<p>Oh no, R. The Swedish boy isn't the primary face on the BBC or Sky International. He's been story number six or seven on the broadcasts I've seen.</p>
<p>The numbers of dead are horrific and the footage even worse. So, so sad.</p>
<p>Cheers,
Well fortunately some of his family was found. Some of the new footage is shocking, isn't it. Honestly, I fear for horrible things out of Aceh. Usually in the face of a local disaster, and of course we have had many, the embassy and other expat affiliated groups would have contacted us by now regarding assisting relief efforts. I am not sure if the lack of requests to this point are due to the timing (holiday) or the government's generally tentative seeming response. So hard to know. </p>
<p>We are just sitting tight for now, but hope there is something we can do, soon...</p>
<p>Haven't had the news on yet this morning, but did see a report on a Sky reporter trying to get to Aceh. He was left on the tarmac with so many other cargo planes. He decried the lack of runways in Aceh. Not sure if that is the case or, as you suggest, the government is deliberately witholding response.</p>
<p>He also mentioned that he'd heard that very few survived. </p>
<p>I agree, very worrisome that you haven't been called...</p>
<p>I spoke to my mother last night. We are originally from Madras in South India, and fortunately all our family members there are OK.</p>
<p>She mentioned that when you arrive in the main train station in Madras, it appears to be life as usual - there's no sense of being in a city hit by a disaster like this. It's only when you get to the beach that the enormity of what happened hits you. Unfortunately, it's the poorest people who got hit the hardest - they are the ones who live right on the water's edge. When you have just a single survivor from a large family, the human mind just appears unable to comprehend the size of the tragedy. Parents, sisters, brothers, children - they've lost everyone and everything.</p>
<p>What a horrible tragedy. It's the people here on CC and other internet forums where I am active have have provided the "faces" for me. The sheer masses of people involved are incomprehensible. My heart goes out to everyone here who has family or friends affected, as well as all of the people we will never know about.</p>
<p>Seoul Airport </p>
<p>Uneventful thus far already 18 hours traveling. I got into a nice, long conversation with a United Airlines steward about the tsunami. Luckily for me, Aliyah was along for quasi-scientific questions. Through pure serendipity, she had taken a class at Smith in the geology department on Natural Disasters last term, which put her about 98% ahead of us mere mortals. We discussed how for the last hour in the airport, I watched CNN News as they played and replayed the destruction of the tourist resorts in Phuket, Thailand, the amazing story of the reunification of a little one-year old BLONDE boy with his BLONDE grandparent. It makes for good press. The wave against the marble swimming pool made for good visuals.</p>
<p>But I explained how the press hasnt even touched my mothers area of India, which is not in the least bit remote, and has millions of people, but no BLONDE people, and no tourist resorts. Apologies to all blonde people reading this it has nothing to do with you, and everything to do with the way the media has decided to portray the rest of the world.</p>
<p>Actually, there has been even less coverage of Bangladesh. As I wrote in a series of articles almost 20 years ago, deforestation in the Himalayas has resulted in tens of thousands of tons of soil being washed down to the mouth of the Ganges River, where it empties into the Bay of Bengal some 3,000 miles away I even have pictures of the rivers in the mountainous regions being choked with debris from mudslides and landslides (which was also the beginning of the basis for my childrens story Gaura Devi Saves the Trees which is in The Healing Heart~Communities storytelling book. But meanwhile, huge new islands formed in Bangladesh at the mouth of the river, underwater four months a year, and tens of thousands of people have built houses on stilts there is just no other place to go. I imagine many of them have been washed away, but I have yet to hear a single news report from Bangladesh, and it makes me sorry angry!</p>
<p>I got to thinking sometime last summer, out of the blue, and I really dont know why, which Ive learned probably means it is really important I started exploring some old Talmudic lore about a man called Og. Og doesnt actually appear in Genesis (or at least in the Noah story), but in Talmudic lore, Noah took only his family aboard the ark, but at the last moment, with the waters rising, a man named Og found a ledge really just a chink of wood on which he sat and hung and refused to leave, despite Noahs insistance. For an entire year, with the waters swirling, he hung on, and he was fed (what, I dont know) through a little opening in the arks side. In some versions, he is an evil ogre, who is supposed to serve Noah when they leave the ark, or he will turn wild (feral?) again. </p>
<p>What if the story were different, though? In Jewish tradition, there is midrash, where you can take a tale and turn it upside down and inside out and empty out its pockets, and see what comes out. What if Og was a warning to Noah that one should not, one CANNOT abandon ones neighbors, whatever the situation? Maybe Noah didnt hear God entirely clearly (after all, remember, even in the traditional version, he is a drunkard.) What if Og sits on the ledge the entire year, banging on the outside to be let in, and he was the point of the whole story God put Og up to it, and Noah is just the agent that allows God, through Og, to make a point! What if Noah, after deforesting the area for 100 yearsm was just willing to pick up his family (and his favorite furry friends) and sail away to mess up the next earthly installment, but Og is a reminder that you just cant do it?</p>
<p>Appa my father .is Og. He is 91 and said to be very frail now, though apparently theyve nursed him back to reasonable health (though he cant hear much, and cant see.) He has been arrested so many time for protesting against the predations of the illegal prawn farms, salinating the soil, ruining the watertable, cutting down the mangrove forests, etc. all for profit and prawns on our salad bars that the government is now afraid to arrest him, for fear that hell die in jail. (The first time Aliyah met him was in the Madras City Jail when she was 3.) He is Og, and he wont let the corporations come in and make a quick killing (figuratively and literally) with hanging on to them.</p>
<p>So now hes a prophet. Too many dead to rejoice in prophecy, though now that I think of it, that's often the way prophecy works. The irony is that he vowed not to die until all the multinational shrimping companies were out of India, and we all assumed it would take 40 years, and would joke with him about it. I wouldnt be surprised to arrive in two days to discover that they are all gone, carried off on the big wave. It is unlikely they could rebuild the soil will now be so saline, that the shrimp wont survive. The death of slash and flood aquaculture. But so many dead with it.</p>
<p>I have no idea what well be doing when we get there. Its not a bad space to be well just do what we are called upon to do, and, hopefully, get to write about it. Im not much at digging wells, I cant give a vaccination, and I can haul some bags of rice, but Im not all that strong either. But I can play with kids at the orphanage (kids like me for some strange reason), console those I can, and write! It will be enough.</p>
<p>Thanks for your prayers, good thoughts, and contributions (after the international media tires of the story, we really are going to need all three!)</p>
<p>I know some of the kids on CC have posted how terrible it is that we make a big deal of the tourists, Americans, and Europeans that have been affected. But you know, that is a
natural thing. We first think of our own families, then our extended families, our close friends and so on. The circle extends that way. And by showing that the disaster has hit those we may know as well, does bring in more funds and relief effort which for now is the most important thing.</p>
<p>Jamimom,</p>
<p>I completely agree with your analysis of this. I, at least, remember being a young teenager and wondering where in the world Bangladesh was, etc,and just having the sense that there were these parts of the world where tragedy after tragedy took place and that they were so very remote from me.</p>
<p>But that was pre CNN and I think today one of the jobs of journalists is to help us all feel that we are more the same than we are different. I suppose that for some this means that the first faces we see have to be familiar to us...and in fact, of all the places where this disaster has impacted, the beach resorts of Phuket surely have the best infrastructure and were the first that journalists could reach in a meaningful way.</p>
<p>In the modern era of communication and news delivery no teenager should have any doubt about where this is taking place, what the challenges are, what the unique issues are for each location. At the school my children go to there is a unit taught in MS about the Holocaust. It frames the historical and human rights issues they are learning about.</p>
<p>On a different scale, this event can also be a learning resource. Kids can learn about the religious and ethnic conflicts impacting these locations, the geographic peculiarities of the Maldives, the various religion's responses to suddent death, the economics of relief....etc. The list can go on and on.</p>
<p>If it has to start with a little Swedish boy, so be it, but if in the end the average American kid doesn't know anything more about this part of the world than I did 35 years ago, it will be a huge, huge shame.</p>
<p>Sorry to break up this thread a little bit - but I was wondering if any of you had any clue if it's possible to go over there and volunteer, whether it be now or in a few months, I am very interested and have been unable to find any resources on helping out other than via monetary donations.</p>
<p>If you know of any routes there, let me know.</p>
<p>The best thing would be to contact regular relief organizations such as Oxfam-UK (Oxfam-USA covers a different part of the world, apparently), Save the Children, the International Red Cross. At the moment, it seems the best thing to do is to send money rather than packages. The immediate need is for water, vaccines, tents, blankets. The Indonesian government has been keeping Aceh out of bounds because of the ongoing insurgency, but even in places where access is easier, it may not be possible to accommodate and organize volunteers yet. I'll be interested in hearing what Mini finds when he gets to India.</p>
<p>I will join Mom60 in mentioning Direct Relief International as another option. They are small enough to be flexible, partner with local organizations, and have very low overhead/fundraising expenses. You can Google on Direct Relief International.</p>
<p>My son worked for a week last year at Direct Relief. He told me tonight that he is going to donate some of his poker winnings to Direct Relief. He also got his sister to donate some of her work earnings as well.</p>
<p>I think it depends also on your skill set. If you are medically trained, Doctors without Borders, etc might be worth contacting. Some of the smaller organizations, Mercy International, etc. might take on people faster than the larger groups. Church organizations with a presence in these areas might also be more flexible. I would go to the embassy websites for the various countries (and check the UK and Australian embassy web sites as well) as these might have information about how to help if you are local which you might find pertinent.</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestions. our newspapers listed a number of organizations and how to contribute. Then, Catholic Relief and Oxfam US were on the Newshour last night talking about their relief efforts, combined with Save the Children. Based on the information I have gotten here and from those sources and my familiarity with the groups, we have sent in contributions to American Friends Service Committee and Catholic Relief; and one of my daughters on her own sent in a substantial amount of her own money to Save the Children. It's hard to know which groups have the strongest connections within the countries to most efficiently provide relief. Let's hope that all the money goes quickly to where it is needed and can make a difference in somehow alleviating this catastrophe. It is so very, very incomprehensibly sad.</p>
<p>Jamimom and Robrym-- I agree with you. I think our reactions are simply human nature. I know that as my children have grown, I've always reacted the most strongly to stories of tragedies befalling children their age. i.e my twins were two when the little two year old in Texas fell in the well and that killed me etc. Yes, we react to the Swedish boy, but not because he's blond, for crying out loud, but because he and his family were over there as tourists and if we and our loved ones were there, that's probably what the situation would be too. So we relate to it. We can imagine ourselves in their position. But I don't think anyone was any less thrilled at the story of the baby who was found alive (!) and floating on a mattress just because we didn't hear that the child was blond! </p>
<p>It's my feeling that we should all just chip in to the aid effort to whatever extent and in whatever way we can and not waste emotional energy worrying that others are not feeling as bad as they ought or are somehow not distrubuting their compassion appropriately.</p>
<p>The CIDI (Center for International Disaster Information) which is cross linked to the website for DirectRelief.Com, has this to say about direct volunteering in its guidelines regarding various forms of donations ----</p>
<p>"Volunteer Opportunities for Disaster Relief are Extremely Limited </p>
<p>Volunteers without prior disaster relief experience are generally not selected for relief assignments. Candidates with the greatest chance of being selected have fluency in the language of the disaster-stricken area, prior disaster relief experience, and expertise in technical fields such as medicine, communications logistics, water/sanitation engineering. In many cases, these professionals are already available in-country. Most agencies will require at least ten years of experience, as well as several years of experience working overseas. It is not unusual to request that volunteers make a commitment to spend at least three months working on a particular disaster. Most offers of another body to drive trucks, set up tents, and feed children are not accepted. Keep in mind that once a relief agency accepts a volunteer, they are responsible for the volunteer's well-being -i.e., food, shelter, health and security. Resources are strained during a disaster, and another person without the necessary technical skills and experience can often be a considerable burden to an ongoing relief effort. "</p>
<p>Its frustrating to hear that your monetary contribution is likely to be the most valuable, but possibly you can volunteer your services and time to the organization back at home - there is bound to be increased need now.</p>
<p>The NYT has an article today reporting that in Banda Aceh, the Save the Children organization has been hampered by the fact that some of its staff members have lost family members as well as their possessions. Measles and cholera are being reported.</p>
<p>This is going to be a long-haul effort. Right now it seems that monetary contributions are most urgently needed. Once things have been organized on the ground, it will be possible for volunteers to come and help out. </p>
<p>An urgent need is for shelter. The NYT featured a couple of houses that could be used to provide either permanent or temporary shelter. It mentions Architects Without Borders, an international network of volunteers (<a href="http://www.awb.iohome.net%5B/url%5D">www.awb.iohome.net</a>), Shelter for Life, based in Oshkosh, WI (<a href="http://www.shelter.org%5B/url%5D">www.shelter.org</a>). The temporary shelters are built by Global Village Shelters, based in Morris, CT. (<a href="http://www.gvshelters.com%5B/url%5D">www.gvshelters.com</a>). </p>
<p>I was interested to read that Architecture for Humanity, a five-year old nonprofit organization with members in over 100 countries "hoped to raise $15,000 for victims of the tsunami, enought o build about a dozen houses and has so far gathred $7,000." Our own Mini collected that much in only two days.</p>
<p>Since there have been no foreign nationals in Aceh for a while now, whatever relief organizations are in place are staffed entirely by locals...and probably are without substantive infrastructure either human or material. Measles is endemic in Indonesia, unfortunately- as is virtually every other infectious disease...although cholera is more of a "situational" occurance... There are also cultural differences in the ways people respond to shock and distress, and I think what is being seen on TV reports I have seen, anyways, reflects an Indonesian reality...Local factors.</p>
<p>At the US Embassy website for Jakarta there are indicators of how US Aid here is funnelling their money in terms of the various NGOs.</p>
<p>As far as going in as a volunteer, a young man we know here wanted to go to Aceh and help- his Indonesian is fluent and he lived here for 10 years, knows the culture, etc. He contacted the head of the US Embassy relief efforts here, a man we all know well. This man told him that there was no way that an individual could be incorporated at this point, even someone with fluent language skills.</p>
<p>I wonder how low the barriers really are for access to Aceh for "non-official" foreign individuals. The government has been so reluctant to expose any details of how it has been there for the past several months (years) that even in the context of extraordinary need, there is probably still reluctance- just my guess. Beyond that, the roads are evidently impassible, the flights into the airport in Benda Aceh are stacked up because no one can get out of the airport, and there are goods waiting in Medan for relief, but no way to get them in. Also, fuel supplies are very, very low. </p>
<p>One other thing, this is the rainy season here and while the weather in Jakarta and Aceh can be different, we have been having heavier rain here on a nightly basis than I can remember in years. If this is further impacting the lives of these poor people, than basic shelter is certainly an immediate need. There is a student chapter of Habitat at our school, but I have no idea if there are any other similar groups in country. Would tend to doubt it.</p>
<p>Bleak. It is just bleak, honestly. The numbers coming up now are approaching the right magnitude, I would guess, but still not there by a long shot...</p>
<p><a href="http://www.directrelief.org/sections/our_work/asia_earthquake.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.directrelief.org/sections/our_work/asia_earthquake.html</a>
here is a link to direct relief that shows what they have already done to get medical aid to the area.</p>
<p>Interesting but just now CNN spent a few moments justifying why they seem to be giving more coverage to tourist impacts. They said that most of that footage is being generated because the press is having an easier time reaching and interviewing tourist (and English speaking) survivors. I think there is probably an element of truth in this because so much of the coverage has focused on Thailand which has had less infrastructure damage than other countries. Thus, it's simply easier for journalists to get in.</p>
<p>Sad, sad footage from the first flights over the devastated areas in Indonesia - oh my gosh, entire villages, cities just gone. Horrible.</p>