Prayer for the Asia Quake/Tsunami Disaster

Sadly the death toll has now risen to over 11,300...with more expected. In Sri Lanka alone, 1 million people have been made homeless.

How fortunate and grateful we should be that we can look forward to the new Year, in the comfort and warmth of our homes.

My prayers are with each and every casualty and his or her family.



Update: The death is now topping 150,000. With approx. 5 million people having been made homeless, in desperate need of food, water and medicine supplies.

I would also like to offer my prayers for all the victims and their families of this terrible tragedy. Something like this can happen to anyone at anytime and it forces you to focus on what's really important in life.

Mother Nature can be brutal and that is so sad that we cannot prevent a thing like this... my prayers go out to all those people and their families.

God bless and help all those who lost loved ones. I am somewhat dismayed that no real warning was sent out about a possible Tsunami. Even a layman knows that a 9.0 magnitude earthquake under the ocean will cause a major tidal wave. Why weren't those people warned?????? This was a major failure as there were at least a couple hours after the earthquake before the wave reached shore where people could have been warned. This is an unimaginable tragedy...

Nothing like this has ever happened before, so there hasn't ever been a need for the warning system - as is in the Pacific. Whatsmore, the areas affected are quite poor so they wouldn't have the resources to set any such system up.

And since many of these islands are extremely remote, any warning would probably have reached them too late. As ever we have to learn from our mistakes, it's a tragic shame it is at the cost of now over 60,000+ lives!

All a seismologist had to do was pick up a telephone! No elaborate warning system was needed. And earthquake Tsunamis have killed others in recent history. But that is all hindsight now.

Actually seismologists did detect the earthquake, but had no idea what direction the wave would travel as there weren't any sensors in the region.

Alot of the islands don't have phones, tv's or the internet so wouldn't know know what was happening, unless there was a central seismic monitoring point, that issued status reports every so often.

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Actually, waves travel in a 360 degree pattern from the epicenter (All directions). And Sri Lanka, India, Thailand and most of the other hard hit areas do have telephones, television sets, bull horns and police forces as well as emergency response systems. While it is true there were some remote islands that would not have gotten the word, tens of thousands could have been saved by a simple telephone call. Seismologists knew about the quake hours before the waves struck.. Absolutely NOTHING was done to even attempt to warn anyone.

Edited: All these locations even have the Internet!

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I guess they didn't want to cause mass hysteria? No justification for not warning though. I was under the impression the waves don't travel with equal velocity from the centre -> outwards.

A rupture in the sea floor (of around 10 metres) pushed up the water upwards, which displaced 100s of cubic KM's of water, which turned into the Tsunami. It starts off in a particular direction at least - then fans out?

I was quoting Thailand's Bangkok Post:

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/4129979.stm

2nd article down.

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My thoughts are with all those affected.


This is an horrific event that man had no control over and many can comment with hindsight, yes they could have been warned but unfortunately it just didn't happen, lets now focus on what can be done to help.

I can only recomend people to donate what they can to one of the many charities that are helping, remember every little really does help.

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WG

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While I applaud the prayers,

these relief agencies working in the Asian affected areas need cash funds to purchase at distribution sites water, food, shelter, medicine...

cash donations save on transportation costs on donated materials

you can donate at:
Amazon:
s1.amazon.com/exec/varzea...34-2853546

Doctors Without Borders
www.msf.org/

OxFam: www.oxfam.org.uk/index.htm

UNICEF:
www.unicef.org/


CNN Linked Sites - Many

www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/as....aidsites/

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I just donated $50.00 to the Doctors Without Borders for the Tsunami disaster... it sounds so little but I guess every bit helps... I might even donate more once I am off unemployment... I am sure that if everybody donates what he can miss it will help out a lot of people who do not have it half as good as we do... so please :help out people... they need our :help ... if we can spend thousands of dollars on statues... what is $50.00 to :help out a person in need...

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Anyone know of any orginizations also looking for hands on help state side, I am in Baltimore,MD about 10 minates from the docks. Would love to voluntear sometime and muscle to a good cause, loading trucks, shipping containor's ???

I am going to try and investigate this some more tommaro evaning, just wasn't sure if anyone had heard of anything

Thanks all

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You know BDR, thinking of all the ships at the LA harbor bringing in that awesome North American trade deficit, it would be great if all of them could be sent back to Southeast Asia full of food, medical supplies, etc. Definitely something to look into.

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Thanks Dave, I put in a couple calls today. But in all honesty I think everyone was shuffling tryingto get done there stuff so they could try and enjoy a holiday and after the week the have had I don't begrudge them that one bit.

So I am just going to schedle an early day on Monday and make some more calls I will def keep ya posted.

On a side note, it just hit me...we are just a small group of friendssharing thoughts and prayers for ppl across the world most of which we will never see or meet. But everyone is doing something that that is really a great thing. The internet brings everyone from all walks of life together, here I am sitting on the East Coast and you on the West, Neesa up North ( and temp down south, I'm so jealous)

I don't know where I was going, just really amazes me what a great group of ppl we have here, damnit why can't you all shop at my grocery store. make the long lines so much nicer

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The logistics of the relief effort is really daunting. My admiration goes to all the men and women out there helping on the front lines. Right now, money is the way to go, which in many ways speaks to how lucky we are. I donated money over the weekend and it definately feels better, although it is never enough. American Red Cross is always a great charity year round, and they do their work even after the media attention has left. Hope the new year is more peaceful.

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It really is dreadful. My boyfriend works for an insurance company in Norwich and he got a call from a guy over there who had lost everything - where he was living, his girlfriend was missing, and he was on the phone in floods of tears and Alex could do nothing to help him because the insurance company didn't cover the type of thing the guy was after, so that kinda messed him up for the day when you get a phone call like that and you can do absolutely nothing to help him out. He also heard that there were people SUNBATHING on the beach a mile or so up from where the floods happened and where hundreds of bodies were lying washed up. Disgusting that people could do that. My thoughts are with all the victims relations.

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Well, I've been tossing out my prayers for those their every night. Its the last I can do is to offer them the help by the wya of God.

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I also wanted to add my prayers for all those effected by this tragedy.

Jodie and I were honeymooning in Thailand, and from 19th - 23rd of Dec we were in Phuket and Ko Phi Phi, the areas most effected.

It saddens me to know that so many of the happy people we spent time with, from other honeymooners and holiday makers, to hotel staff as well as the many small family run street stalls where we ate some of the most amazing food, have had their lives destroyed.

I count myself incredibly fortunate to have stuck with our plans to return for Xmas with the family... the thought of what could have been is too much to contemplate.

On a brighter note, I need to mention how impressed I am with the generosity Australian citizens have shown in the face of this tragedy.

The Australian Gov. has pledged an additional $1 Billion, one of our Banks that I am working for has collected $6.1 Million and just pledged an additional $1 Million and this weekend we have a charity music telecast that all 3 commercial TV stations will be broadcasting simultaneously.

I know this type of generosity does not take away the suffering that so many people are experiencing, but lets hope this goes some way to improving the quality of life of those that survive.