems in some parts of the island are slowing efforts to assess the full scope of the disaster. Sampath Kumar : Madras, India : 1115 GMT Madras has one of the most beautiful beaches in India, stretching more than seven kilometres. Being a Sunday, many people were jogging, walking and exercising on the beach, while some were in the swimming. All of a sudden, huge columns of water surged towards the land without any warning. Most of the people were caught unawares and had to run for their lives. Eyewitnesses say that it appeared as though the entire sea was rushing towards them. The water rose to nearly 200 feet. Fishermen living by the water say enormous columns of water swept their huts, boats and fishing nets. Most of the dead are from fishermen and the worst affected area is in the heart of the city. Matthew Grant : Calcutta, India : 0845 GMT The police chief in Madras, the capital of Tamil Nadu, said at least 100 bodies had been recovered from beaches in the city. Most of them were women and children. Another hundred people are believed to have lost their lives as a result of the tsunami elsewhere in the state. The impact of the quake was felt right along India's southern and eastern coasts. Many villages have been evacuated and fishermen have been warned not to venture into the sea. Kylie Morris : Bangkok, Thailand : 0800 GMT The worst hit area is the holiday coast of southern and eastern Sri Lanka where the national disaster management centre says five hundred people are feared dead. In southern India officials say hundreds of fishermen are missing. Rescue workers in Thailand say tourists in the resort of Phuket who had begun their Boxing Day with a morning swim were swept out to sea by the surging, towering waves. In Indonesia, the troubled province of Aceh, in northern Sumatra, was closest to the epicentre of the earthquake where a local mayor said more than sixty people had drowned and hundreds of houses were swept away. Roland Buerk : Moratuwa, Sri Lanka: 0750 GMT The tidal wave struck without warning. A surge of water swept through beachfront hotels. There were loud crashes as buildings collapsed. Everything, cars, tables, refrigerators and people were swept along by the current. I grabbed hold of a tree. When that came down I was swimming for my life until I managed to get hold of a pillar. The waters here have now begun to recede slowly. They are leaving behind widespread devastation. People are digging through the ruins looking for loved ones. Bodies are being pulled out and many of the survivors are wandering around in shock. Here, at least, rescuers are yet to arrive. |
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I also will be leaving for Seoul Wednesday morning, then proceed to Jakarta on Thursday. God Bless. :( |
The death toll is up to 12,000, and the earthquake was measured at 9.0.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/27/in...a/27quake.html Take care, all. :( |
Oh my God...this is unbelievable....
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The death toll is up to 23,000 and there is a big fear of aftershocks, with a quake that measured 9.0 the aftershocks have a liklyhood of being in the 5-7 range, thats a pretty big quake, and could make more tidal waves.
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I personally don't think that I would WANT to be over there. If you do end up going, i second whoever said stay in contact with the US Embassy. Death toll is up to 23,000 now... it's incredible |
Folks, be aware the Richter scale of earthquake magnitude is an open-ended scale, and the final number will probably be tweaked in a few days or weeks after all seismographic data has been received and compared.
Richter magnitudes vary based on the location of the epicenter. Example: locally the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989 was measured at 7.1, where another measurement clocked it at 6.9. Map of the affected area of the earthquake: http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/bulletin/neic_slav_fig72.jpg Epicenter and initial recorded shock shown by star. Major aftershocks in circles. USGS info page: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqinthenews/2004/usslav/ |
Wow. This is really horrible.
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I'm not worried so much anymore...I'm still really excited about going. I have enough family members who work at the State Department that I would have known right away whether or not it was safe. |
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This disaster is so horrible. I don't have the words to convey what I am thinking and feeling. |
I've been keeping up with the news coming in and it's disastrous.
With all these images coming in, y'all don't even know--I'm in FEAR. Call me crazy if you want, but you can do so with the comfort of knowing you'll never be hit by one because you're inland. Yesterday, I looked through the white pages to educate myself on where my house is at should a tsunami hit Oahu and my house lies in an evacuation zone. I didn't even know. I thought we were too far inland, but I guess not. The maps showed us where the nearest evacuation shelter was, and I made sure my mom and the rest of my family members know where to go and what to do. I know that there's sophisticated instruments to let us know in advance if a tsunami is headed our way, but you never know. It's happened twice already to the Islands, and it could surely happen all over again. With the Pac Rim being so unstable, you never know what can happen. Lord help us if devastation like that happens all over again. |
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Dude man, this shit sucks. I know that stuff like this hits immigrant communities hard. When the earthquakes happened in Iran and Afghanistan, there was a ton of aid being organized in every immigrant business. From what I hear is happening in Queens, it's no different now.
Also the area is pretty international so there are citizens from a lot of countries that vacation there. Aid is pouring in from tons of countries and there are teams being sent there from a lot of countries to help out. Shows you that in our digital world where we try and control so much, we have control over nothing when it comes down to it. I hope the aftershocks are minimal if any and the world can help the victim countries cope. -Rudey |
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Death Toll in Indonesia alone could raise to over 20,000. Would bring total death toll to over 40,000.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4129233.stm |
Ironically, many of the tourists in Phuket went there instead of Bali because they fear terrorism. Just tell you that when it's time to go, it's time to go.
Also tells you that you should go where you want to go and enjoy life. You never know if a bomb could happen, your plane crash, a tsunami hit you, or you get run over by a bus. |
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Over 40,000 reported dead by mid morning Tuesday.
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ld - AP Asia
Swedish 2-Year-Old Reunited With Uncle Tue Dec 28, 6:35 AM ET _World - AP Asia By RUNGRAWEE C. PINYORAT, Associated Press Writer BANGKOK, Thailand - A blond two-year-old found sitting alone on a road in Thailand who was taken to a hospital was reunited with his uncle, who saw the boy's picture on the hospital's Web site. AP Photo Swedish 2-Year-Old Reunited With Uncle (AP Video) _ Dozens of parents desperate to find their own missing children after massive tidal waves battered southern Thailand had visited the hospital in hopes that Hannes Bergstroem was their child. A man who identified himself only as Jim said Tuesday that the child was his nephew. "When I saw Hannes on the Internet, I booked an air ticket to come here in less than five hours," said a man who identified himself only as Jim. "This is a miracle, the biggest thing that could happen." Jim arrived at Phuket International Hospital from Chonburi late Monday night from the city of Chonburi. He said five relatives from Goteborg, Sweden, were on a monthlong vacation in Thailand when the waters struck. Hannes' mother and grandmother were missing; his father and grandfather were in another hospital, the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet reported. Hospital staff and The Phuket Gazette put pictures of Hannes — whose cheeks are dotted red from mosquito bites — on the hospital Web site. The staff said he was found sitting on a road not far from the town of Khao Lak. "He looked bleak when he arrived at the hospital on Sunday night with some surface wounds on his face and body," said Vilad Mumbansao, a hospital staff member. The boy babbled but the staff couldn't make out the language he was speaking. They thought he could be Swedish "because he was enthusiastic when a man spoke Swedish to him," said Vilad. Hospital officials said Tuesday they also were looking for Norbert and Edeltraud Michl, parents of a 10-year-old German girl, Sophia Michl, who they were caring for. She has cuts and bruises on her face. It's feared that many children may have become orphans because of the disaster. Shantha Bloemen, a communication officer for the U.N. children's agency in Bangkok, said they were planning to sending a team to the south on Wednesday to determine survivor's needs. "The tragedy is going to be twofold," she said. "There's going to be foreign nationals that are in this situation because a lot of people were family on family holidays, and then of course, for the Thai communities in these areas as well." "It's just a devastating loss," she added. ___ On the Net: Phuket International Hospital, children's photo: http://www.phuket-inter-hospital.co.th/boy.htm -Rudey |
World's biggest aid operation for devastated Asian countries
2 hours, 7 minutes ago _Science - AFP GENEVA (AFP) - The world's biggest-ever aid operation got into gear to help Asian countries stricken by tsunamis that smashed coastal towns and left misery and the risk of disease in their wake. AFP Photo AP Photo Slideshow: Indonesia Quake Sparks Fatal Tidal Waves Surf in Secret Cover your tracks while online by knowing how 'they' watch you, and by keeping email private. _ Foreign doctors and relief workers faced vast devastation, with the latest death tolls across the region totalling more than 55,000. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies appealed for 44 million dollars in immediate aid for victims. "We face a huge challenge due to the vast area affected," Markku Niskala, secretary general of the organisation, said in Geneva, adding: "We haven't even seen the tip of the iceberg yet." The UNHCR said the situation was "so enormous and shocking" that it opened stockpiles of shelters, matting, clothing and cooking materials in Sri Lanka, where nearly 18,000 were killed and 200,000 were homeless. "Our supplies are usually for displaced people, but this is an emergency and the local population needs help right now," UN High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers said in Geneva. Aid planes from China, Denmark, France, India and Russia delivered tonnes of humanitarian relief and medical staff to the island state. In nearby India, where more than 8,500 were known to have died, the local Red Cross issued an appeal for food, clothes, tarpaulins and kitchen utensils, while the government authorised immediate spending worth 114 million dollars. Aid workers warned of a health crisis as Indian camps became overpacked with people in need of food, water and shelter and diarrhoeal disease started to spread. A UNICEF (news - web sites) official inspecting the situation in southern India, Lizette Burgers, said: "Getting clean water to people in the camps is critical at this point to head off the spread of disease." Other countries struggling with smashed infrastructure and desperate populations were Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. Indonesia said its death toll was more than 27,000 -- the worst of any of the countries hit. Remote areas there, particularly the Aceh region closest to the undersea quake that triggered the tsunamis, were in danger of suffering further deaths if aid was not delivered within days. "We can assume after a tidal wave of that kind that dengue fever and diarrhoea will spread," said Hadi Kuswoyo of the International Federation of the Red Cross in Jakarta. At UN headquarters in New York, Jan Egeland, the UN undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs, told reporters that relief operations would be the biggest in history. "There are thousands of dead people, and there are tens of thousands of dead animals. The people should be buried and the animals should be destroyed and disposed of before they infect the drinking water. It's a massive operation," he said. Asian countries that escaped the tsunami disaster were quick to provide aid. Japan provided 40 million dollars for emergency food, medicine and shelter while Singapore and the Philippines dispatched medical teams to Thailand and Indonesia. China provided 2.6 million dollars in aid for India, Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. _ The Asian Development Bank said it had offered immediate assistance to several of the countries ravaged. ADB president Tadao Chino said: "What is clear is that this is a massive tragedy that has exacted a terrible human cost." A Hong Kong telephone tycoon, Li Ka-shing, pledged three million US dollars towards aid for victims and rebuilding because he was "saddened by the huge suffering caused by the disaster." Two Australian aircraft loaded with aid and medical teams arrived in Indonesia, with another two scheduled to follow Wednesday. An aircraft from Australian domestic airline Virgin Blue was due to fly to the Thailand's badly damaged resort island of Phuket, where some of the estimated 7,000 Australians on vacation there were listed as missing. European states rushed aid to the region as soon as the scale of the disaster became known, and several announced increases to aid money. France's foreign minister, Michel Barnier, was on one of four aid flights sent from Paris. They were headed to Sri Lanka and Thailand with tonnes of relief supplies, medical teams and rescue specialists. Germany also dispatched teams of relief experts to Sri Lanka and Thailand, donated two million euros (three million dollars) of emergency aid to the countries affected and promised long-term reconstruction assistance. A plane from Britain carrying tents and plastic sheets was additionally headed for Colombo. Another three were on their way to Sri Lanka and Indonesia from Belgium. Those and other European countries contributed to an EU pledge of emergency aid. The bloc has already released three million euros and on Tuesday announced it would bring further aid to 50 million euros. The European Commission (news - web sites) suggested an international donors' conference to coordinate efforts. "The problem is not the funding, the funding will be there. The real problem will be how to spend it in the best way possible," EU aid commissioner Louis Michel said. In Washington, the US government pledged nearly 15 million dollars in immediate aid and promised more to come. US Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) said President George W. Bush (news - web sites) had written to the heads of state of the affected countries "to extend his deepest condolences to the families of those that were lost." Canada pledged additional funds, bringing its total assistance to 3.2 million US dollars. In addition to government efforts, non-governmental organizations and private firms in many countries were launching urgent appeals for funds from the public. -Rudey |
50,000 by mid afternoon. Nearly as many in one day as in the Vietnam War -- at least our part of it.
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this is so sad!
moe.ron i'm glad to hear your family's ok. on a sad note, a childhood friend of mine moved to thailand as a christian missionary a few years ago - her family hasn't heard from her yet. i don't know if anyone is interested, but if you would like to send a donation to the red cross their information is: American Red Cross International Relief Fund P.O. Box 37243 Washington D.C. 20013 (800) 435-7669 please put "Tsunami Relief" in the note section of your checks, if you want your donation to specifically go to this cause. if you live outside the U.S. i'm sure that the red cross is listed in your phone book, or you can call the operator to get a local number to reach them for their information. let's all pray that this is the worst of it all, and that these countries will be able to recover from all of this! ~beth |
This isht is scary. Apparently the water level rose 4 inches in Alaska after the earthquake - says the Anchorage Daily News. http://www.adn.com/front/story/5954343p-5860104c.html
For Alaskans that lived through the '64 Good Friday earthquake (9.2 on the richter scale for 5 minutes straight), the reports of this brought back memories. My mom was kind of freaking out remembering everything in an e-mail she sent me yesterday. :( I'm keeping the victims in my prayers. |
NEW YORK (SI.com) -- Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover model Petra Nemcova was injured and her photographer boyfriend is missing after the pair were caught up in the Asian tsunami disaster.
Nemcova told the New York Daily News that she survived the tsunami, which has killed at least 33,000 people, by clinging to a palm tree for eight hours, despite a broken pelvis and internal injuries. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...x.html?cnn=yes |
How to help:
ACTION AGAINST HUNGER 247 West 37th Street, Suite 1201 New York, N.Y. 10018 212-967-7800 x108 www.actionagainsthunger.org AMERICAN JEWISH WORLD SERVICE 45 West 36th Street, 10th Floor New York, N.Y. 10018 800-889-7146 www.ajws.org AMERICAN JEWISH JOINT DISTRIBUTION COMMITTEE South Asia Tsunami Relief Box 321 847A Second Avenue New York, N.Y. 10017 212-687-6200 ext. 851 www.jdc.org AMERICAN FRIENDS SERVICE COMMITTEE AFSC Crisis Fund 1501 Cherry Street Philadelphia, Pa. 19102 215-241-7000 www.afsc.org AMERICAN RED CROSS International Response Fund P.O. Box 37243 Washington, D.C. 20013 800-HELP NOW www.redcross.org CARE 151 Ellis Street Atlanta, GA 30303 800-521-CARE www.care.org CATHOLIC RELIEF SERVICES Tsunami Emergency P.O. Box 17090 Baltimore, Md. 21203-7090 800-736-3467 www.catholicrelief.org DIRECT RELIEF INTERNATIONAL 27 South La Patera Lane Santa Barbara, Calif. 93117 805-964-4767 www.directrelief.org DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS P.O. Box 1856 Merrifield, Va. 22116-8056 888-392-0392 www.doctorswithoutborders.org EPISCOPAL RELIEF AND DEVELOPMENT Emergency Fund P. O. Box 12043 Newark, NJ 07101 800-334-7626 www.er-d.org INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF RED CROSS/RED CRESCENT www.ifrc.org INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL CORPS Earthquake/Tsunami Relief 1919 Santa Monica Boulevard, Suite 300 Santa Monica, Calif. 90404 800-481-4462 www.imcworldwide.org INTERNATIONAL ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN CHARITIES Asia Disaster Response P.O. Box 630225 Baltimore, MD 21263-0225 877-803-4622 www.iocc.org ISLAMIC RELIEF USA Southeast Asia Earthquake Emergency P.O. Box 6098 Burbank, Calif. 91510 888-479-4968 www.irw.org/asiaquake MERCY CORPS Southeast Asia Earthquake Response Dept. W P.O. Box 2669 Portland, Ore. 97208 800-852-2100 www.mercycorps.org OPERATION USA 8320 Melrose Avenue, Suite 200 Los Angles, Calif. 90069 800-678-7255 www.opusa.org OXFAM AMERICA Donor Services Department 26 West Street Boston, MA 12111-1206 800-77-OXFAM www.oxfamamerica.org SAVE THE CHILDREN Asia Earthquake/Tidal Wave Relief Fund 54 Wilton Road Westport, Conn. 06880 800-728-3843 www.savethechildren.org UNICEF General Emergency Fund 333 E. 38th Street New York, NY 10016 800-4-UNICEF www.unicef.org |
Casualties reached over 76,000. :(
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I wonder if Aceh will use this to their advantage to gain freedom from Indonesia. They've been fighting for freedom for 28 years, Indonesia has killed over ten thousand people living in Aceh.
Until the tsunami hit there was a ban on foreign media and forign aid agencies/workers in the region. Maybe Indonesia will just accept the aid, withhold it from those in need in Aceh and let starvation/disease wipe out more people so that they can keep the area under control. |
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this is just unreal. unreal
should i be wearing my "end of times" sign, b/c my God. this is just so sad and so scary.....and i just can't really even get my mind around it. prayers to all of these families. :( |
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