Earthquake

[Tron_fdc]

Originally posted by RougeUnderoos+Dec 30 2004, 04:33 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (RougeUnderoos @ Dec 30 2004, 04:33 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-Tron_fdc@Dec 29 2004, 07:34 PM
On Monday, Jan Egeland, U.N. undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief, criticized the world's "rich countries," saying, in general, that the amount of foreign aid they gave was "stingy."

That could have something to do with the sudden turnaround from the Cdn. government. I thought 4 million was pretty stingy as well, considering the amount of money they habitually toss around on golf courses and ad agencies....

Also interesting to note the US has kicked in 35 million.....and an aircraft carrier.

CNN Link

I'm not about to defend the Canadian government for much, but look at the beginning of this thread. The first post from fotze has 150 people dead and look how rapidly things changed. By nighttime boxing day they had estimates that were a fraction of what they would be the next day and again the next day and then again today. [/b][/quote]
I believe the count was around 20,000 plus when they announced the first 3 million in aid. I'm assuming your 150 is a typo, as the first count was 4500 or thereabouts.

Symantics, really. All I'm saying is the 3 million, or the increased 4 million was a little stingy at the time. In a situation like this I'm more than willing to kick in whatever it takes financially to help out, whether it be 30 million or 100. My opinion.

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally posted by Tron_fdc+Dec 29 2004, 10:27 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Tron_fdc @ Dec 29 2004, 10:27 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>

I'm not about to defend the Canadian government for much, but look at the beginning of this thread. The first post from fotze has 150 people dead and look how rapidly things changed. By nighttime boxing day they had estimates that were a fraction of what they would be the next day and again the next day and then again today.

I believe the count was around 20,000 plus when they announced the first 3 million in aid. I'm assuming your 150 is a typo, as the first count was 4500 or thereabouts.

Symantics, really. All I'm saying is the 3 million, or the increased 4 million was a little stingy at the time. In a situation like this I'm more than willing to kick in whatever it takes financially to help out, whether it be 30 million or 100. My opinion. [/b][/quote]
I don't know what the original number was but it was pretty low. Fotze cut and pasted 150 from somewhere and then a few of us made wisecracks about the situation because while it sounded bad it still sounded "minor". The first news reports I heard were definitely less than 500 and warranted not much of a mention, callous as that may sound.

Point is they offered 4 million when they didn't really know and then when it started to become apparent that this was not your everyday flood the number increased X 10.

I agree with your opinion to "kick in whatever it takes" but still I don't think it's realistic to think they are going to kick-in 40 or 100 million dollars on what originally looked like your run of the mill calamity that killed a "few" people.

On a related note I saw a story on CNN today about "the politics of aid" and how the Yanks are sort of stuck between a rock and a hard place on this kind of thing. Donate a XX dollars and some will say it's not enough, others will say it's not true, someone else will say it's a christian conspiracy and still another bunch will accuse them of playing favorites with the dollars.

Another story was about how Israel has already sent a lot of aid but some ######ed religious bureaucrat said no to Israelis on the ground cleaning water and doing humanitarian work, but they took the supplies though. That's just great!

Call me crazy, but I think the starving/thirsty people that have lost their family members, homes and livelihoods are ignoring the dumb old religious differences and they'd be willing to accept a meal or a bottle of water from just about anyone right now.

[KevanGuy]

Originally posted by MrMastodonFarm+Dec 29 2004, 10:20 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (MrMastodonFarm @ Dec 29 2004, 10:20 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-fotze@Dec 29 2004, 10:36 AM
Did you guys read that story in the herald of the 7 year old swedish kid whose parents and brothers are probably dead.
]

Missing Parents & 2 Brothers# # Karl Nilsson

One of the saddest images I have ever seen. [/b][/quote]
There is another story about a Swedish kid around 3 or 4. I saw it on the news I believe. His parents were lost in the wave and he survived. His picture was posted on the net and some relatives saw it and came and got him. The whole thing is totally unreal.

[KevanGuy]

Originally posted by ???@Dec 29 2004, 03:25 PM
cnn just reported a 5.7 after shock off samatra{sp} this thing just wont end.

Below is a list of aftershocks (the original quake is at the bottom of the list) that occured within 24 hours of the big one. It's amazing to think that almost any of those individual quakes could have been NEWS-worthy in and of themselves.

12/27 5.9 NORTHERN SUMATRA, INDONESIA
12/27 6.3 NORTHERN SUMATRA, INDONESIA
12/27 5.4 OFF W COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATRA
12/27 6.1 ANDAMAN ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
12/27 6.0 NORTHERN SUMATRA, INDONESIA
12/26 5.8 MINDANAO, PHILIPPINES
12/26 6.2 OFF W COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATRA
12/26 5.6 OFF W COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATRA
12/26 5.6 NICOBAR ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
12/26 5.7 OFF W COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATRA
12/26 5.9 ANDAMAN ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
12/26 5.9 OFF W COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATRA
12/26 5.5 ANDAMAN ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
12/26 5.4 ANDAMAN ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
12/26 6.3 ANDAMAN ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
12/26 6.2 ANDAMAN ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
12/26 5.5 NICOBAR ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
12/26 6.5 NICOBAR ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
12/26 5.8 ANDAMAN ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
12/26 5.7 ANDAMAN ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
12/26 5.7 ANDAMAN ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
12/26 7.3 NICOBAR ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
12/26 6.1 ANDAMAN ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
12/26 5.9 OFF W COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATRA
12/26 6.0 ANDAMAN ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
12/26 5.8 ANDAMAN ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
12/26 5.8 OFF W COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATRA
12/26 5.9 NICOBAR ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
12/26 5.8 ANDAMAN ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
12/26 5.8 NORTHERN SUMATRA, INDONESIA
12/26 9.0 OFF THE WEST COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATRA

[KevanGuy]

Originally posted by wittynickname+Dec 29 2004, 09:57 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (wittynickname @ Dec 29 2004, 09:57 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-Tron_fdc@Dec 29 2004, 10:51 PM
There are a few other interesting links, such as the one telling how they have yet to find any dead animals....

I've been a weather/geology geek since I was old enough to read, and I remember a book that mentioned animals having a sense about things like this. If your pets ever start acting crazy for no reason at all, trying to get out of the house...pay attention to them. A lot of times, shortly before an earthquake, animals will start acting very strange. It could explain why no dead animals have been found, they may have all been moving from the area before the earthquake itself, which would give them plenty of time to get away from the tsunamis that ensued. [/b][/quote]
OK, last link for the night.

There was a thread about this on FARK (sorry to link to another board but FARK is its own thing).

Read down about 25 posts for a first-hand account of the tsunami. It is worth the read.

http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comm...IDLink=1282195

[Flame On]

So finally our friend makes contact with us, even though she was in Singapore we thoguht she might have gone off on some trip around the area. Not until a consulate person gets hold of her; on our behalf, does she decide to write and then gets in digs at me for worrying! Stupid dancer

[Neeper]

Death Toll hits 116,000 now

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/12/3...uake/index.html

I also read on a website that a Calgary family was looking for their lost loved ones too. It was site where you could post names of people you are looking for. Horrible.

[calf]

The corporate community is kicking in a bunch of cash...Bill Gates leading the way with a $3 million donation. In Canada, from what I saw on CBC, the big banks have led the way, as well as Sun Life Financial, ITravel2000, and Best Buy


Alberta government kicking in $5 million http://calgary.cbc.ca/regionalnews/caches/...ef20041230.html

...saw somewhere BC kicked in $8 million

[Flames89]

Well finally received the word on what happened to my Mom on the 26th of December. Here is her (edited very slightly for personal and old-person-computer-illiteratecy reasons) email:

"Hello all....we are OK. We are now in Colombo..with access to email...we just arrived yesterday (27th) a full 24 hours late. We were on the plane at the gate all ready to leave for Colombo -they had not closed the door but were making announcements(Dec. 26)

At the terminal we had known from BBC newsworld that there had been an earthquake near Sumatra. I was next to the window when suddenly a big wave came in from the ocean - Male has only one runway and in
essence is a small island surrounded by water.

People were running all over and the water submerged the runway with water and tons of debris..dozens of large oil drums and other stuff. dozens of people running around.

After about half an hour the water receded but the runway was a mess. The pilot told us about the tsunami and eventually we were offloaded the plane. Cell phones were not working-all communications were cut off;however in the terminal they had BBC Newsworld and we quickly learned of the devastation of the tidal waves throughout the region <editors note: if only they really new at that time!>. We also learned that Male(capital of Maldives) which is an island on its own was 2/3 flooded. To get to the airport you had to take a ferry boat.

Our plane did not leave until the next morning around the same time we were to leave 24 hours earlier. As we took off we noticed the sea wall that protected the runway was completely smashed and the runway had alot of sand and salt on it-abit un-nerving. We are very lucky that we were not taking off as the big wave hit....

We are now in Colombo and the hotel is bustling with people - we saw Red Cross at the airport. We have been told by the tour operator that we will head out on our tour tomorrow (Dec 29) but we will avoid the worst hit areas."


Scary stuff, very good timing for them. They are still over there and fine. However, I do not think they even have a clue how bad it is.

[Daradon]

Glad to hear she is doing ok!

[Cowperson]

A remarkable photo on the front page of Boston.com - the Boston Globe site - right now if you hurry.

Eye-level shot of tourists in the water as the first Tsunami wave bears down on them. You can see how the water had been sucked back, leaving them high and dry, and then the giant wave coming at them.

http://www.boston.com/

Cowperson

[transplant99]

Death toll now at an incomprehensible 135,000 and climbing.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/12/3...uake/index.html

From various reports there are entire areas that are inpenetrable by anything but air, and after flying over many of them, there is simply nothing left of the majority of them.

Predictions are that as many as 300,000 may be the final total. Simply staggering as well as unbelievable.

[Cowperson]

Originally posted by transplant99@Dec 31 2004, 04:13 PM
Death toll now at an incomprehensible 135,000 and climbing.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/12/3...uake/index.html

From various reports there are entire areas that are inpenetrable by anything but air, and after flying over many of them, there is simply nothing left of the majority of them.

Predictions are that as many as 300,000 may be the final total. Simply staggering as well as unbelievable.

Wasn't the death toll from a Typhoon in Bangladesh about 135,000 about three years ago?

Cowperson

[jam26]

Originally posted by Flames89@Dec 31 2004, 08:44 AM
However, I do not think they even have a clue how bad it is.

My cousin in Thailand had yet to grasp how bad it was as of a couple days ago. He was in an unaffected area and it took days for him to get his hands on a newspaper. Meanwhile, he was hearing very little news of the events except for what he was receiving through emails from home. It sounds like he felt it was a fairly localized event.
He is still visiting beaches and continuing his travels in Thailand. Makes me wonder if surviving tourists there are being sheltered from the news.

[Shawnski]

Originally posted by Cowperson@Dec 31 2004, 11:06 AM
Wasn't the death toll from a Typhoon in Bangladesh about 135,000 about three years ago?

Cowperson

November 13, 1970 - a Massive Typhoon his Bangladesh. A colossal 20-foot tidal wave strikes the shores of the Ganges Delta on November 13, 1970, wreaking lethal damage on the people of East Pakistan. A 120-mile per hour cyclone spurred the tidal wave that washed over 100 islands near the coast. The island of Bolla took the brunt of the storm with an estimated 100,000 dead. An estimated total of 150,000 dead makes this the century's largest disaster by water.

Link

According to this site, however, Worst death cases the total for the 1970 typhoon was 1,000,000, as referenced in Guiness 1974 edition. From what I can find, the number varies widely for that one, anywhere from 150,000 to 1,000,000.

There was another typhoon in Bangladesh in April of 1991 that killed an estimated 138,000.

Here is a link to all major storms in the 1900's.... Mother Nature's Wrath

Poor folks in Bangledesh have been hit by the three worst storms (up to this tsunami) November 1970, April 1991 and June 1991.

[Cowperson]

Originally posted by jam26+Dec 31 2004, 07:00 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (jam26 @ Dec 31 2004, 07:00 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-Flames89@Dec 31 2004, 08:44 AM
However, I do not think they even have a clue how bad it is.

My cousin in Thailand had yet to grasp how bad it was as of a couple days ago. He was in an unaffected area and it took days for him to get his hands on a newspaper. Meanwhile, he was hearing very little news of the events except for what he was receiving through emails from home. It sounds like he felt it was a fairly localized event.
He is still visiting beaches and continuing his travels in Thailand. Makes me wonder if surviving tourists there are being sheltered from the news. [/b][/quote]
If you're not within a kilometre of a coast, why would it "look" any different than normal?

On another front, I found this interesting, buried deep in a National Post story, the religious reward/punishment mechanism coming into play to reinforce its hold on people in the most dire of circumstances.

In Banda Aceh, on Sumatra island's devastated northwestern coast, Muslims held traditional Friday prayers at a 390-year-old mosque amid the stench of death from thousands of bodies.

"Allah still loves us, but he is testing us," cleric Ali told thousands of worshippers at the Jamii Lungbato mosque. "This is also a warning. We have become arrogant and strayed too far from his teachings."

http://www.canada.com/national/story.html?...ce-8cffba2cf4f0

Cowperson

[KevanGuy]

Originally posted by Cowperson@Dec 31 2004, 08:27 AM
A remarkable photo on the front page of Boston.com - the Boston Globe site - right now if you hurry.

Eye-level shot of tourists in the water as the first Tsunami wave bears down on them. You can see how the water had been sucked back, leaving them high and dry, and then the giant wave coming at them.

http://www.boston.com/

Cowperson

Thanks for the head's up Cow. I saw that pic briefly on CNN last night and searched for a while and couldn't find it online.

http://cache.boston.com/bonzai-fba/AP_Phot...423420_3963.jpg

Absolutly amazing photo.

http://cache.boston.com/bonzai-fba/AFP_Pho...423420_0125.jpg

You have to wonder what became of the people in this pic. The terror would be unimaginable.

[Eddie Bronze]

I haven't read this entire thread so unsure if it was brought up, but did anyone see the stories about the wildlife in that area? I can't remember what station I was watching, CNN maybe, where they were talking about the many different types of wildlife in that area and how nearly no significant losses were found in the population of their wildlife. Apparently the earthquake could be felt by most land-dwelling animals and they all went for higher ground. Pretty amazing story if you ask me. There's probably alot of animals out there not only smarter than the human race gives them credit for, but maybe a bit smarter than many members of the human race itself.

[JiriHrdina]

Originally posted by No I.D.@Dec 31 2004, 02:48 PM
I haven't read this entire thread so unsure if it was brought up, but did anyone see the stories about the wildlife in that area? I can't remember what station I was watching, CNN maybe, where they were talking about the many different types of wildlife in that area and how nearly no significant losses were found in the population of their wildlife. Apparently the earthquake could be felt by most land-dwelling animals and they all went for higher ground. Pretty amazing story if you ask me. There's probably alot of animals out there not only smarter than the human race gives them credit for, but maybe a bit smarter than many members of the human race itself.

Yeah, that is an interesting part of this story. What allows animals to "know" when something like this is coming while we humans remain oblivious. Are they more sensitive to subtle changes in the weather/air pressure? Or is it just instinct?

Also...the Calgary Sun has a satellite photo on page 2 today that shows a before/after shot of the area - amazing to see the difference.

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally posted by No I.D.@Dec 31 2004, 01:48 PM
I haven't read this entire thread so unsure if it was brought up, but did anyone see the stories about the wildlife in that area? I can't remember what station I was watching, CNN maybe, where they were talking about the many different types of wildlife in that area and how nearly no significant losses were found in the population of their wildlife. Apparently the earthquake could be felt by most land-dwelling animals and they all went for higher ground. Pretty amazing story if you ask me. There's probably alot of animals out there not only smarter than the human race gives them credit for, but maybe a bit smarter than many members of the human race itself.

I saw Jack Hanna (the somewhat hyper guy with the animals that goes on The Tonight Show) and had a rather strange theory. He said that the birds that prey on the fish saw what was happening and they took off for land sreeching and cawing and the other animals caught on to this and realized something was up and and so they headed for the hills. He said it was much like how zebras will pay attention to the giraffes and vice versa and they know when something is up (like a lion) just by paying attention so they have sort of an animal warning system. Humans apparently have lost the ability and we don't pay attention to the animal grapevine anymore.

I don't know how true that is but that's what he said.

Somewhere else (or it might have been Hanna) said that elephants have some kick-ass hearing and big ears and they could have heard it coming so they got out of Dodge. To go back to the theory above, if all the other animals see that the elephants are afraid of something they probably can figure it out pretty fast that they should be scared as well. Wild animals are lucky in that they are not dumb like people who might go the other way to see what all the fuss is about.

Another theory -- my own, is that animals can run fast or fly away. They do seem to have a sixth sense about some of this stuff, but in this instance being able to run like hell is probably the best defense.