http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4125481.stm
Puts most of the worlds problems in perspective doesnt it?
Thoughts and Sympathies to all affected.
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Sad Day
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First thing i saw when i switched tv on. Certainly makes you realise that the little things matter,and being miserable about unwanted gifts or having to visit family you aren`t keen on is quite selfish.
Saw an early report yesterday morning from the Maldives, reporting 10 dead there. Tuned in yesterday evening to see a report of almost 10,000 lives lost in total.
Thoughts go out to everyone affected by this tragedy.
Just put on Sky News now. Death toll reported to be 14,000. :(
Very sad, but it's nature. Happens sometimes, no one to blame. We have a stupid war still in curse, and that's not just sad, but revolting too, right?
TRAGIC but it was expected ,not here but just somewhere in the WORLD according to the experts.Long overdue.The problem of living in some of those beautiful places,when the SEA acts everyone is in danger.Can only send a bit of money to try and help a little.
All of this from the largest recorded earthquake.
“All the planet is vibrating” from the quake, said Enzo Boschi, the head of Italy’s National Geophysics Institute. Speaking on SKY TG24 TV, Boschi said the quake even disturbed the Earth’s rotation.
scary
Here they say 25,000 dead. Life's a bitch. One day you're here, the next day you're not. Very very very sad.
And they say those figures are going to be much higher.
Just an interesting statistic, more people will have lost their lives as a result of this disaster than will have died as a result of terrorism in the last thirty years.
The national news coverage here is shit; to get decent coverage on the event I have to wait for my local news hour or watch online clips from France Deux.
Very tragic indeed.
Wifey said they gave the Sri Lankans a two hour warning before the wave hit. People still went to the beach.
Damn, got the news a couple of hours ago, my step-uncle's son, a lovely kid teaching in Japan, was in Indonesia at the time on holiday; the place where he was staying is totally gone, and no one's heard from him since, according to his Japanese coworkers........:(
Last night they said 58000 deaths.
Incredible though... sometimes I'm just happy to live in Quebec, where the worst thing that can happen to us is... FREEZE.
I'm still puzzled that they never got a buzz that this was coming... I remember going to bed and hearing about the earthquake, but nobody saw the waves coming?
Nicolas, since the quake happened in the Indian Ocean, there wasn't the advanced warning that would have been available if it had occurred in the Pacific...the Indian Ocean isn't rigged with the same equipment that is used in the Pacific..
There are reports that some scientists in the States had information that the tsunami was coming, but they didn't have any way to contact people in the areas that were devestated...or they didn't know who to contact...
According to another story I read, there was going to be a meeting in February where the nations in the area were going to look at installing the buoys to monitor this kind of activity in the Indian Ocean...
While it's much too late to help any of the people that have lost their lives due to this tragedy, let's hope that the system is installed, so that the next time there is a tsunami in the Indian Ocean, people can be warned, and that a comprehensive evacuation program is developed.
Its certainly up there. Whats truly upsetting about this, is that as a result of the disease that will surely happen, we will never truly know the true scale of the disaster. Also, the damage done to the people and the soceities, some of which will never recover.
Wifey said that she saw or heard on the news that some place had a 2 hour warning before the wave hit.
Haven't found anything about anybody having a two hour warning...but here's a link to one of the articles that I read...
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2004/Dec/29/ln/ln05p.html
Originally posted by SteveOne 100,000 and still counting. Is this the worst force of nature disaster in history?
I guess the worst one is the meteor that killed the dinosaurs, but who knows! In terms of human causualties, I guess this one is indeed the worst one.
The last tsumani in this area was in 1880 something! I doubt the population of India and Bangladesh were the same back then!
Gee, I can't believe the work they will have to do by burying so many people so quick to avoid an epidemy that would kill the same amount of people... that is probably the worst job ever.
Originally posted by Spotnick > Originally posted by SteveOne 100,000 and still counting. Is this the worst force of nature disaster in history?
I guess the worst one is the meteor that killed the dinosaurs, but who knows! In terms of human causualties, I guess this one is indeed the worst one.
The "Black Death" killed ~25 million Europeans in the mid-1300s over a period of 5 years.
The numbers this time around are so big for today's society that they are incomprehensible. Sweden, who are still missing up to 4000 citizens, have announced a day of national mourning on January 1st.
Originally posted by Spotnick Gee, I can't believe the work they will have to do by burying so many people so quick to avoid an epidemy that would kill the same amount of people... that is probably the worst job ever.
They are some of the heroes in the aftermath. I saw an interview with a person in the Red Cross who got the question how they mentally cope with the large numbers of dead people. He said that they live with these figures. 3000 children, age of 5 years and younger, die in the world - every day.
/TLV
For some reason I am thinking that China made a massive fook up with its dam projects about 8 or 10 years ago. Accordingly, about 30 K died in floods, maybe much more.
Taken from the BBC website:
2004 Asian quake disaster - toll so far exceeds 110,000 2003 earthquake in Bam, Iran - official casualty figure is 26,271 1976 Earthquake in Tangshan, China, kills 242,000 1970 Cyclone in Bangladesh kills 500,000 1887 China's Yellow River breaks its banks in Huayan Kou killing 900,000 1826 Tsunami kills 27,000 in Japan 1815 Volcanic eruption of Mount Tambora on Indonesia's Sumbawa Island kills 90,000 1556 Earthquake in China's Shanxi and Henan provinces kills 830,000
Its all very tragic indeed.
Just because the source of a disaster is natural, doesnt mean that lives cant be saved. Its just not good enough to shake your fist at your god and give up a sigh. There were inadequate warning systems, and there is a gap of about $2Bn needed now in relief that governments wont pay.
We can expect many more floods and disasters in the coming century if we dont tackle the issue of out time Although this flood cant be attributed to global warming, plenty more can, and plenty more will.
i just got back from holiday monday night and contacted my friend mila. she's from jakarta (now lives in NYC), but her mother's from banda aceh. three members of her family are confirmed dead--her cousin, her cousin's husband, and their baby son--but they're still waiting on news from a number of relatives unaccounted for. let's hope for the best.
