Have YOU donated to the relief efforts in Asia? Please read.

College Confidential Community
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<p>"to spend money on warning systems for an event that <em>might</em> occur a few times a year, would be a reckless investment"</p>

<p>??? so its better that every few years a hundred thousand people die? </p>

<p>And you need to look into your facts. The world does not rely on the "US tsunami watch center in hawaii." Thats a pretty ethnocentric notion. There were geologists and scientists in Asia who picked up the earthquake and contacted the governments about the possibility of an earthquake. But maybe you would excuse their actions because evacuating billions of dollars worth of tourist resorts over the threat of a tsunami that comes every few decades is a "bad investment." </p>

<p>And indonesia is not poor. Its like Iraq. Its people are poor. The government has plenty of money from tourism and trade. It just spends it on the military (in case you dont know, there's been a rebellion there for years now).</p>

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<p>The reason they weren't able to save them within 90 minutes is because there is no source of communication that even exists in over 80 percent of the territories being affected. Think about the United States with every source of communication established, and think about an area of about 10,000 miles square miles and how a government which is centralized over 1000 miles away is suppose to inform all the people in the small shacks. And in case you didn't know, tourism is the only way they can make money, since they don't have any major trade going through their country. Without investing in tourism there would be no government, since almost no money comes from taxes.</p>

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<p>These governments have a thing called "military" you know. The military is located on "strategic bases" throughout the island so that it can address foreign conflicts quickly anywhere where they start. The military has "helicopters." You've heard of them. And "helicopters" have "loudspeakers." This is the most primitive form of communication. If you tell me that these countries don't have helicopters and loudspeakers, you're an idiot. You send out ten heliocopters to fly low along the coast. People who see the miulitary telling them to leave WILL leave. So...you have an earthquake...lets say it takes a maximum of half an hour for the government to recognize a tsunami threat. It takes another half hour warn most people. There you go. A half hour is PLENTY of time to escape. And thats just for the poorest countries because a sad fact of life is that countries today will have a military before they will feed their citizens. </p>

<p>I'm not criticizing these countries for making money through tourism . I only said that they should spend that money wisely. They don't.</p>

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<p>Your ad hominem attacks are pathetic bigjake. Yes, in a perfect world, we'd have helicopters zoom around like Santa on his sleigh warning people about this incident. However, we don't live in a perfect world. You think it's that simple to call an evacuation? Need much, in less than half an hour? The logistics and coordination of such an evacuation is beyond these governments. Besides, many would probably still choose to ignore these warnings, sticking firm to the homes they've lived in for generations.</p>

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<p>That doesn't matter. It doesn't even matter if they did not have the resources or were not able to reach everyone. Wouldn't you have liked to see an effort made to evacuate?? I don't understand. You all claim to be thinking of the poor people, but you're attacking me. I'M the one thinking about the people. You're money isn't going to help the 150,000 people who are dead because their countries decided that it was not worth it to make an effort to help them. As if its the survivors who are suffering more than those who are dead....Now you're going to go help those countries without even criticizing them for their lack of action and preparation. Ok. The same thing will happen next time...</p>

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<p>Jake, so what you are saying is that because of a lack of preparation, other foreign nations shouldn't help to relieve them in a time of crisis and need? What should we do then? Leave them to starve and fend for themselves? </p>

<p>Also, think of the families who lost members and are now grieving over their dead bodies. People are being thrown and burned in mass graves so that infectous disease does not spread. The survivors have to clean up the wreckage, mourn and rebuild their entire lives, and you say they are not suffering? Ignorant.</p>

<p>Money, in this case, will help. There needs to be clean drinking water, medicine and personel over in those regions affected by the disaster. Money pays for those things. Without money, those people will never get out of the rut mother nature dug for them. Just because you blame other countries for own misfortunes and don't want to help them recover, doesn't mean the rest of us with a conscience should follow your horrid example.</p>

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<p>"Also, think of the families who lost members and are now grieving over their dead bodies. People are being thrown and burned in mass graves so that infectous disease does not spread. The survivors have to clean up the wreckage, mourn and rebuild their entire lives, and you say they are not suffering? Ignorant."</p>

<p>? God i'm so sick of you not understanding anything i say. My point (why bother, you wont get it) is that you only care about the survivors. The survivors are ALIVE. They have their LIVES. 150,000 people are DEAD. Because their governments failed them. Yes...we should help the survivors. But at the same time, we should criticize those governments that knew the dangers and did not take precautions. That is the only way to ensure that something like this does not happen again. Honestly, its like im talking to a bunch of idiots.</p>

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<p>Something will be done to prevent this from happening again. Criticizing won't help, jake. It's like punishing a child who didn't do his homework right by not helping him at all. Rather than try and help the child do it correctly. Besides, you feel like you're talking to a bunch of idiots? Perhaps you shouldn't be throwing rocks when you're living in a glass house.</p>

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<p>lol, i dont even need to rebut. jake, you're so funny lol</p>

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<p>"Perhaps you shouldn't be throwing rocks when you're living in a glass house."</p>

<p>HAHAHAHA nice nice....curtis jackson?</p>

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<p>bigjake - </p>

<p>These countries aren't rich. Its people aren't rich, its governments CERTAINLY are not rich.</p>

<p>According to the World Bank the total external debt of the countries affected is: </p>

<p>Indonesia $132.2bn
India $104.4bn
Thailand $59.2bn
Malaysia $48.6bn
Sri Lanka $9.6bn
Somalia $2.7bn
Seychelles $560m
Maldives $270m </p>

<p>and that debt as a percentage of national annual income is:
Indonesia 80%
India 21%
Thailand 48%
Sri Lanka 59%
Maldives 45%
(Source: World Development Movement) </p>

<p>Aceh Province of Indonesia was the hardest hit, taking just about half of all of the losses of life. It took 15 minutes for the tsunami waves to get there. Keep in mind, that the people living in this corner of the world are used to earthquakes, and by NO MEANS does every earth quake create tsunamis. Believe it or not, an earth quake of magnitude 8.1 is thought to have little or NO risk of tsunami at all. 8.1 was the intial measurement of the quake. By teh time it was raised to 8.5 the tsunamis had already hit, and it took them a few days to finally decide on 9.0. And no, the 8.1 was not caused by faulty equipment in Indonesia or whatever, it was measured by the United States. We'd have the best technology out there, wouldn't we?</p>

<p>The simple fact of the matter is, that natural disasters happen. Nature has a funny way of being bigger than people, and much more unpredictable than you'd think. The scientific advances in the world of earthquake and tsunami prediction/alert at this point in time is simply not efficient enough to be able to save as many lives as we'd like. Granted, any sort of warning would have helped, and it was certainly possible to warn india or somalia had there been such a network, but these points have been brought up, and discussion has already been under way between these nations to form an alert system in teh Indian Ocean similar to the one in the Pacific.</p>

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<p>"If you tell me that these countries don't have helicopters and loudspeakers, you're an idiot. You send out ten heliocopters to fly low along the coast. People who see the miulitary telling them to leave WILL leave. So...you have an earthquake...lets say it takes a maximum of half an hour for the government to recognize a tsunami threat. It takes another half hour warn most people. There you go. A half hour is PLENTY of time to escape."
Kid, don't just make up stupid **** about what could've been been done to prevent this situation. You don't know the size of the territories being affected, the speed at which a helicopter travels, the speed at which the tsuanmi traveled or the amount of time a helicopter can stay in the air, which is obviously very different depending on the helicopter type. Where did you get the idea that the government has 10 helicopters? Do you even know what the expenditures of annual income goes towards? I'm going to be serious with you, one stupid post will lead to a series of stupid posts to try and backup previous statements. "Honestly, its like im talking to a bunch of idiots." Honestly, you should stop talking. You appear to be either a 13 year old who thinks he's smart, or a really dumb 18 year old. Go keep playing with your toy helicopters.</p>

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<p>Hey pebbles, thanks a lot for that post. It was very informative. Yeah, I guess that if the tsunami hit in 15 minutes, they could not have done very much. So, i'm wrong on a couple of these issues. Still, i think that something could have been done. I'm trying to find evidence that these countries at least made an effort to protect their people because if they didn't...it sucks. </p>

<p>Oh, and by the way, just because they have a debt does not mean they don't have resources. Look at the United States' debt. But that was a very good post. I respect that.</p>

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<p>You're such a funny kid, I actually laughed out loud upon re-reading this post. Upon being owned by the whole world you decide to reconcilate and take their stance, and find evidence that supports my claim.</p>

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<p>Also.please rememeber that Tsunamis are very very uncommon in the Indian Ocean..
occur only about once every century,or even lesser.In fact,this was the first tsunami EVER to hit India.</p>

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<p>We CAN have intelligent discussions and even debates without antagonizing each other or hurling profanity, you know. Bigjake raises some interesting points, especially ones about prevention. Sure, some of the possible methods mentioned are logistically flawed, however, it's only natural to consider what COULD be done in the future - which is precisely what many countries in that region are doing right now. It's obviously too late to prevent this catastrophe, but with a network of tsunami sensors in place, it may prevent a similar situation in the near or distant future, and that's all we can hope for at this point.</p>

<p>But, it is not our position to make assumptions about how much the governments of those countries care about their citizens, especially considering how little we know about the lives of the people and the workings of the governments. All we can do at this point is extend needed help to these countries and people without passing judgment. </p>

<p>We're here to help each other get the facts straight, not to bicker.</p>

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<p>Absolutely correct pebbles</p>

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<p>bump and an</p>

<p>Update -</p>

<p>We've officially begun our fundraising project. My club made hundreds of ribbons and bracelets today. We received the materials as donations from Walmart and an arts and crafts store. Just about $200 worth of materials. So, if you wanted to start something like this but didn't know where you were going to get the money for materials, well, just draft a letter, make some connections, do a little leg work, and you're all set.</p>

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<p>[color=blue] Hey all-
I was in India when the Tsunami hit, luckly my family and i were in Hyd but we had relatives who were affected. This was an email that a relative sent out to i nform everyone about his experiences. I thought it was really interesting, enjoy [/color=blue]</p>

<p>"Hi,</p>

<p>I had come to Nagercoil, on 25th Dec, near Kanyakumari, to attend a family
function at the house of the tamil writer Sundara Ramaswamy.</p>

<p>On 26th, I along with a friend's family, who too had come for the function,
from Chennai, went for sightseeing to Kanyakumari, which was just 30 minutes
drive. My friend's family consisted of Akhila. her 2 small kids, a boy aged
6, and a girl 2 years, her parents both in their late fifties and the driver
of our car. We had already hear the news of the rough seas in Chennai, when
we reached Kanyakumari beach. Also, the sea was rough and few people had
drowned in the rough sea earlier here. We soon left for Nagercoil from
Kanyakumari. On o! u r way our driver took a small detour to the the Suthavali
beach. The sea here looked quite calm, the water had receded and it looked
like low tide. We were informed the sea is misbehaving since morning, water
receding and coming out again. We saw the beach for about 5 minutes and were
about to leave, when right at the horizon we saw a wave slowly forming. The
wave, very drastically started building and showed no sign of collapsing. It
rose higher and higher and higher. It was simply fantastic to see this and I
hard some one shouting, "look, look, it is a miracle, one cant see such a
spectacle again". yes, it was. I had already instinctively started filming
it on my video camera. The wave occupied the whole sea as one huge wall,
strong menacing, dark, casting its own shadows, frothing and fuming, it was
advancing towards the shore at a very high sped. It was apparent, we had no
chance to escape. We all ran. Our car was just parked ab! o ut 20 feet behind
us. Actually the road was in a much higher position from the beach, even the
usual high tides have no chance to reach the roads. But this is was
different. I can easily say, the hight of this tidal wave could be easily a
two storied buliding at its peak. (We found out later the speed of the
Tsunami wave is something like 800 kms per hour, the speed of an aircraft!)
Before we even reached the car, the wave hit us squarely. The driver of our
vehicle had already got in, while the friend's family was just behing the
car, and I was also running to hide behind the car. The next thing I saw was
the waves had entered, lashing at us and it just took the car and tossed it
in to the air, We all got drowned and dragged for about half a kilometer,
through a very rough surface, consisting of cocunut groove, trees, bushes,
ditches, rocks, walls, fencings, and all sorts of objects. There was just 2
thoughts in my mind as I was! drowning and being dragged. Somehow, to hold
your breat and not to leave the camera. I was simply fascinated by the force
of this wave. It must have been more than a minute, I could not hold my
breath any longer and I thought, this is the end for me. Just then my head
surfaced from the water into the air. But now the water that had dragged me
all the way inside, started receding back towards the sea. I was again
dragged back and with great effort I stopped myself, holding a pole and a
broken tree.</p>

<p>To my amazement, I realised, I have not suffered any major injury. I slowly
got up dazed, feeling lucky and with disbelief. I had held on to the camera
very firmly in my right hand palm, throughout. I clambered on to a mount
near by, and I saw, another 3 or 4 men surfacing and walking in dazed
condition. We started hearing, moans, cries for help from different
directions. The whole place looked devastated, water everywhere. There were ! < BR>many in awkward positions caught in ditches, trapped, seriously injured.
Many had broken legs and arms. Everyone's dresses had been ripped off. We
managed to lift some 5 to 6 people out from the water and put them in a
higher plane, behind a tree. I told them to hold on to the tree, in case the
water comes again. I started looking for my friend's family. There were many
dead bodies scattered around. I found our ambassador car, some 100 metres
from the road, crushed inside the cocunut groove. The driver was lying dead
inside. Later after much search, I found Akhila, dead in a small pool of
water, her right hand ripped off. There was panic in the air, and people
were shouting at us to leave the place, as there was chance for another
wave. I reached the village on the other side, away from the sea walking
through, hip deep water. Akhila's mother too had survived, and she was
walking towards the village in a dazed condition.! She was ble ading from her
legs and hands. We heard Akhila's son too had survived and has already been
sent to the hospital. I along with Akhila's mother, and many more injured
people, were rushed to a nearby hospital and recieved first aid treatment.
We later reached Sundar Ramaswamy' house in Nagercoil and found out the boy
is safe in a hospital. By evening Akhila's father was found in serious
condition and admitted in the hospital. Many bodies have been brought to the
morgue in Nagercoil, and we identified the bodies of Akhila, her small 2
years old child, the driver of the vehicle. More then 500 people had died
from this wave.</p>

<p>My camera Sony PD 100, had broken, water and sand had entered inside. It
has become moulded piece. I do not know, if the camera could be repaired.
There is very little chance for the footage to be salvaged. If it can, then
it might well be very unique images of the Tsunami wave formation and its
p! ower. I hav e not yet seen any image in the Television, which I saw in this
beach.</p>

<p>I am still recovering from the shock. I am taking treatment for my elbow,
knee injury. Sundara Ramaswamy and his lovely family is taking care of me. I
plan to say under their care till the 1st Jan and then return to Chennai.
Akhila, her child and the driver were cremated 2 days back. Today, I saw
Akhila's parents in the hospital. Her mother is out of danger, while the
father and her 6 years old son are still in ICU battling for their lives."</p>

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<p>Why do we have to keep bumping this?
Vaishnavi, that's such a sad post...:(</p>