Tsunamis kill thousands in Asia

[Rune]

Sea Surge kills thousands in Asia - from the BBC site (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4125481.stm)

This was on the BBC early this morning and served as a bit of a reality check for me that while so many of us are enjoying the holidays snug in our homes, for countless people worldwide nature's destructive potential doesn't stop for anything.

According to the experts on the news the quake caused the plates on the sea bed along the fault line to drop 10m causing huge tidal waves to spread out.

Seeing it on TV is just harrowing, whole villages have been washed away, holiday resorts are swamped, people are grieving, people are missing. I can't begin to imagine the reality in these coastal towns and islands.

My heart really goes out to these people.

[RayChuang]

....The death toll could substantially exceed 10,000 people. :(

The areas in Indonesia closest to the epicenter is pretty much cut off and they're yet to completely report on the land damage there.

Especially devastating was the damage to Phuket Island, a major resort in Thailand. I've heard the death toll there could exceed 1,000. :eek: And they were lucky too--if the earthquake had just occurred a few hours later when there were lots of tourists on the beaches the death toll could have been ten times that. :(

[True Noir]

Oh...I'm so sorry about this. My heritage places....Thailand, Bangladesh, and some other places. They got hit really hard. Wow...this is just horrible. I hope that well... it's kind of hard to hope when so many people died. I hope people are doing okay and I hope my family over there are doing ok also.

[SilverKnight]

Nature acts just like a spoiled rich kid; it has really nasty ways of getting your attention and making you remember that you're not in charge here. 7000 dead, and the tally's not even close to finished yet. My heart goes out to everyone involved.

[Agent S7]

Good lord... :crying:

...

This is horrible...

[Czar Gato]

How horrible. My prayers go out the dead and their families. :(

[TimTwoFace]

Whoa nelly, that's huge - and awful. I have a friend out there so I'd better try and get a hold of her to make sure she's OK.

*CROSSES FINGERS FOR HER AND EVERYONE ELSE IN THAT REGION OF THE WORLD*

-Tim

[Elven Moon]

That's a... lot of people :(

[Beguiled]

That is just...devastating. :( Those poor people. And their families too, that must be just horrible. My heart goes out to them and I hope those that have died and those who live to learn the pain of losing someone they love can find some measure of peace knowing that they are not alone.

[g_UnIt_GaNsTa]

This sucks. Right after the holidays too.

[ToOn~g@l]

aw man thats terrible.:( I hope they get the help they need to repair anything. Lets hope that it won't happen again too.

[Raven13]

O MY GOSH:crying: :crying: :crying: :eek: That is horrible!!!!!! I mean people who all read this keep every single one of those people in your prayers!!!!!! PLEASE!!!!!:crying:

~ ~ Raven13 ~ ~

[Boomhauer]

I have a lot of friends from most parts of Asia and India. I hope they and their family are ok. That reminds me, I have to make some calls.

God bless those people. You never know.

[Fieryone]

All those poor people:( my thoughts go out them.

[Dark Fact]

10,000 people? That's...a good chunk of the population.

Just...tragic... :(

[AndreaBeaumont]

It seems it's just climbed to 12,000 confirmed dead on the BBC. Shame.

[tucsoncoyote]

Actually it's tragic that this disaster had to happen yet it didn't have to kill about 4,800 of those people or at least the majority of them..

The Basic Facts of this Tsunami are this..

1. The Tsunami occurred in the Indian Ocean. (Had this Quake of Magnitude 9.0 had Occurred say along the Pacific Rim, a lot of the folks would have been saved thanks to the Pacific Tsunami Warning System. However since the Quake Occurred in the smaller Indian Ocean, no such plan for a Tsunami was really in place..

2. A lot of the Wave Power came from the earthquake, the waves themselves were just a scant 10 meters (30 Feet) high when they broke on shore..(Just be thankful the Tsunami wasn't generated by say a Massive Landslide Crashing into a water basin (Much like Lituya Bay in 1957) after all Tsunamis can get a lot larger then just 10 meters (the Largest Tsunami ever recoreded was of Course Lituya Bay in 1957 at a record 500 Meters (That's 1,600 feet folks!)

3. Even if the people had a warning system in place, another deficiency came in the part of the seperate Countries Receiving the warning of the Impending Tsunami(s) and in fact when the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (in Hawaii ) Found out about the Earthquake and tried to relay the message to someone within each country's political systems, well you can figure that the wave got to the shore before the word got to the proper authorities to advise the folks along the coast to evacuate..

4. and yes Tsunamis can cover huge Distances really fast..(In Deep water over 16,000 feet deep (Much of what the Indian Ocean is) the waves were traveling on the order of 400 - 500 mph covering those 1000 odd miles to hit Sri Lanka in 2 hours and Somalia in about 5...(yes the waves went that far...)

5. A lot of People in the surrounding area around the quake also failed to do one thing.. and this is common sense..(if you're near the beach and you feel the earth move.. get to higher ground As quickly as possible after the shaking stops..(after all even in the case of the Sumatran people they could have saved a few hundred if not a thousand lives if people moved quickly...

5 The final item on my facts.. Tsunamis can occur anywhere in the world..(Most Notably around "Subduction Zones" along Continental/Oceanic Plate Boundaries.. (Washington State and Oregon could get hit by a Tsunami if a large quake occurred off the coast of Washington (as there is a Subduction zone there..) so believe me the Japanese folks Named this wave Properly.. "Bay Wave" is nothing of the sort.. but still when you see a wall of water approaching.. get out of Dodge as fast as you can!

but all in all this is indeed a sad day considering it's been 40 years since the last time a Major Tsunami Event has swept any ocean..(The last one was in 1964 (The Alaskan Good Friday Earthquake, Magnitude 9.2-- The waves generated from that quake went all the way to Cresent City California, and still killed 11 People.. )

:coyote:

[Supernovametalstar]

I might just be paranoid, but it seems there have been a lot of "big ones" this year. Didn't one just hit Japan not too long ago? My heart goes out to the people affected. I have friends who are from Thailand.

[RayChuang]

but all in all this is indeed a sad day considering it's been 40 years since the last time a Major Tsunami Event has swept any ocean..(The last one was in 1964 (The Alaskan Good Friday Earthquake, Magnitude 9.2-- The waves generated from that quake went all the way to Cresent City California, and still killed 11 People.. )
Didn't a tsunami cause a large number of casualties on the coast of New Guinea just within the last few years?

But still, I think what made the tragedy particularly bad was the fact that India and Sri Lanka have a lot of people living along the coastline, and when the tsunami hit, all h*ll broke loose. :sad:

The last I heard the casualty toll has reached a shocking 21,000-plus dead. :(

[Phantasm]

This is just scary really.Just one moment can literally shake your entire world upside down...

[Martin]

...And the worst hasn't come yet. The next days/weeks/months there are aftershocks to be expected with possible tsunamis again. And the relief works can't prevent mass diseases if they aren't in time. Many regions are hard to reach by now.

The most sinister fact might be that Iran has been struck by a heavy earthquake exactly a year before. And the people out there still haven't become all the help they need.

No, Christmas won't be that happy to me for the second time!

[True Noir]

Didn't a tsunami cause a large number of casualties on the coast of New Guinea just within the last few years?

But still, I think what made the tragedy particularly bad was the fact that India and Sri Lanka have a lot of people living along the coastline, and when the tsunami hit, all h*ll broke loose. :sad:

The last I heard the casualty toll has reached a shocking 21,000-plus dead. :(
Yes, more than 22,000 (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=1&u=/ap/20041227/ap_on_re_as/quake_tidal_wave) in nine countries. Like I said, I hope my family and those people over there will be okay. :(

As for the aftershocks, they are supposed be around 6's and 7's on the scale. They are going to be pretty bad ones to so the toll might unfortunately increase.

[Tienshin]

Very sobering news indeed. As soon as I heard about it I called my girlfriend who has family in Sri Lanka. Fortunately her family had accounted for everyone, but the devastation was and is just staggering. Hopefully the international community can come together and get aid to the countries affected as soon as possible.

[tucsoncoyote]

Actaully it's odd that I decided to throw this out but I'm going to answer some "Tsunami Questions" right here...

I might just be paranoid, but it seems there have been a lot of "big ones" this year. Didn't one just hit Japan not too long ago? My heart goes out to the people affected. I have friends who are from Thailand.Well if you are Talking about Earthquakes of Magnitude 7.0 or Greater, then no not really..(Remember that each increase of 1.0 on the Ricther Scale is an increase of 32 times the release of Energy, and in fact a good relationship of how this relates is that they way back in the 1960's did a Nuclear Test under an Alaskan Island with a 5 megaton Nuclear Device (buried to a depth of 1 mile) the Blast from the device generated an Earthquake of Magnitude 6.5 on the Richter Scale..(now the initial Quake 2 days ago. was 9.0 on the richter scale or roughly 1,100 times larger then that nuclear blast (so Imagine an Explosion of roughly 1/4 of the nuclear arsenal stockpiles the entire World has, going off at a Depth of just 1 mile under the ocean..(and yes it would generate a Tsunami as well) but the thing is, that's a lot of power we are Talking about.. (Roughly 4.5 Billion Tons of TNT)...but in terms of Large Quake there have been a number over the Years.. (California Earlier this year got hit with a Magnitude 6.0 Earthquake in Central California that was supposed to occur in 1988..(so that's 16 years off the usual occurrence schedule) and yes there have been other numerous Large quakes... Just nothing in the Last 40 years (Alaska 1964-- Magnitude 9.2 and Chile, 1960-- Magnitude 8.9) has been as great..(Most have been magnitude 6 to 7 meaning they were "Large" or "Major" but when you get above Magnitude 8.0 on the Richter Scale you get into the "Great" Category..(and that only occurs every so often..but not as frequently..

Didn't a tsunami cause a large number of casualties on the coast of New Guinea just within the last few years?

But still, I think what made the tragedy particularly bad was the fact that India and Sri Lanka have a lot of people living along the coastline, and when the tsunami hit, all h*ll broke loose. :sad:

The last I heard the casualty toll has reached a shocking 21,000-plus dead. :(Right Ray there was one back on July 17th, 1998, that did strike Paupa New Guinea, but the Tsunami that was generated was done by an Earthquake that was just Magnitude 7.0 (or roughly 1/900th of the total Energy released by the Sumatra Quake 2 days ago..) but this one was called "The Most Destructive Tsunami of the 20th Century" (I guess this one will be the Most Destructive of the 21st Century)

But you know as I stated Earlier, Tsunamis can be even LARGER then just Earthquake Generated..(Lituya Bay 1957, was a Landslide Generated Tsunami, and that one generated a Wave that was 500 meters (or about 1,600 feet High) and that was within a bay that was in Alaska.. but "Mega Tsunamis (Those that are not generated by Earthquakes) can be larger and More Destructive..(Anyone here watch the Movie "Deep Impact? In it a Mile wide Chunk of Rock hit the planet and the resulting Tsunami was almost 600 meters (about 3000 feet high) and yes that too can happen..after all an Asteroid Impact can generate a Tsunami that is much larger then your typical 30 foot tidal wave.

and then going back to Landslides.. does anyone know of this threat? The Island of La Palma in the Canary Islands is a island that could "Slip into the sea" and if it ever does the wave generated by the Landslide could be so huge that we are talking a wall of water 30 stories high..(and you maybe asking.. How often do these big waves Roll in? Well to put it mildly the last time a Mega-tsunami ever hit a Coast, it was in Sri Lanka... 4000 years ago when the Volcanic Island (Reunion Island) Failed and part of it slid into the sea.. the megatsunami caused by that Landslide Reached The Island in about 6 hours..(Remember Tsunamis travel at about 400 to 500 mph in deep water..)

so yes this is indeed a tragedy.. but imagine if this had been an asteroid strike or a Landslide (a la Lituya Bay) The waves would have killed a lot more then just 21,000 people..(as the Current Death toll stands..

and then there is this comment:

...And the worst hasn't come yet. The next days/weeks/months there are aftershocks to be expected with possible tsunamis again. And the relief works can't prevent mass diseases if they aren't in time. Many regions are hard to reach by now.That's very true Martin, after all Aftershocks in earthquakes can do just that.. and so it's possible to have multiple Tsunamis occur that could kill additional people.. (so yes the death toll could go higer still.. yet a lot of the problem stems from the fact that like was commented, a Lot of the World Population lives around coastal areas.. and the threat of Tsunami always has to be considered.. yet the Sumatrans could have had very little time to prepare for a Disaster..(and off the Coast of Oregon and Washington a Similar Type of Fault Zone Occurs.. (if a Magnitude 8.0 or greater quake were to occur, the Tsunami Generated would damage the Cities of Seattle Washington, and Portland, Oregon and with only a few minutes lead time before the wave hits..(so you see folks.. in this world of ours.. we still have to be ready to act when disaster strikes.. even when it's this type of disaster..

:coyote:

[Dark Fact]

now it's more than 20,000...

man... :(

[OverdrivePrime]

What a staggering toll. I read that the initial quake was so potent that it momentarily interrupted the Earth's rotation. What complicates the terrible tragedy of this is that there's virtually zero civil infrastructure to get help where it's needed. A quake of that magnitude would certainly be destructive in say... Western Europe, but its aftereffects could be dealt with much more effectively.

TusconCoyote, thanks for all the good information you've been handing out. I'm glad that someone mentioned La Palma Island. When that sucker goes, kiss most of the American Eastern Seaboard goodbye. Hopefully, it'll hold off long enough to get some defenses against such an occurrance in place.

[sun]

Incredible tragedy. Sadness:sweat: We pray for those who survive, that enough can be done to help get thru...Stuart

[Boomhauer]

You people bare to chip around 20s of thousands. 30,000 + are overlooked.

The Tsunami usually travels as fast as a commercial airliner, news reporter says.
It killed people quick.

[tucsoncoyote]

TusconCoyote, thanks for all the good information you've been handing out. I'm glad that someone mentioned La Palma Island. When that sucker goes, kiss most of the American Eastern Seaboard goodbye. Hopefully, it'll hold off long enough to get some defenses against such an occurrance in place.Not a prob there OverdrivePrime, after all you are talking to one smart Coyote who used to live in California, has gone through numerous earthquakes both large and small, (including the Loma Prieta of 1989) and knows about Seismology and Geology and Oceanography..

(and they say being a "Jack of All Trades" is a bad thing!:D )

btw the death toll is now at 23,000 and still climbing.. 70% of Sri Lanka's Coastline was Devestated by the waves and in fact there are still aftershocks (and Potential Tsunami Making Quakes Going on).

In fact at least 8 of those are Americans that were on Vacation..(Also I hear the Prince of Thailand was Killed when he got caught in the Tsunami while Jet Skiing. so my heart goes out to his father the king of Thailand.. After all It shouldn't have happened but you know Mother Nature! Guess she was suffering from "Global PMS"!).

:coyote:

[Martin]

On Sumatra they expect 20,000 deaths more. Drowned people are washing already on the coastlines and more are found back on land.

Somalia and Kenia are also struck and they have no idea about the size of the death toll there.

Meanwhile lots of tourists returned home, mostly in shock because they often were witness of the most tragic happenings during the floods. Others have nothing left but the swimsuits they're wearing... I heard about a German couple which even didn't have that as well! No money, no luggage, no clothes, no air tickets, no ID...

But the most unfortunates of them are the ones who were surprised by the tsunami while swimming.

[tucsoncoyote]

On Sumatra they expect 20,000 deaths more. Drowned people are washing already on the coastlines and more are found back on land.

Somalia and Kenia are also struck and they have no idea about the size of the death toll there.

Meanwhile lots of tourists returned home, mostly in shock because they often were witness of the most tragic happenings during the floods. Others have nothing left but the swimsuits they're wearing... I heard about a German couple which even didn't have that as well! No money, no luggage, no clothes, no air tickets, no ID...

But the most unfortunates of them are the ones who were surprised by the tsunami while swimming.That's very true Martin and In Thailand you have a number of People (Some famous others not, endured the same horror...

"Eastenders" star racy-Ann Oberman, 35, survived the terror. Tracy-Ann - the show's Chrissie Watts confided with a friend, "I'm just thankful to be alive."

Meanwhile Victoria's Secret and Sports Illiustrated Swiimsuit model Petra Nemcova was dragged out to sea with her boyfriend by a devastating tsunami while vacationing in the idyllic beach village of Phuket, Thailand.

The supermodel stunner managed to hang on for dear life, grabbing a tree as the wall of water crashed through her bungalow and sucked her and her boyfriend, British fashion photographer Simon Atlee, out of the building.

Nemcova held on to the tree for about eight hours, despite having suffered a shattered hip, broken bones and internal injuries

However Simon Altee, (Petra's boyfriend), is still missing.

:coyote:

Related Link to the above Story. (http://www.nypost.com/news/worldnews/37359.htm)

Edited Note: The Death toll now is readjusted Upwards again... this time to as many as 40,000 dead, and 10,000 of them could be in Sri Lanka

[PowerZord]

I just Hope it doesn't happen here in PR. there's a couple of Tsunami's zones.

I don't wanna imagine what would happen here in PR that's such a Small island

[Eddy]

This really is horrible. :crying: I heard it was as many as 20,000 deaths.

Bless the lives that were taken, and bless their families too.

[True Noir]

Oh my gosh....it's 44,000 now. It doubled, tremondously. This is just horrible. I can't even bare to imagine all the pain the people of south east asia are going through. :crying:

[Dark Fact]

Last I checked, it was 33,000...now 44,000??? :eek:

Lord...how much more?

[tucsoncoyote]

Last I checked, it was 33,000...now 44,000??? :eek:

Lord...how much more?Well Dark Fact, who knows how high the death toll could go... but I want to give out some facts here... sort of a statistical overview of how this disaster stacks up...

when you think 44,000 people is a large number (in 1 disaster), the mind boggles.

After all we're talking about just 1 disaster.. yet War, and even common Day Living causes just as many deaths... in 1 year.. rather then just 1 day.. or at the most 1 month.. (As the Death Toll will probably climb due to Diseases that have been unleashed due to "unsanitary conditions".

But think about this... During the entire time of the Vietnam War, (From 1963 to when we left in the mid 1970's), some 56,000 United States Military Men and Women died giving their cause to what some call "A Fruitless War".

But that's just war.. what about "Everyday Life?" Well this might surprise you... Every year (From January 1 to December 31st), on Average the US Highway System Claims an Average of 50,000 lives because of the fact that people don't just buckle up, get into their cars, and drive away at a high rate of speed (of course in the last few years thanks to Technicological Advancements, the Death Toll has fallen off.. to around 48,000.....and that's in one year... Most people who die in accidents either are driving Too Fast, Driving without seat belts, Driving Intoxicated or under the influence of Drugs, and in some cases, drive around Railroad Crossings that are lowered just so that they can save a few moments of time...

And then you have to look at the last time an Event like this happened.. Back in 1883, when the Tiny Volcanic Island of Krakatu (or Krakatoa) in Indonesia erupted (Spewing 6 and 2/3rds Cubic Miles of Dust and Ash into the air) in a cataclysmic volcanic Disaster, the Eruption Generated a Tsunami that Wiped out 36,000 people... and even just a Simple Volcanic Event (Like Mount Pelee in the Caribeean back in 1902 killed 29,000 people in on massive pyroclastic Flow..) and then you think abut the 300,000 people who died in China during an Earthquake way back in the 1970's... these events make this one seem almost "Ball park Average"

but you have to give humanity one thing in general.. we have to get up in the morning to take risks..(We are all human and in fact we could easily die by slipping in the shower then getting swept out to sea in one massive "Wall of Watery Death..")

And to Answer this post:

I just Hope it doesn't happen here in PR. there's a couple of Tsunami's zones.

I don't wanna imagine what would happen here in PR that's such a Small islandCould Puerto Rico Have a Tsunami? Well Think about this.. The Carribbean Trench is a Subduction Fault Zone, and so yes it could happen there too..

After all a Disaster of such proportions could exist if a major if not Great Earthquake were to occur along the Puerto Rico Trench..(and remember folks, Most Massive, Great Quakes Occur at Plate "Subduction" Zones..(so yes you should be concerned PowerZord, but not paranoid...

After all to me, all these facts and figures I have just mentioned have stated one thing.. Humans always take risks. It's part of "Human Nature".

Sometimes we lose, sometimes we win.. When We win, we're happy , content, and in fact in some cases Overjoyed, that we "Beat the odds".

But when we lose... well the life toll is indeed Staggering but stop and think about those statistics that I have just given..

You'll see that to all of this, this is just part of "Living" on an "Active Planet' ...

That's really all I need to say..

:coyote:

Edited Note: By the way MSNBC Has increased the Toll to now 52,000.

[Dark Fact]

That's a pretty interesting overview about loss of life and human nature. Thanks for sharing that, Tucsoncoyote. Something worth provoking the thought.

[livingfruitvirus]

As saddening as this event is, don't get scared so much by the numbers the news throws at you.

[Raven13]

Uhhhh well this still surprises me!!!!!!!:sad: :( :crying: :eek: Also I am still very surprised that 1 horrible disaster could cause alot of deaths!! Well I have now heard that almost 50,000 deaths have been reaported. (I don't no for sure though)

That is horrible though.:sad:

I think we should all take a moment of slilence to remember thoses who died.:crying:

~ ~ Raven13 ~ ~

[TimTwoFace]

This is horrible - I've been listening about this on the news non-stop since it happened. My neighbours two houses up even got on the national news last night because their daughter was in Thailand at the time; they haven't even heard from her yet but they saw on CNN that she and her boyfriend had been saved.

While my heart goes out to everyone affected, I'm personally concerned about two friends of mine that live in the region; I don't know how affected the cities of Singapore or Bangkok were, or if my friends were there or on the west coast at the time, and it's that unknown factor that is killing me. I hope they're both all right. (They probably are, but I'll never know for sure.)

:(

-Tim

EDIT: I just read at http://www.cbc.ca that the estimated deth toll is nearing 60,000 now.

[Czar Gato]

The more I see/hear about it, the more I just want to get off my duff and go over there and help. I think I might look into relief organizations that need volunteers.

[Phantasm]

Wait I just heard something along the lines of Tsunamis being so severe that it had the tendancy to shake up the Earth's axis?!:eek: :ack: OH MY GOD!

[Martin]

While my heart goes out to everyone affected, I'm personally concerned about two friends of mine that live in the region; I don't know how affected the cities of Singapore or Bangkok were, or if my friends were there or on the west coast at the time, and it's that unknown factor that is killing me. I hope they're both all right. (They probably are, but I'll never know for sure.)

:(

-Tim

EDIT: I just read at http://www.cbc.ca (http://www.cbc.ca/) that the estimated deth toll is nearing 60,000 now.
Don't worry about Bangkok and Singapore - they are safe. But still the numbers are rising: over 55,000 killed and 30,000 missing.

[tucsoncoyote]

Uhhhh well this still surprises me!!!!!!!:sad: :( :crying: :eek: Also I am still very surprised that 1 horrible disaster could cause alot of deaths!! Well I have now heard that almost 50,000 deaths have been reaported. (I don't no for sure though)

That is horrible though.:sad:

I think we should all take a moment of slilence to remember thoses who died.:crying:

~ ~ Raven13 ~ ~Well Raven 13, Like I said in the Comment to Dark Fact that when you compare that this 1 disaster is the equivalent of what happens to people who drive on our roads every day, those numbers while sobbering are nothing compared to the disasters we've had in the past.. After all in 1970 in a Province in China, 300,000 people died in a Magnitude 8.0 Earthquake with out a Tsunami (A lot of those deaths were by the Quake and the ensuing Fires..)
And then also you have think about the 1970 Tropical Cyclone that Struck Bangladesh (Eastern India) which killed an Equal Number..

or how about the Spanish Influenza of 1918? (Yes Flu Pandemics are possible killers and in that case the first reported Case of Flu caused 10 Million Deaths World Wide and 700,000 Deaths (about 2 times the Bangladesh Disaster) in just the United States alone! (That's staggering when folks talk about Disease Causing death, but Flu does kill.. After all just this last winter when we had some of the worst Cases of Flu in 30 years, people in the US did die..(Some 30 or so cases, but still.. compare that to back in 1918 when there were no flu vaccines... that's a small number..

but all in all that's Like I said a thought Provoking number when a Surge of Water Can Wipe out 50,000 (Now 63,000 according to MSNBC) people... and the interesting things is this.. A Force of Nature Doesn't Discriminate. It's an Equal Opporitunity Killer..(Rich and Poor, Young Or Old.) were all affected by this disaster.. Like I reported Last Night, a Supermodel was injured and nearly killed in this tsunami disaster, your Neighbor's Daughter was also affected.. Believe me, Disaster affects everyone, but that's again Part of the Risk we have for Living on an "Active Planet" that has Disaster, Disease, and even Technological Failures on it..(Don't forget Bhopal India, or even Chernobyl here.. So see, that makes you wonder.. should I even get out of bed? I do Every day and figure that sooner or later, I'll be done in somehow, some way..(Sounds Morbid, but really that's the chance you have to take, when you get out of bed in the morning..after all as they say in Monty Python language.. That is the Meaning of life!. :D

That's really all I need to say..

:coyote:

[Boomhauer]

*Sigh* Dammit.
It ain't no 20,000 deaths man. The news are constantly updating us man, with the toll.

The count is currently 65,000 and will continue to grow.

[RayChuang]

I just heard that they have yet to account for many people on Andaman and Nicobar Islands chain, the Maldives and even as far west as the Somali coast. Some even estimate that the final death toll from the immediate earthquake and tsunami effects could reach 100,000. :(

[Raven13]

I just heard that they have yet to account for many people on Andaman and Nicobar Islands chain, the Maldives and even as far west as the Somali coast. Some even estimate that the final death toll from the immediate earthquake and tsunami effects could reach 100,000. :(
O MY GOSH that is terrible!!!!!!!!!!!!!:( :sad: :crying: :eek: :eek:

~ ~ Raven13 ~ ~

[True Noir]

I just heard that they have yet to account for many people on Andaman and Nicobar Islands chain, the Maldives and even as far west as the Somali coast. Some even estimate that the final death toll from the immediate earthquake and tsunami effects could reach 100,000. :(
That would be horrible, but knowing that it could reach 100,000 people is mindboggling itself. When I first heard about the Earthquake/Tsunami news, I never expected it to be this devestating(sp?).

[tucsoncoyote]

That would be horrible, but knowing that it could reach 100,000 people is mindboggling itself. When I first heard about the Earthquake/Tsunami news, I never expected it to be this devestating(sp?).Well Tsunamis are always great killers there True Noir, and Like I said, these Disasters don't Discriminate.. they just happen.. after all think about this.. so far the count According to MSNBC.com is 66,043) but you have to think about how surprised and mesmerized the folks were.. after all Tsunamis do give warning signs..(Namely that of receding water usually as the wave is pulling the water towards itself..so for future reference if you see the water recede from the beach.. you maybe got 5 to 10 minutes at best.. or 1 to 2 minutes at worst to get out of there..(cause when the wave comes in.. you're out of luck and time (and you better know how to swim (if you can).

but the thing that we'll have to watch for in the days and weeks ahead are the Aftershocks in the area.. any over 6.5 in terms of Magnitude does count as a "potential Threat" for Generating more tsunami disaster..

:coyote:

[TimTwoFace]

I can't believe what I saw on the news earlier today. Some locals here are still intending to go on a vacation to this part of the world - as in, LEAVING TODAY - which I think is not only crazy, but heartless. It's stupid for them, because everything will likely be closed or destroyed (or just simply out of commission), but more than that, there's the disease factor to worry about, and then just plain getting in the way.

Yeesh, some people, eh?

This sort of thing wouldn't scare me away from seeing this part of the world, but definitely not right now. Geez.

-Tim

[tucsoncoyote]

I can't believe what I saw on the news earlier today. Some locals here are still intending to go on a vacation to this part of the world - as in, LEAVING TODAY - which I think is not only crazy, but heartless. It's stupid for them, because everything will likely be closed or destroyed (or just simply out of commission), but more than that, there's the disease factor to worry about, and then just plain getting in the way.

Yeesh, some people, eh?

-TimWell that's People for you Tim, This is what Television, the Internet, and god knows what they've eaten and / or Drank has done to humanity.. made them brain dead..(I personally wouldn't go to Asia now after a Disaster.. but like you said. they're Heartless, souless, and just brain dead when people act like that..(Now if they were going to just help out.. I understand that.. but just to visit?)

Sheesh Talk about Vultures...

Disasters can bring out the best (and Worst) in people..

:coyote:

[maximumzero]

Kudos to Apple for stepping up and doing the right thing.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v99/maximumzero/apple.jpg

[Artimus Gigan]

Oh they also mentioned that 50,000 more will perish due to disseases and lack of utilities

[Boomhauer]

holy moly, holy father in heaven.

[Conan-san]

Well that's People for you Tim, This is what Television, the Internet, and god knows what they've eaten and / or Drank has done to humanity.. made them brain dead..(I personally wouldn't go to Asia now after a Disaster.. but like you said. they're Heartless, souless, and just brain dead when people act like that..(Now if they were going to just help out.. I understand that.. but just to visit?)

Sheesh Talk about Vultures...

Disasters can bring out the best (and Worst) in people..

:coyote:
Not to mention the outright supidity, I meen that would be like going to Chnoble so many years back (Rember that whole nuclear disaster thing?)

[Czar Gato]

Oh they also mentioned that 50,000 more will perish due to disseases and lack of utilities
...:crying:

[Clayface]

The newest numbers (http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/12/29/asia.quake/index.html) are saying more than 80,000 people have died. Once the deaths from diseases start, that will easily top 100,000.

What a horrible, horrible nightmare. I think of the thousands that died on 9/11 and what an emotional impact that had on me. More than 40 times the number of people have died in this disaster. I can't even begin to comprehend the numbers of lives lost here, and the emotional stress the people over there are going through right now. I urge everyone to help in some small way, be it through volunteer work or some small financial donation.

[tucsoncoyote]

The newest numbers (http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/12/29/asia.quake/index.html) are saying more than 80,000 people have died. Once the deaths from diseases start, that will easily top 100,000.

What a horrible, horrible nightmare. I think of the thousands that died on 9/11 and what an emotional impact that had on me. More than 40 times the number of people have died in this disaster. I can't even begin to comprehend the numbers of lives lost here, and the emotional stress the people over there are going through right now. I urge everyone to help in some small way, be it through volunteer work or some small financial donation.
Well Clayface, again let's put this number out statistically speaking...and we'll use that number you mentioned (80,000) as an example....

Now where i live, Tucson, Arizona, the Population during the winter here explodes almost to 800,000 people.. when you think about the death toll that's like for every 10 people here in Tucson Arizona, One person will have died due to this disaster..(Even during the Summer here the Population is 400,000 and that 80,000 number figure is 20% of the total population.. (Imagine if 20 % of any City's Population were Wiped out due to a Natural Disaster?)

And Like I have been Reinterating every time, A Natural Disaster doesn't Discriminate in terms of Age, Race, Religion, or even Gender. That's Nature for you.. It's Part of what Charles Darwin calls "Natural Selection".

But the thing that gets me is those videos showing people acting stupidly (Standing on the beach Mesmerized by the oncoming wall of water, and not letting their "natural Fear Instincts" take over). That's what gets me.

That's part of the same process.. After all One American and his Family Survived because he knew the warning signs, but he almost lost his son, due to the fact that the boy stood mesmerized watching this huge wall of water coming at him... (The Father realized the danger and acted, thus saving his son). Yet you couldn't understand why people look at such things rather then running in sheer terror.. And another thing... Nature is a Terrorist.. after all using this form of "Natural Selection" It hopefully teaches the ones that do survive to remember that next time that a disaster like this happens, to take their instincts into their own hands or face the possibility of death..After all Death Doesn't take holidays.

And Finally to respond to this comment:

Not to mention the outright supidity, I meen that would be like going to Chernobyl so many years back (Rember that whole nuclear disaster thing?)Let's just say I remember that disaster Conan, but you forget one thing about nuclear power.. it doesn't go away.. The Radiation that was spewed by that Nuclear Reactor Accident won't go away in "Just a Few Years" after all when you think about it, that area around Chernobyl probably won't be Radiation free in our life time, or in our Children's lifetime..After all Plutonium has a Half Life of 26,400 years, and it will take apporximately 264,000 years before that area around the plant will be even safe to use again.. yet people still live there.. because to them it's part of their roots.. but still visiting a radioactive area isn't good, and in this case, Visiting a Diaster prone area that is full of Disease in inviting trouble for the rest of the world..(Frankly only trained rescuers and Civillians should be there..no one else..(The ones who survive should come home and not linger. After all they're just hampering efforts as well.. but the ones going to visit? Well they're still stupid... nuff said..

:coyote:

[True Noir]

The newest numbers (http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/12/29/asia.quake/index.html) are saying more than 80,000 people have died. Once the deaths from diseases start, that will easily top 100,000.

What a horrible, horrible nightmare. I think of the thousands that died on 9/11 and what an emotional impact that had on me. More than 40 times the number of people have died in this disaster. I can't even begin to comprehend the numbers of lives lost here, and the emotional stress the people over there are going through right now. I urge everyone to help in some small way, be it through volunteer work or some small financial donation.I know what you mean. I'm definately going to try and find ways to help the people over there. They really need it.

[edit] Well, I just donated some money to the Red Cross. I hope this will help a bit.

[Baltofan]

That´s horrible news, and many Scandinavians are still missing.

The Danish TV station should had shown Deep Impact the 25th December, but it got cancelled.

[JLApe]

Singapore is well-buffered by the big islands of Java, Sumatra and Borneo. That is why it doesn't get hit. Being centrally surrounded by other lands is a good thing.

I don't know if this has been posted. Amazon (http://s1.amazon.com/exec/varzea/ts/my-pay-page/PX3BEL97U9A4I/002-0974596-8636002) has an online donation site for anyone that wants to contribute money. So if you want to do your part, this is a good way to do so.

[Boomhauer]

Related tsunami thread. Over a million people are expected to die from the after math.

The death toll now is 200,000 but expects to rise drastically.


:ack:

[True Noir]

Singapore is well-buffered by the big islands of Java, Sumatra and Borneo. That is why it doesn't get hit. Being centrally surrounded by other lands is a good thing.

I don't know if this has been posted. Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/subst/home/home.html/002-0974596-8636002/toonzone03) has an online donation site for anyone that wants to contribute money. So if you want to do your part, this is a good way to do so.
Yeah, that's where I donated from and so far it's gotton more than $3.5 million, I believe. Hopefully, they will be able to collect more.

[MJC]

From what I hear, United Way has the lowest overhead of charity organizations, so I'd like to suggest donating through them.

http://national.unitedway.org/tsunamiresponse/

[Dark Fact]

The death toll now is 200,000 but expects to rise drastically.

You say it is 200,000?

CNN is reporting that it's 118,000...

but still... :(

[Ed Liu]

Howdy,

Mark Evanier has a great post on charitable donation (http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2004_12_29.html#009372). I'm lifting a mass of it, on the assumption most people won't click through the link:

So yesterday, I called a friend of mine who works for a disaster-relief charity and asked, in effect, how one gets the most bang for one's donated dollars at the moment. Her answer was that really, while donations of food and goods always feel like "doing something," unless the final recipients are local, you're just saddling the charity with problems. So what should you give? Her reply:

There are really only two things that matter -- money and, when they're short, blood. If you call us up and say, "I've got ten cases of canned food here for starving people overseas," I have to start looking in the budget for a way to get it from you and then get it to them, and that can be expensive and take time. If you give us money, I can have that money feeding hungry people in twenty-four hours.

The charity she works for is only peripherally involved in the current Africa/Asia efforts but I'll bet it works that way with most causes. She said that if one donates to the Red Cross or the Salvation Army, very little of the money goes to administrative concerns. "You can't put the money to much better use than to give to them," she said. "And the Red Cross can also tell you if they have a special need for blood at the moment." Today's New York Times also has an article on organizations mobilizing to aid the region (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/28/international/28aidbox.html?ex=1106888400&en=49d84675cbb20a78&ei=5087). Visit www.bugmenot.com (http://www.bugmenot.com/) to get a login/password if you don't have one and don't want to register with them.

If you're concerned about how charitable organizations spend your money, visit www.give.org (http://www.give.org/), the Better Business Bureau's report on assorted charity organizations.

If you or your parents are donating money, check to see if your company or your parents' company does matching gift donations. It may take a little bit longer to get the funds to the organization, but more money is as important as fast money.

-- Ed/Ace

[TeenTitansGO!]

I Just heard it was 80,000 people! That's just wrong. It jumped really high, because they found a train of 800 submerged. It's sad and yet sickening at the same time. People are forced to make so many choices in disaster. Like the woman who had to let go of her five year old to save her two year old. They both lived but still.



TTG~aaahhhhh!

[tucsoncoyote]

I Just heard it was 80,000 people! That's just wrong. It jumped really high, because they found a train of 800 submerged. It's sad and yet sickening at the same time. People are forced to make so many choices in disaster. Like the woman who had to let go of her five year old to save her two year old. They both lived but still.



TTG~aaahhhhh!Well think about it this way.. sometimes motherly instincts save one child but could doom the family.. but then again when you think about the numbers of 80,000 People Like I said, it's like taking every 10th person of Tucson Arizona and going out and killing them.. but see Nature doesn't Discriminate here.. Death Doesn't take a holiday.. it just happens.. and that's the sad reality.. after all you look at people having potato chips on the balcony of their apartment yet not more then a scant 10-20 feet away, two men are holding onto palm trees fighting for their lives.. it's realistic, and yet surrealistic to see something so horrendous happen.. After all I know what it was like to Go through a Major Disaster (Loma Prieta 1989, San Francisco) it's not pretty, you end up in shock.. and you go numb.. after all sometimes you can do things.. but when it is a force of nature you are dealing with.. well then you're helpless against it.. You can't stop the Volcano from Erupting, you cant Stop the Tornado or Hurricane from Trashing your house.. You can't stop the Tsunami from Rolling in... after all that's Nature.. it's unstoppable..

:coyote:

[sidewinder]

Posting sad smilies and saying oh my God won't help... so I'll just say, I'll be praying for evreyone over there.

[True Noir]

The death toll has risen to 117,000 and more. Let's keep praying, like sidewinder said.

[RayChuang]

Mostly because I've read on the 'Net that some people are estimating the death toll just from the initial earthquake and tsunamis to be 400,000. :( And that doesn't include the outbreak of diseases that could claim almost as many. :crying:

I myself have given US$20 to World Vision, a Christian religious charity that already is doing considerable charity work in region well before this unfortunate tragedy happened. They are asking for extra money to buy much more supplies to help the people in real need in this part of the world.

By the way, I haven't heard a word from the US or European entertainment community about doing a large-scale fundraiser yet; in Asia, such fundraisers from local celebrities are already being set up, from what I've read in the Chinese-language Sing Tao Daily (US Edition).

[Behonkiss]

A couple hours ago, CNN showed a home video from a vacationing family who happened to catch the tsunami approaching and somehow survived.

It was awful. Buildings were being literally swallowed in water, you could hear people screaming....It's incomprehensible why these things have to happen. My heart can't take this.

I'm planning to make a donation in the coming weeks, though I can't help but feel that I won't be helping anything since help is apparently slow in coming.

[Frank Castle]

Man it's horrible what's going on and I pray that people can live their lives in peace after this.

[Swordfish_II]

http://www.digitalglobe.com/tsunami_gallery.html

Before and after satellite pictures.

Those are just...wow. :(

[RayChuang]

http://www.digitalglobe.com/tsunami_gallery.html

Before and after satellite pictures.

Those are just...wow. :(Yes, I saw these pictures and I was left totally speechless by the fact the tsunami waves pretty much scoured the city of Banda Aceh to near nothingness. :(

[Fone Bone]

I've been avoiding this thread. This is even more terrible than I imagined. Nothing I can say or do will make it better. I just hope the people affected but not killed will have the strength to carry on.

My prayers are with everyone.

[Deadman]

wow:sad: .this is one of the worst tragidies ever. the most we can do is donate money to them and pray:sad:

[Boomhauer]

sh!:eek:

Thats like watching Day After Tomorrow ha.

[tucsoncoyote]

Well I just think this last week's disaster just blew a myth about Tsunamis completely out of the water.. (No Pun Intended). After all think about this.. The only real Reason the Death toll in this week's Disaster is because of the fact that the Indian Ocean had no real Tsunami Warning system.. yet the Atlantic Coast of the United States is also Just as vulnerable..

if people think Tsunami's Can't happen in the Atlantic, Or anywhere on the Globe for that matter, well here is an Article (http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/nation/10549345.htm)that I found that proves otherwise..(Note: this is in regards to the La Palma Island Volcano in the Canary Islands, that if it did erupt, and have a Massive Landslide could in fact generate a wave much larger then the 9.0 Earthquake did off the Coast of Sumatra... A wave that could be as high as 200-300 meters..(and yes, that's 1000 foot tall wave we're talking about here.. not the 10-30 meter (30-100 foot) Waves that hit this last week..

After all 1958 Lituya Bay proves and emphasizes the point further when a Landslide of 90 Million Tons of Rock generated a wave 500 meters high.. in the bay mind you.. That's about 300 feet taller then the Empire State Building..

so if you think Tsunamis are only 100 Foot high Killers.. think again.. They can come in "Texas Sized Packages. called MegaTsunamis."



:coyote:

Edited Note: The Discovery Channel is planning to run a show Called "The Next Wave: The Science of Tsunamis" This next Wednesday at 10PM you can find out about details here. (http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/tsunami/tsunami.html)

[AndreaBeaumont]

Mother in photos survived tsunami

A Swedish tourist who was pictured running into the Asian tsunami to save her family survived the catastrophe, as did her children, it has been revealed.



Newspapers around the world showed a desperate Karin Svaerd heading into the waves as other tourists fled.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v92/emmy247/2nd.bmp
Swedish tourist Karin Svaerd (right)
saw the pictures on her return home


On Sunday the 37-year-old policewoman told the press she survived by grabbing hold of a palm tree on the Thai beach.



But it was an agonising 10 minutes before she discovered that her husband and three children had also escaped.

"I can remember the white foam, how the surf took them up and they disappeared," she told Britain's News of the World in an interview published on Sunday.

Witnesses said she screamed: "Oh my God, not my children!"

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v92/emmy247/1st.bmp
"I had to try and save my children,
nothing was going to stop me "

Karin Svaerd




"I could hear people shouting at me 'Get off the beach' as I ran past them - but I ignored them," she said.

"I had to try and save my children, nothing was going to stop me."

She said she thought she would die as she was engulfed by the tide, but in fact it swept her onto higher ground.

Then she feared for her husband Lars, her sons Anton, 14, Filip, 11, and Viktor, 10, and her brother, Per.

She found them together 10 minutes later.

They flew back to Sweden, arriving on 30 December, and then seeing the pictures in the press, under headlines like: "No one knows if they survived."

"Now, our family is closer than ever before," Mrs Svaerd said. "We came so close to death that we realise how valuable life is."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4141733.stm



That makes me sick to look at. I wanna cry. I don't think I could have been that brave. I donated 50 dollars of my paycheck today, I implore everyone to give a little something even if it's only 1 dollar.

[True Noir]

Thanks for sharing Andrea and tuscon. That's quite an amazing story. That mother was very brave indeed and I'll be checking out that special on the DC.

[GCFyouthcamper]

just curious, who here is helping out in some way? like donating stuff that will be sent there? my church has means of sending stuff and i want to donate some clothes. i have a lot to spare.

[tucsoncoyote]

Thanks for sharing Andrea and tuscon. That's quite an amazing story. That mother was very brave indeed and I'll be checking out that special on the DC.
Discovery Channel has some rather Good Informative information on Tsunamis and in fact other forces of Nature (MY Favorites are the Tornadoes.)True Noir, and besides Discovery Channel had on I believe it was 2 or 3 Years ago the item that dealt with "Mega-Tsunamis" It's pretty informative and gives you a lot to think about when you're dealing with the "Forces of Nature"...

:coyote: