Gigantic Tsunamis kill over 100K
 

Did anyone else see this on the news? It's insane! The largest earthquake in about 4 or 5 decades created these massive tsunamis that pretty much destroyed some countries like Taiwan and Sri Lanka. The earthquake's aftershocks were in the 6 plus range on the richter scale and some parts of Somalia have even been razed by it. At first Bush pledged 15 million in aid but when people called him on his stinginess he upped it to 35 million. The boy king's coronation is expected to cost upwards of 5 million dollars more than the relief he pledged.

Of cause we know about it, I thought there would be a thread about it on Boxing day. It's the only thing on TV.

It's an awful thing, as you once said, how come we're still stuck with assholes like Bin Laden and all the cool people die. It's the same thign with the Tsunami. There is no God!

Heh, I've been waiting for someone to make a thread about this; I would have myself, but I'm shy when it comes to making threads. Those poor people... I watched a Prime Time special on the tsunami the other night. There were all sorts of eyewitness accounts and videos, all of which were heartbreaking.

One of the eyewitnesses was scuba diving at the time. She and the other people with her were sucked down 20-40 ft. from where they were. When they ascended, they realized how lucky they were to have been so far under because everything near the shore was completely destroyed. According to many eyewitnesses, the receding of the waves was the worst part because it pulled so many victims back deep into the ocean.

Other than cleaning up what is left of the villiages, the biggest problem the victims are facing, I believe, is infection. I don't know the name of the disease, but it's caused by contaminated water, and makes the person lose am unbelievably large percentage of water in their body within a mere three hours if I'm not mistaken, so the infected individuals can literally vanish before your eyes.

What's amazing, aside from the sheer magnitude of the quake, is how the body count keeps rising. It started with what, 17,000 from quakes and tsunamis? Then it was 23,000, now suddenly it's jumping up again to 100k. It's incredible how far-reaching and long-lasting the effects are.

Apparently it was so strong it mildly altered the rotation of the Earth? My sister apparently read this on some news site. I sort of doubt the authenticity of it, but my sister isn't one to fall for made-up stories.

Yeah, Raisin, but only by a tenths of fractions of years.

I saw it on TV too. They say there are many Hungarian people out there, and they don't know anything about some of them. Awfull, the weather can be. And there's even more disasters in Asia than the tsunamis.

(I'm writing this just after the start of 2005. It's like a battle out there: blasts and bangs.)

It's really Sad, I wish I could help.

They think the children are half of the 100K.
WEIRD FACT: They think all the Natuaral animals survived!

I was looking at the newspaper coverage of the tsunamis today. In one newspaper they had a diagram of the Asia Pacific region, and all the countries included. They had a dot to represent the epicentre, and smaller dots to represent the aftershocks. Then they had concentric circles to represent the effect as the tsunami travelled through the ocean. It took nine hours to reach India from its epicentre. The distance travelled was enough to reach Australia, and them some. Yet we were completely unaffected. I just stared at the diagram taking it in - for some reason, it didn't want to come our way. I know it can probably be explained with the different plates, and Australia being on a very thick piece of rock, and yada yada, but I was really shocked to see it.

And then on the adjoining page was one of the worst pictures I've ever seen. Hundreds of lifeless bodies floating inbetween pieces of broken houses, everything. It really is a tradegy... I don't have much to say, and I don't think there is much anyone can say. We sit here typing, in our extravagant houses while thousands search relentlessely for their loved ones. My heart really goes out to all of them...

Alcar...

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I think that it is the start of the apocolypse, I don't think that this world will see the year 3000. Upsetting as that may be, but none of us will be alive when that happens coz it'll still take a few hundred years.

Or if I am wrong, it's properbly a warning from the big guy upstairs telling us to get our act together and to unite the whole world as one.

Behold the second coming of Jesus in the year 2005!

Hell, it's a possibility. He would be crucified by the Bush Administration.

Seriously though, this is one of the biggest natural disasters our planet has ever seen. It's unbelievable how the death toll keeps rising. I feel sorry for them but I fear that a billion sorry's wouldn't be enough...

Poor cunts . Hopefully nothing like that will happen again . Check out this site for tapes and news you haven't heard or seen on it . www.worldofdestruction.com

Well, I'll be dead by the year 3000.
Well, sorry to ruin your dreams Busted, your never gonna get to the year 3000.

Scientifically impossible. The only way any kind of natural disaster could alter the rotation of earth at all, would be if one side of the planet erupted into space with enough force to propel earth out of its' own orbit, or it a least make it momentarily spin or move faster.

And people should stop over-reacting about this disaster. It's not the coming of an apocalypse, it's just earth being earth. It's what comes with living on a planet bigger than a moon.

40 years ago is not long ago. My Dad can still remember news of the last disaster of this size. I'm not saying it isn't tragic, but frankly, the public reaction to it has been almost just as tragic in its' own right. It proves that the media is controlling us in quite a horrible fashion.

From a optimistic perspective, disasters like these also have some of the most positive affects on people. They bring out the deepest compassion in humanity. After the shock and other first reaction characteristics wear off, so many begin to devotedly search for what they can do to help the victims.

Additionally, it gives the rest of us a humbling reminder of how fortunate we are for what we have. Life is not something to be taken for granted.

Mawk, you are right that it's nothing out of the ordinary and that it's a natural earth process and the apocalypse is bullcrap. You don't have to be a jackass about people dying though.

A few more things about the tsunamis:
Bush pledges 350 million. Congrats, the guy has done something right.
Death toll wise this isn't as bad as other earthquakes, especially the one in Kobe, which killed over half a million people.

Who ever said I WAS being a jackass about people dying? I didn't even mention the people who died. My post didn't even include them, or comment on them, or make any kind of point about them. Un-natural death is always a tragedy, I'm not denying that at all.

My point was that apparantly a lot of people stand to gain a lot of money from this tsunami disaster, most visibly the media and its' connected companies. All the incorrect information and varying stories that I'm getting from various news sources is causing alarm bells to ring.

This whole event has, for me, been the final step in an ongoing processes that has gradually been confirming my suspicions of a media controlled world, where corporate giants, massive parent companies and conglomerates control society through the media. I originally dismissed this kind of paranoid conspiracy theory as total gibberish, the blathering of the mad, the deluded, and the overactive imagination. But I'm beginning to see now that it isn't any kind of conspiracy, it's merely business as usual. Contacting the global market through any available medium. It's all ad space these days, it's all a chance to increase profits.

The use of such disasters as a conduit for the control of market trends is a testiment to the unemotional nature of the enemy that humanity faces. It's just sickening that we can no longer rely on news sources for something as harmless as information on worldly events. Now there is no telling what is truth and what is lies. The reaction of the public to this disaster, has demonstrated a media triumph over us all.

Now, hundreds of millions of dollars will be poured into various donation funds, off of which I imagine many profits will be skimmed. The amount of money skimmed is controlled by the ability of the media to motivate people into donating.

I'm not saying don't donate, just choose very carefully who you donate to. Don't get all frenzied and give away money left, right and center. Choose registered charities ONLY.

So basically you're saying that our reaction to tens of thousands of people dying is a stimulated response and the media are controlling our minds. Bullshit. Have you considered that maybe there's been a huge public reaction because, to some extent, people really DO care about what happens to other people? Call me an optimist, but I don't see this as a media-induced frenzy. Rather, I see it as a sign that there is some humanity left in the human race.

Yes, a lot of people do stand to profit from this. There will always be commercial entities that thrive on disaster. And there will always be media that sway the general public to the side of paranoia and over-reaction to further fuel this fear and consumption-driven economy. Don't insult the citizens of our respective nations, though, by saying that they, or we, don't have minds of our own. I think the reaction to this is genuine.

Bush is a pretty bad example of humanity, but he is human. I would be quite shocked if even he didn't put at least a bit of effort into helping the survivors of this thing. Of course I'm sure he has additional motives.

I'm not really a big donator. I'm an opportunist. I give money to street musicians and those Santa guys that ring bells around Xmas, put change in the collection tin at my school for hospitals, breast cancer funds and the like, but I don't really go out of my way to help people. Come to think of it, I don't really know how to contact any large-scale charities. I haven't even heard of any for this situation. Maybe I should actually read the news once in a while.

Well, it could be the green-house effect?

I doubt the green-house effect has anything to do with the world's tectonic plates :P

No that's not what I'm saying at all. You don't need to be rude about it either.

What I'm saying is, that the media are aware of how we react to thousands of people dying, and they milk this for all it's worth, to squeeze every available penny that viewers intend to donate, into THEIR donation funds.

You're not paying attention to what I'm saying.

I'm not saying there shouldn't be a huge public reaction. I'm saying that there shouldn't be a media exploitation of this public reaction, and the addition of extra "shock value" falsifications to encourage people to donate further. Emotive language should be banned entirely from news sources, because it's clearly being used to provoke certain actions and feelings among the public at large. The way the media knows how vulnerable the public is, and exploits this vulnerability, by opening phonein donation funds, is a disgusting phenomenon.

You're not being optimistic. There is humanity left in the human race. But it's just being whored by the media.

Yes, don't you find it just disgusting? I'm glad you at least somewhat understand my point.

*sigh*

Our reactions are genuine because we're only reacting to what we're fed by the media and news sources. The more we are fed, the more we react. What we are fed is a mixture of exaggeration, falsification, and truth. Seperating those three elements is impossible for most of us, because most of us have no way of discovering any kind of facts to prove them one way or another, so we're forced into believing all that we hear unless it sounds phenominaly rediculous, like that "news article" that claimed the rotation of earth had been slightly altered.

Well prepare to be shocked - he has already been criticised over his stinginess in the amount of money donated by the USA to help the tsunami aid effort. Also, the money doesn't even belong to Bush, it belongs to the taxpayer. So you could be donating even if you're not. Bush hasn't donated a single penny of his own money.

And why haven't you heard of any for this situation? Because the media wants you to donate into THEIR funds. They have even monopolised the charity.

It's sick.

http://www.google.com/tsunami_relief.html That link also has links to the latest news about the event, in addition to many links to charities that are helping out with relief.

I haven't watched the news in a few days, but I'm sure the death toll has climbed. I also agree that the after-effects of the tsunami - contaminated supplies, spread of disease, etc. - will cause more death than the tsunami itself. Five million people are in need of immediate aid as they don't have the supplies to even survive. It's quite horrible what's going on there.

It shows how lucky we are, to live in the western world and have access to decent healthcare and suchlike. If a tsunami hit Britain or America the people who'd survived would have access to well funded healthcare in France or other states. The victims of this disaster have no chance.

It shows us once again how unity would help the world. But because of Religion that's an impossibility...

I totally agree. We really are lucky to have such good healthcare and I've heard that the U.S. is even planning to come up with warning systems for something like this. I also heard that the activity from the tsunami was picked up all the way in L.A. on their Richtor scale. L.A. tried to warn Indonesia and all of the other countries around it, but they couldn't get ahold of "proper authorities". It's just so sad that an event so devastating as this one happened. I'm going to pray for the families of those that were lost in this tragic event.

The healthcare system in the U.S. isn't all that great. In terms of medicine, we're at the top of the heap. In terms of people actually getting the care they need . . . Well, seen the movie John Q? Yeah.

Canada has a great healthcare system. We could learn a lot from them.

What I mean is, as a whole, western society has advanced. Whereas the parts of the world in which the disaster took place are still stuck back how we were hundreds and hundreds of years ago.

For example, if you lived in a remote area of Texas. You'd still be able to get some malaria tablets to fight disease. Even in the capital cities of the crap countries, people will die as they have no access to any form of prevention or vaccination.

Hehe. :laugh:

Well thanks for pointing ou my brilliant generalisation Mawk. I'm gonna get my ass crusaded now by someone who thinks that somewhere without lights and running water isn't crap.

Well it depends. An urban society without lights and running water, yes, that's absolute crap. A place where there are still huge areas of untouched, pristine wilderness existing still as it did at the dawn of time, that's not crap. That's beautiful. I want to live there. Take me there now.

Yeah, the U.S. has it pretty good. I just wish we didn't squander what we have. In "Bowling for Columbine", the Michael Moore movie, at one point he interviews a guy who's just walked out of an emergency room in Canada and asks what the bill was and the guy doesn't know and he says the insurance covers it. And Moore interviews some teenagers and to them it's like "Why the hell should people pay vast sums of money simply to ensure their health and well-being?" And why the hell isn't it like that over here?!

And okay, this kind of stuff isn't a problem for me, my parents both bring in around 50k dollars a year. But that's definitely not normal around here. People here are POOR. I mean, really really poor. A large part of the population is uneducated immigrant orchard-workers, often with several children and only one parent. And there's no way they're benefitting from the system. The system is crapping on their heads. And they still have it better than people in other countries.

Do you think it's hypocritical for me to live comfortably in a country whose ruling class I detest so much? Maybe I should renounce my citizenship and live in some third-world country. I'd die horribly young and in poverty, but at least my karma would be really good.

Several countries are planning on converting weather buyoys (go ahead and criticize my spelling :() to a warning system that would monitor both sesimic activity and wave height. Had this been in place for this tsunami I doubt it would've saved many in Indonesia (where the tsunami traveled very quickly), but in areas such as India many lives probably could've been saved. I'm all for it.

And yes, we're lucky to be Westerners.