Earthquake ravages Port Au Prince Haiti

[Knut]

^^ Those pictures are amazing and heart-wrenching at the same time.

Also amazing is the wide range of countries that have sent people to help out.

Russians, Chinese, Canadians, US etc etc...

[cyclone3483]

CNN posted some numbers regarding the quake (http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americ...ex.html?hpt=T1). The numbers that stood out to me were: estimated dead = 150,000-200,000.....people left homeless = 1 million.....number of aftershocks of at least 4.5 magnitude = at least 50.....number of school that have been destroyed = 90%

[troutman]

The telethon raised $57 million in the first 24 hours. It would have raised much more if not for busy phones and technical problems.

[HOOT]

Originally Posted by cyclone3483

CNN posted some numbers regarding the quake (http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americ...ex.html?hpt=T1). The numbers that stood out to me were: estimated dead = 150,000-200,000.....people left homeless = 1 million.....number of aftershocks of at least 4.5 magnitude = at least 50.....number of school that have been destroyed = 90%

I'm a stats guy but those are some pretty depressing numbers.

[Azure]

Why don't they do another telethon with different people preforming/attending?

[cyclone3483]

I said previously that Haiti was the worst place in the world to have an earthquake, and the numbers now bear that out. Since 1970, there were only two quakes larger than the Haiti quake where there was also significant loss of life: 2004 Indian Ocean (Tsunami) killed 225,000 people (9.1 magnitude) and 1976 in China where 255,000 people died (7.5 magnitude). 2010 Haiti will top 200,000 and was a 7.2. My calculations (using Richter scale measures of energy released) show that the China quake was almost twice as big as Haiti and the 2004 quake was 500 times as big. The Haiti quake was much smaller than the other two, yet killed about the same number of people. **Prior to 1970, there were earthquakes with more deaths, but there also wasn't the kind of transportation, communications, medicine and heavy equipment we have in more modern times. So I did not include prior quakes for this comparison.

[HOOT]

Cyclone have you heard from the biological mother of your children?

What about others you may know down there? Have you spoken to anyone that lived through the earthquake or went down there to help?

[cyclone3483]

No word at all from the biological mom or their three half-brothers. I have posted her on a couple search sites where you can find missing people...still no word. The only other person I have heard from is Dixie from God's Littlest Angels (orphanage in Petionville). They were all okay. One helper slightly injured and a few broken items, but otherwise unscathed. She was getting ready for an onslaught of new orphans, trying hard to get the ones she has adopted out to make room. She got on CNN (Wolf Blitzer) and made a plea directly to the Haitian Ambassador to the US to speed up the adoption process.

[cyclone3483]

Interesting read..... http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/01/...ery/index.html

[OBCT]

This is now slightly off topic, but I thought some might like to read this article:

http://www.relevantmagazine.com/life...-pat-robertson

I consider it a very good response to Pat Robertson's comments. (I briefly struggled for a sufficient adjective to describe Robertson's comments, but couldn't come up with one. I suppose "ridiculous and misplaced" might be a start.)

[cyclone3483]

As a Christian, here is my take on Robertson. Off-base. There is no way for Robertson to know the mind of God as it concerns Haiti. Not sure who he thinks he is to speak on behalf of God. Did God tell him His plans? I'm guessing not. I think He has more importantly things to do than inform a politically motivated opportunist of His plans concerning a desperately poor nation of 9m people.

[Blaster86]

Originally Posted by cyclone3483

Did God tell him His plans? I'm guessing not.

This is why Pat Robertson scares people, because he genuinely believes God did tell him.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by cyclone3483

As a Christian, here is my take on Robertson. Off-base. There is no way for Robertson to know the mind of God as it concerns Haiti. Not sure who he thinks he is to speak on behalf of God. Did God tell him His plans? I'm guessing not. I think He has more importantly things to do than inform a politically motivated opportunist of His plans concerning a desperately poor nation of 9m people.

Do events like this make you question your belief in god? He could have saved those people, but didn't.

[CaptainCrunch]

Personally it doesn't shake my faith in god. He doesn't prevent events, and he isn't there to save every individual life.

When people thank god when so called miracles save their lives, they should be thanking raw blind luck.

I have my doubts that God himself is involved in very much in terms of the universe.

If I was to think as god of anything, he's the guy that had a really big fire cracker it exploding in a big bang the universe evolved and he's watching it on his 100 billion square mile big screen T.V. for entertainment.

He's basically left all of his duties to underlings.

[Sliver]

God/Jesus have intervened in the past. It would have been pretty decent of them/him to step in here, IMO.

[FireFly]

Originally Posted by Sliver

God/Jesus have intervened in the past. It would have been pretty decent of them/him to step in here, IMO.

Perhaps more can be done in the aftermath though? I mean how many thousands of people are there now in the name of Jesus to help those people?

If God stops an earthquake before it happens... well no one would know, would they?

[HOOT]

Originally Posted by Sliver

God/Jesus have intervened in the past. It would have been pretty decent of them/him to step in here, IMO.

Really he has?

The whole god/jesus thing controlling what happens to anyone or this planet is funny to me.

[ken0042]

Before we get in too deep, let's not turn this thread into a theological debate.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by ken0042

Before we get in too deep, let's not turn this thread into a theological debate.

Fair enough.

[worth]

Haitian Aid Donors:

http://awesome.good.is/transparency/...aid/flash.html