SE Asia Tsunami Disaster (Split #1)

[DiscordantNote]

It's good that a topic like this is being split, because it means that there's plenty of people responding and trying to help. As for myself, my family's donating a bit of money. Nothing much, but every bit helps.

[Ixistant]

Here's some eye-roller news we all saw coming...Some in the Arab world are pinning the blame for the tsunamis on, you guessed it, America. They believe American and Israeli (it wouldn't be proper Arab-world blaming without dragging Israel in there, too) nuclear testing and "evil thoughts" from the Western world helped cause the massive tsunamis. You heard it here first...EVIL THOUGHTS CAUSE TSUNAMIS.

You say that like it's something new. Didn't you know that America is the current and future source of all problems in the middle east? Well, thats what the radicals say. But I suppose we should have seen that coming. But Israel? I thought they would have been sensible enough to blame France or even Russia but not Israel.

Also, native tribes were seen shooting arrows at an aid flight. I'm mentioning this because the NBC newscaster said something about it along the lines of "While bows and arrows are famously ineffective at bringing down modern airplanes..." I laughed. I need to laugh at something. But in all seriousness, I heard that the natives knew the tsunami was coming just as the animals did. This only strengthens the theory that modern people's detachment from Mother Nature prevented them from seeing it coming.

I hadn't hear about that. But maybe the natives just thought "A big metal bird. That could help feed some of our children" and started shooting at it. But the knew it was coming?! Thats just plain creepy.

[on_diet_cat]

I dunno if you have seen these pictures before. It is in Thailand.

[Paul]

Personally, I think if you were gonna try and sum up the tsunami situation, that's the ideal picture do it with.

[snippet]

This one kid that just graduated from the college I go to lives in Sri Luaka (sp?). No one has heard from him or even knows if he went back to his home country as soon as he graduated. All of us hope he is okay, but it is really said to think someone you used to talk to in class could be dead.

[ChromeFox]

Those pictures are incredible. My God. And, xerai, I agree. There are no words. That picture says it all. The most heartbreaking thing is, on the left side, there's a dad holding -- I suppose -- his young daughter on his shoulders. I doubt they made it out alive...

Australia just pledged $764 million, but it's in grants and loans, not a donation. Still, it'll help a lot. I just hope the Aussies aren't expecting it to be paid back anytime soon. I just don't see that happening.

[Jim]

Personally, I think if you were gonna try and sum up the tsunami situation, that's the ideal picture do it with.

Im not completey sure that picture is real. It may just be my eyes, as it certainly appears genuine, but several of those people appear to be smiling and laughing.

Either that, or people just didnt realise the danger they were in. Sad really.

[Carson]

If you would like another example of the Tsunami's devastating force take a look at this ;


This is a picture of the indonesian province of Aceh in 2003.



And I dont need to describe what this picture shows.

On another note I do have a question to ask, and I do not wish to sound offensive and such. However a few of my friends and indeed my family were wondering why we had a three minutes silence instead of the normal 1 minutes silence. I understand the severity of what has happened, but many people that I have spoken to feel that this shows disrespect to other innocents that died, call that selfish if you wish, but this is how they feel.

[Paul]

Personally, I think if you were gonna try and sum up the tsunami situation, that's the ideal picture do it with.

Im not completey sure that picture is real. It may just be my eyes, as it certainly appears genuine, but several of those people appear to be smiling and laughing.

Either that, or people just didnt realise the danger they were in. Sad really.

I was questioning the reality of it too, also, why would any stop to take a picture when a wave that size is going to crush anything of that size.

[Jim]

I was questioning the reality of it too, also, why would any stop to take a picture when a wave that size is going to crush anything of that size.

"Wow! Honey, come check this out!"
"Can you see the big wave, Sweetheart?"
"Dude lets get closer!"
"Something to tell the Grandkids"
"I bet I can sell this tape to CNN"

Its not quite carcrash mentality. But its close...

[Paul]

I was questioning the reality of it too, also, why would any stop to take a picture when a wave that size is going to crush anything of that size.

"Wow! Honey, come check this out!"
"Can you see the big wave, Sweetheart?"
"Dude lets get closer!"
"Something to tell the Grandkids"
"I bet I can sell this tape to CNN"

Its not quite carcrash mentality. But its close...

Well, looking at the picture, it looks like it was zoomed in on from a far distance, just maybe. My first impression was (s)he was within remarkable distance.

[Harmonize]

What I want to know is why anyone would stand and watch their death happen before theirs eyes o.O

[Paul]

What I want to know is why anyone would stand and watch their death happen before theirs eyes o.O

Considering the pictured size, that wouldn't very long to get anywhere.

[hyperflutterby]

I'm relieved right now. I just got word from my email penpal in Southeast Asia that he and his family are fine. Apparently they live far enough inland that they weren't affected. It is really hard for me to watch this kinda stuff because I was in that corner of the world about 6 months ago and I met people there. There are a few people that we stayed with that I'm concerned about, but I have no means of contacting them at this point, so I'm just praying that they are safe.

[Wolven Spirits]

I've been reading just anecdotal stories. You've probably heard about the woman (I believe her name was Sophie) who had to choose which of her sons to let go of (or more accurately, "pry his fingers off her arm") in order to save herself and her son. She chose to let go of her five-year-old in favor of saving her infant. The five-year-old ended up surviving because a stranger grabbed hold of him. How awful would it be to grow up knowing your mom left you for dead because she preferred your brother? I also read about an Aussie who helped rescue a lot of people in Thailand but was later arrested because police recognized him on TV as a suspected burglar. Oh well, maybe they'll cut him some slack.

Maybe she realised that her five-year-old son would have a better chance at surviving, than the infant, even if it was small. I doubt that she wanted to let him go, but she had no choice. The infant wouldn't understand what was going on, and would most likely die. The five-year-old could at least run, right? I think, anyway.

Also, I read this, but it's on paper, not from a site, so I'll quote it:

Environmental activists are shamelessly trying to exploit the earthquake-tsunami catastrophe in hopes of advancing their global warming and anti-development agendas.

Two days after the tragedy, the executive director of Greenpeace UK told British newspaper The Independant, "No one can ignore the relentless increase in extreme weather events and so-called natural disasters, which in reality are no more natural than a plastic Christmas tree."

..."Here again are yet more events in the real world that are consisten with the climate change predictions." ... "We can expect in the coming years similar events happening as a result of global warming and therefore help and prevention are the responsibility of the Northern countries as well."

Exploitation of tragedy is a sport played not only by environmentalists.

Insurer Munich Re used the event as an opportunity to renew its call for action to fight global warming, which the insurance industry has recently started to blame for natural disasters.

...((bunch of facts about tectonics ))

... WHile tectonics may cause climate changes, the reverse is not true.

Despite the fictional tsunami that hit New York in the movie The Day After Tomorrow, there is no realistic climate change scenario that could possibly cause a tsunami-spawning earthquake.

Environmentalists are also looking to blame economic development for the devastation wreaked by the tsunamis in hopes of slowing down progress in the third world.

"A creeping rise in sea levels tied to global warming, pollution, and damage to coral reefs may make coastlines even more vulnerable to disasters like tsunamis or storms in future, experts said," reported Reuters this week. "Coasts are under threat in many countries," said... "Development of roads, shrimp farms, ribbon development along coasts and tourism are eroding natural defences in Asia.

Actually, sea levels in the region have been declining, according to satellite data and the long-term record of sea level changes for Bombay. ...

Given that fact, how deceptive and calculating of the environmentalists to blame 'development' as the deadly cause!

It's bad enough that environmentalists continually try to advance their agendas based on what can only be described as comically wrong information. But what's really troubling is that they seem hell-bent on denying poor nations the opportunity to develop economically so as to pull themselves out of their abject poverty.

Global warming activists are pressuring western banks to not make loans to energy projects in the developing world. Without energy, Third World economies are doomed to remain undeveloped. Citigroup and Bank of America have already caved-in to activist demands, ...

Malaria is yet another threat that tsunami survivors will face. Yet the environmentalist-led, junk science-fuelled ban on the insecticide DDT has had, and will continue to have, terrible human and economic impacts on the developing world.
...

The tsunamis are a terrible natural disaster -- but they are made worse by the not-so-natural disaster known as modern environmentalism.

SOrry that it's so long, the '...' are the stuff that wasn't so important to type heh. And sorry if there are any typos, I was typing as quickly as I could, hehe.

Those environmentalists... This article (from National Post) plain shocked me. An earthquake... NOT being natural??? Yeah, right. Pretty sad, if you ask me.

But I'm very happy, because my school is doing a fundraiser, (I'm helping, phwee!^^*) and we're giving it to the red cross, but since it's more, the government has to match it! Very happy about that, and I'm hoping that my school raises a lot of money!