The Tsunami Disaster

[Fair_play_boy]

The St. Stephens Day tidal wave / Tsunami which struck south-east Asia has already been described as the equivalent of a nuclear holocaust. I think that is an appropriate comparison, not just because of the biblical proportions of the loss of life, but because it is likely that tens of thousands more will die of malnutrition and disease, as parts of Sumatra, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand are so devastated, even the health services, police forces and communications infrastructure have been wiped out.
As if that is not bad enough, un-named western countries have added another problem. They have allegedly asked the governments of those four countries not to bury unidentified remains of people killed in the tragedy, as they want to confirm which of their western citizens are dead.
Now, I can accept the reasons why this request has been made. People want to grieve properly for their loved ones and give them a proper burial. But at what cost? It has now been five days since the disaster. As each day passes, tens of thousands of bodies are further de-composing in the tropical heat, and these deadly conditions have probably already started the spread of cholera and other killer diseases. Much as I agree with the importance of identifying bodies for grieving families in every country, is this worth the loss of even one life? I don't think so. I have nobody belonging to me out there, Thank God, and maybe I don't have the right to say this, but I think the people of those four countries have suffered enough without governments (maybe including our own) putting this extra burden on them, at a time when they rely so heavily on aid from us and other countries.

[stickyjoe]

well said - below are charity numbers if anyone wants to do their bit.

Irish Red Cross: 1850 50 70 70
Concern: 1850 410 510
Trócaire: 1850 408 408
UNICEF Ireland: 1850 767 999
GOAL: 01 2809779
Oxfam Ireland: Lo-call 1890 60 60 65

[shedite]

Done!

Kinda sickening to see people going into town spending crazy money in the sales when that money could be used so much better in asia.

[lopez]

I have been a bit miffed that this catastrophic event has taken so long to reach this board. 9/11 would be about 10 pages now and yet no one - including myself - has felt the need to start a thread or comment. Normally this is all something in a far off land that we know little of. However now it's hit home that many of our own citizens are amongst the dead.

This is a sticky question re the immediate burial of the dead. It goes without saying that the leaving of bodies around in heat is dangerous. I would like to be buried in a place of my choice but not at the cost of bringing thousands with me. This event is a (hopefully) a once in a lifetime mega-tragedy. Western governments should not be dictating over something as dangerous as controlling the spread of disease.

BTW, for those living in Britain donations can be made through the Disasters Emergency Committee.

https://www.donate.bt.com/bt_form_dec.htm

[dortie]

Done!

Kinda sickening to see people going into town spending crazy money in the sales when that money could be used so much better in asia.

Did you see the two British tourists sitting in a bar with bottles of Heineken, father and son :eek:

Right in the middle of it all too, aye sure lets go for a beer :confused:

[Duncan Gardner]

Fair Play Boy: some British press reports have suggested that western consular and other people locally have asked for bodies of foreigners not to be buried in mass graves. However, the only confirmation I've heard came from a Thai government official who said it was essential to protect the tourist industry (ie, the only industry in many of the affected areas).

Dortie- let's not rush to judge, eh?


Happy New Year.

[Pauro 76]

I will say that it is fantastic that most bars over here have collection buckets for the disaster and everyone has helped out in some small way. Its impossible for nobody to be affected by this.

[ollie]

I will say that it is fantastic that most bars over here have collection buckets for the disaster and everyone has helped out in some small way. Its impossible for nobody to be affected by this.

yeah a load willl be collected that way.the collection that was in the bar where i work was full of notes with plenty of 50's in there as well.just shows how much people are concerned with the whole situation and want to do their bit to help.

[Risteard]

I have been a bit miffed that this catastrophic event has taken so long to reach this board. 9/11 would be about 10 pages now and yet no one - including myself - has felt the need to start a thread or comment. Normally this is all something in a far off land that we know little of. However now it's hit home that many of our own citizens are amongst the dead.
https://www.donate.bt.com/bt_form_dec.htm

I'm very uncomfortable with all the talk of 'our citizens' and stuff like that especially with things like 'dozens of british(irish/american) tourists are thought to be caught up in it and are likely to be among the dead.
As i said before a life is a life is a life.
You're right though in that this really does dwarf any terrorist act such as 9/11.
Thankfully, i think people are responding in kind.

[eoinh]

The western world will forget about them very soon dont worry.

I mean who now gives a thought to the Iranians of one year age or the earthquake in Bam in Armenia.

I see the Burmese/Myanmar govt are claiming only 53 people were killed in the Tsunami. An RTE correspondent was denied entry but went by the area in a boat and he said the scene is exactly like Thailand. The military dictatorship in burma obviously dont want publicity.

[dahamsta]

I have been a bit miffed that this catastrophic event has taken so long to reach this board.I was surprised, but I don't see why anyone would be miffed, aside from the fact that there wasn't a convenient list of places one could donate. I mean what's there to say, beyond "it's terrible"? You can't say "what could have been done" like 9/11, because it's a natural disaster. I guess you could discuss the social consequences, but again, it's different to something like 9/11. I guess most people have enough on their plate at the moment, they just want to make their donation and put it aside, since realistically that's all they can do.

BTW, you can make a donation to the Irish Red Cross here (http://www.redcross.ie/help/donate_now.php). Thanks to the Examiner for the info, who were the only mainstream Irish news source I could find with a link to an aid agency on their homepage. Now there's something that should miff people.

adam

[patsh]

The western world will forget about them very soon dont worry.

I mean who now gives a thought to the Iranians of one year age or the earthquake in Bam in Armenia. Don't want to turn his into a political thread, but the big story for most "western" news agencies is that so many first world citizens were killed/had a story to tell. The main interest for our news media is the spectacle/scale of the disaster and the holidaymakers out there.

[eoinh]

I mean what's there to say, beyond "it's terrible"? You can't say "what could have been done" like 9/11, because it's a natural disaster.

There are things that could have been done actually adam.

(1) There is no proper reporting of Tectonic Plate Movement in poorer areas. These are all properly monitered in other areas of the world. Developing nations in many cases dont have the money to invest in these type of facilities.

(2) The waves struck many of the areas hours after the earthquake. There was time to evacuate people. I belive one email was send to Indonesia to warn them. No one followed up this email, no other countries were warned.
No one even bothered to ring. Indonesia in reality was beyond saving as it was too close to the quake but areas like Thailand or Sri Lanka would have had a little time to react. These countires should have been contacted and warned.

[Babysis]

I've sat all over Christmas and the New year watching this awful disaster unfold. I still cant understand or comprehend. It just brings everything into perspective, nothing matters at the moment, it makes no difference what religion or nationality they are, it is just a huge loss of innocent life.

[lopez]

I'm very uncomfortable with all the talk of 'our citizens' and stuff like that especially with things like 'dozens of british(irish/american) tourists are thought to be caught up in it and are likely to be among the dead.
As i said before a life is a life is a life.You're right. It feels uncomfortable to expect the British or Irish government to help people get home with serious injuries etc. at the expense of people who will die from curable and preventable ailments like gangerous and septic wounds. Sadly it's preciscely the fact that there are huge numbers of 'Westerners' killed that has prevented this disaster from going the way patsh rightly predicts as fast as it normally would (ie: two to three days).

DH & EH: There is always scope for the reduction of deaths. And looking at the coastline of even Sumatra, climbing 100 metres up a hill would have saved countless lives in many areas. From Sumatra to Sri Lanka must be about 1000 miles. Add another to Somalia. What speed was the wave travelling at? Faster than the spped of sound?

[dahamsta]

There are things that could have been done actually adam.I realise that Eoin, I was talking more along the lines of conspiracy theorising. 9/11 lent itself to gossip and theorising, still does, this just demonstrates incompetence on a grand scale in that neck of the woods, which many people will view as par for the course. Unfortunately.

adam

[lopez]

I realise that Eoin, I was talking more along the lines of conspiracy theorising. 9/11 lent itself to gossip and theorising, still does, this just demonstrates incompetence on a grand scale in that neck of the woods, which many people will view as par for the course. Unfortunately....and a lack of lots of money.

[dahamsta]

...and a lack of lots of money....which demonstrates that it's not just local incompetence, it's international incompetence. Put the ethical considerations aside for a moment and consider this solely on a financial footing: Imagine how much the West would have saved if they had taken it upon themselves to install an early warning system.

That said, I'm no expert on the area but I'm pretty sure a few of the countries affected could well afford domestic early-warning systems at the very least. I have no doubts that bureacracy and corruption came into play.

Course we shouldn't talk, the Irish are absolute experts in double-billing for projects. ("I know we quoted you €40m, but now it's €50m, take it or leave it.") Ireland was tied with Chile on the corruption index last time I looked...

adam

[Lionel Ritchie]

Very very sad to think that many lives could have been saved in places like Sri Lanka and Thailand for the want of some telephone calls.

Heard this morning that Gordon Browns calling for affected countries to have their debts suspended to help them get back on their feet. Just looking for any threads of a silver lining -if such a suspension were to take place and were shown to have helped it could show the world how a poor country with crippling debts could be jump started if those debts were lifted.

[lopez]

On a smaller scale, I was talking to a bloke at work last week who's got a relative with the Fire Brigade in the South Midlands of England. They were trying to set up a service to txt people should a flood alert occur in the area but the technology for sending thousands of calls at one time isn't there. However a system similar to an air raid siren along coasts or in earthquake areas could at least be beneficial, and while not cheap, not impossibly exhorbitant.

BTW DH, Ireland are now ranked with Botswana in the corruption index (Chile has become less corrupt than Ireland) although Germany are barely higher and Ireland is officially more 'honest' than France.

[mypost]

You're right though in that this really does dwarf any terrorist act such as 9/11.

The only comparison this disaster has with what happened in America is the 24-hour rolling news coverage devoted to it. What happened in New York was Mass Murder on a barbaric scale against Westerners, by enemies of freedom and democracy and our lifestyle.

What happened in Asia was a natural disaster. Earthquakes happen every once in a while. Earthquakes under the sea automatically result in tsunamis. Unfortunately, in places like Asia and other underdeveloped countries, there will inevitably be mass casualties from such a disaster. This one was compounded by the fact that some of the countries affected had between 2-4 hours notice of the resulting catastrophe, and not much was done by the authorities in that time, which contributed to the terrible death toll.

One earthquake killed 50,000 people in Iran on St Stephen's Day 2003. How many people care about them now? Soon enough, another disaster will happen somewhere, then the media, cameras, and charities will leave those affected by this disaster behind, to rebuild their lives alone. The only time you'll hear about them from then on, will be in news reviews.

[patsh]

What happened in New York was Mass Murder on a barbaric scale against Westerners, by enemies of freedom and democracy and our lifestyle.Listening to far too much Fox "News" Propaganda.

[Macy]

A few things....

1) Disgusting to hear last night about all the Governments that haven't honoured their pledges made to previous natural disasters - eg the Bam earthquake. And credit to ours for being one of the few that always has

2) 3 minute silence today at 11. Fair play, but wasn't their a national day of mourning when a few thousand yanks were killed? Businesses had to be seen to close, whether they wanted/could afford to or not.

3) Hopefully some warning system will be put in place, but terrible as it was, this is a once in 700 years event in the indian ocean - you can't really blame such a system being top priority.

[Plastic Paddy]

You do your argument no favours at point 2 by belittling the victims of the 11 September 2001 terrorist atrocity in the way you do. Come on Macy, you're better than that, surely?

:ball: PP

[Macy]

You do your argument no favours at point 2 by belittling the victims of the 11 September 2001 terrorist atrocity in the way you do. Come on Macy, you're better than that, surely?

:ball: PP
Seriously didn't mean to belittle the victims of 11th September, but at the same time do a few thousand victims of terrorism count for 150,000 (and counting) victims of a natural disaster? If anything it's the Governments belittling far larger scale tradegies that have occured since 11/09/01.

[eoinh]

I saw on TV last night that some of the children left parentless by the Tsunami are already being rounded up by those involved in the child sex trade. Apparently, one of the stories related was about a young swedish boy who was rescued with only small injuries and was brought to hospital. A few hours later a "westerner" turned up and walked out with him and he hasnt been seen since.

[Babysis]

We watched that on Sky News last night. That poor boy's father, was just in shock. Its just disgusting, to think that that boy managed to survive the wave that killed his mother, only to be abducted. It makes me feel sick to think there are people capable of doing that. I just hope they find him safe and well.

[patsh]

Seriously didn't mean to belittle the victims of 11th September, but at the same time do a few thousand victims of terrorism count for 150,000 (and counting) victims of a natural disaster? If anything it's the Governments belittling far larger scale tradegies that have occured since 11/09/01.Bang on. Bertie was extremely quick to decide on a whole day of mourning for the 11 of September victims, so why only 3 minutes for a much larger loss of life?
Why not a second of silence for Bam, Iraq, Darfur, Honduras etc. etc?
Whether it is deliberate or merely simple ignorance, there is a definite value judgement on what is deemed worthy of silence and what isn't, and it appears that the loss of "white"/"first world" lives is the main criteria.

On a different topic, has anybody found that Charlie Bird and particularly, Mark Little, are getting extremely annoying on their so-called "reportage" of the disaster?
Little has for the last 2 reports I saw referred to a "mob" and "fighting crowds" at food handouts. On both occasions, small groups, the "mob" consisted of about 10 people, were simply pushing forward to get what aid they could, I've seen worse pushing in chippers on Saturday nights.
Bird has plumbed the depths of banality with such brilliant reports like "this place, once a paradise, has been shattered by an awesome wave, which managed to uproot trees and move vehicles". He spouted this sh*t last night, 10 days after the event.
RTE would be better donating the large expense these bozos are costing them to some victims who could actually use the money wisely.

[lopez]

We watched that on Sky News last night. That poor boy's father, was just in shock. Its just disgusting, to think that that boy managed to survive the wave that killed his mother, only to be abducted. It makes me feel sick to think there are people capable of doing that. I just hope they find him safe and well.Some bloke at work's initial reaction to the tsunami was 'wonder how many paedophiles were killed?' He's a bit of a crank and started going on about Arthur C Clarke but the area (especially Sri Lanka) has a reputation as a haven for paedo-tourists. Terrible news. One thing though is that they don't send nonces to a short stretch in Thailand followed by a sensitive rehabilitation programme complete with sheltered accommodation to help them 'reintegrate into the community.' I may be wrong but I believe 'treatment' there is far less 'humane'.

[Plastic Paddy]

Seriously didn't mean to belittle the victims of 11th September, but at the same time do a few thousand victims of terrorism count for 150,000 (and counting) victims of a natural disaster? If anything it's the Governments belittling far larger scale tradegies that have occured since 11/09/01.

A fair point Macy, and wrong of me to pull you up on it so. I missed the nuance the first time round. :o

:ball: PP

[Macy]

A fair point Macy, and wrong of me to pull you up on it so. I missed the nuance the first time round.
It did sound a bit flippant, but it just annoys me the difference in attitude depending on the country effected.

tbh I wasn't in favour of the day of mourning for 11/09/01, but if the precedent has been set....

[noby]

Bird has plumbed the depths of banality with such brilliant reports like "this place, once a paradise, has been shattered by an awesome wave, which managed to uproot trees and move vehicles". He spouted this sh*t last night, 10 days after the event.


I saw that lastnight. I cringed watching him. It's been all over the media with over a week, and he filed a report, as if it was the first we ever heard of it.

While I appreciate you have to go for the local angle, an Irish couple who survived, without a scratch, saying they lost everything (what? a passport, some cash, 2 weeks worth of bikinis and a suitcase) is a bit rich.

[dahamsta]

Jaysus lads, could we ever give up the obsession with ourselves? A thread on the tragedy in Asia, for some reason, brought around to whether we are more corrupt than France...I really think it's of fairly limited relevance in the context of 150,000 people dying...It's a sidebar Conor, don't get your panties in a twist. And since when is it your place to decide how conversations go around here?


You do your argument no favours at point 2 by belittling the victims of the 11 September 2001 terrorist atrocity in the way you do. Come on Macy, you're better than that, surely?How exactly did he "belittle" them? That comes across as a very zionist "hunt the insult" type of observation. (Oops, just noticed you took it back, sorry. Still though, I wish people wouldn't be quite so quick to jump to conclusions around here.)


Little has for the last 2 reports I saw referred to a "mob" and "fighting crowds" at food handouts. On both occasions, small groups, the "mob" consisted of about 10 people, were simply pushing forward to get what aid they could, I've seen worse pushing in chippers on Saturday nights.Sounds like pure Damien Day, from Drop The Dead Donkey. I wouldn't worry about the so-called "mob", it's only a matter of time before he gets them to walk a circle around the camera to make it look bigger...

adam

[corkharps]

Slightly off the point here, great to see the charitable reaction around the world, but over 100,000 people have been murdered in Iraq over the past year by some of the very same people!This is a disaster that definately could have been averted!

[dahamsta]

I'm not deciding how conversations go at all, that's a matter for moderators. But I am entitled to express an opinion on how a conversation has gone, and frankly found it bizarre that we could turn a discussion on a tragic natural disaster into another attempt at national navel gazing.
It's a sidebar Conor, don't get your panties in a twist......

[Closed Account 2]

I mean who now gives a thought to the Iranians of one year age or the earthquake in Bam in Armenia.


Bam is in Iran, about 1000 miles from Armenia - that earthquake was the one at the end of 2003. Armenian (Spitak) Quake was about 15 years earlier - December 1988.


Slightly off the point here, great to see the charitable reaction around the world, but over 100,000 people have been murdered in Iraq over the past year by some of the very same people!This is a disaster that definately could have been averted!

What are you trying to say ? There were Indonesians, Indians, Sri Lankans, etc in Iraq over the past year ? Or there were US Marines (or Insurgents or whoever) in the areas affected by the Tsunami ?

[Macy]

What are you trying to say ? There were Indonesians, Indians, Sri Lankans, etc in Iraq over the past year ? Or there were US Marines (or Insurgents or whoever) in the areas affected by the Tsunami ?
Is it not obvious what he was trying to say? The US, Britain etc are trying to be seen as saviours with hundreds of thousands killed in the Indian Ocean region, whilst over the last year hundreds of thousands have been killed in Iraq by the US, Britain etc.

[Closed Account 2]

The way it was phrased I couldnt tell who was being described. The way it looks to me isnt that the governments of US and UK are trying to be seen as saviours, from what I've read theyre giving far less aid (as a % of population etc) than countries like Sweden - even the Russian Government has flown more high quality aid (by that I mean medical stuff etc) into the area than the US or UK or a least they had as at last weekend.

[boc123]

Is it not obvious what he was trying to say? The US, Britain etc are trying to be seen as saviours with hundreds of thousands killed in the Indian Ocean region, whilst over the last year hundreds of thousands have been killed in Iraq by the US, Britain etc.

The US, British and West help out and ye accuse them of doing it to become known as "saviours" for their own glory. If they don't do anything then it's the "Wicked West" bullying everyone or ignoring everyone once again.

Damned if you do and damned if you don't :rolleyes:

[Macy]

The US, British and West help out and ye accuse them of doing it to become known as "saviours" for their own glory. If they don't do anything then it's the "Wicked West" bullying everyone or ignoring everyone once again.

Damned if you do and damned if you don't :rolleyes:
No, fair play to any country that provides aid. However, can you not see the hypocrisy? I mean the first US Aircraft carrier there was actually on it's way to sit off North Korea and stir things up there when the Tsunami hit.....

[Closed Account 2]

A few things....
3) Hopefully some warning system will be put in place, but terrible as it was, this is a once in 700 years event in the indian ocean - you can't really blame such a system being top priority.

Actually the time frame is more akin to every 100 years rather than 700. Geologists and Seismologists often talk about the "one hundred year rule" whereby a very major seismic incident takes place about every 100 years at plate boundaries. The last comparable seismic incident in the region was Krakatoa in the 1880's, the force created when it erupted was greater than anything man-made before or since (inc Atomic Bombs etc) it also created similarly strong Tidal Waves. Although the number of recorded deaths was around 36,000; it is likely that in excess of 100,000 died as thousands of deaths in Sumatra went unrecorded and unreported.

I'd like to see an Early Warning System, but it could only be part of the solution - having a precise evacuation plan is almost as important when trying to minimise casualties.

[patsh]

The US, British and West help out and ye accuse them of doing it to become known as "saviours" for their own glory. If they don't do anything then it's the "Wicked West" bullying everyone or ignoring everyone once again.

Damned if you do and damned if you don't :rolleyes:Well lets be fair, the US have said this themselves. Part of a report below, one of many, which confirm this.

US realises late that aid to Muslims enhances its image

The US response to the tsunami disaster is of strategic importance.
The surprising thing is that the Bush administration did not see right from the start the public relations benefits of pictures of American helicopter crews distributing fresh water to Muslims in Indonesia rather than firing bullets at insurgents in Iraq.

But it was unquestionably tardy in its initial response to the biggest natural disaster for decades. US officials themselves admitted this and were quoted saying that the belated decision to send Colin Powell and Governor Jeb Bush to the region was partly to defuse hurt feelings.

During the first three days after the December 26th tsunami slammed into Indian Ocean coasts, Mr Bush had remained secluded in his ranch in Crawford, Texas, in contrast to the instantaneous response of many world leaders to the September 11th attacks on the US.

Critics began complaining that by not speaking out he was missing an opportunity to show goodwill at a time of worldwide opposition to his policies in Iraq.

Much was also made of the comment by Jan Egeland, UN emergency relief co-ordinator, the day after the disaster, that rich countries were "stingy", which stung the Bush administration particularly and set off a debate about America's role in providing aid worldwide.

The New York Times said Egeland was "right on target" and pointed out that the $15 million first proposed by Washington was less than half of the cost of the Bush inaugural festivities this month and that the subsequent increase to $35 million remained "a miserly drop in the bucket" in keeping with the pitiful amount (less than a quarter of 1 per cent) of the US budget allocated to non-military foreign aid.

A Democratic senator, Pat Leahy, commented witheringly that the US "spends $35 million before breakfast every day inside Iraq" and that by missing an opportunity America would have to play "catch-up ball".

US congressman Albert Wynn of Maryland weighed in, saying the president needed to show the world "that Americans do care, that Americans are compassionate, to put a different face on America from what people have been seeing as result of the Iraq war".

The strategic importance of the US response were spelled out by Washington Post columnist David Ignatius, who argued that the image of American power solving problems was the best antidote for America's global difficulties.

"An unpopular America has to seize every opportunity it can - to 'walk the walk' about our values, instead of just talking the talk," he said. "It's a moral duty, but it's also a national security requirement."

The White House was in fact fast coming to the same conclusion by the middle of last week. The aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln battle group was deployed to the region, followed by a Marine amphibious group and a 1,000-bed hospital ship, and fleets of helicopters and C130, C17 and C5 transport planes.

Bush dispatched Colin Powell and his own brother, Jeb, to the Indian Ocean, raised the amount of government aid to $350 million and on Monday, appointed his father, George H.W. Bush, and former president Bill Clinton to encourage Americans to dig deep to help the victims.

********************
This is from the IT, but there are similar articles in quite a few papers.

[Closed Account 2]

There was a medium sized one in Papua New Guinea, I think it was around 1998 and about 3,000 died. That was on a different plate margin to this recent one.

[Macy]

I was just going on the reports I'd heard, of the indian ocean, for the once in 700 year arguement. Think there was one since then (70's spring to mind) in Alaska - killed about 30 people, as it's so sparcely populated, so it didn't really make the news.

[Jim Smith]

Its not so much the early warning systems that are important but the evacuation procedures.

Most geological surveys will pick up and pin-point the location of a potental tsunami producing event fairly quickly. I believe that the Hawaii station was aware of the event in about 15 minutes but were unable to contact anyone in authority in the areas under threat.

Once you have an evacuation you then have the long term logistical problem of looking after the people - no easy task. I suspect that the shelf ecosystems that much of the fishing in the area is based on have been more or less destroyed by the back-wash from the tsunami. Unfortunately the death toll has a way to rise yet.

[mypost]

Bang on. Bertie was extremely quick to decide on a whole day of mourning for the 11 of September victims, so why only 3 minutes for a much larger loss of life?
Why not a second of silence for Bam, Iraq, Darfur, Honduras etc. etc?
Whether it is deliberate or merely simple ignorance, there is a definite value judgement on what is deemed worthy of silence and what isn't, and it appears that the loss of "white"/"first world" lives is the main criteria.

Why 3 minutes?? Why not an hour? The Brits had a 2 minutes silence at their new year celebrations, and another 2 minutes of silence at every football game that week. How many more times to we need to stay quiet for a couple of minutes as a mark of respect?

Minute silences are no use to the people directly affected by the disaster, who lost their livelihoods, and saw their loved ones die. They're more interested in getting food, and aid from those that are there to help them, instead of worrying about which countries held minutes' silences for them. The only reason we had a national day of mourning after the massacre in New York, was to keep the American companies located here onside.

We don't hold minutes' silence for all the people killed in hurricanes, typhoons, monsoons, earthquakes, and other disasters around the world do we? Are their lives not as important? The only reason we had one this time was because Westerners were involved, and killed. If only ordinary citizens of Indonesia, and Thailand were killed, would we care?

This summer, the citizens of India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh will suffer their annual monsoon season. Many thousands of them will be killed, lose their homes, and livelihoods, amid widespread devastation. Will RTE, BBC, ITV, and SKY send reporters for special news programmes from Dhaka, Delhi, and Colombo to cover the disaster? Will they heck! They'll be busy preparing to go on their summer holidays instead. They won't care. Life goes on.

[dahamsta]

Summit approves tsunami warning (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4151297.stm)

World leaders have pledged to set up an Indian Ocean early warning system which could save lives in the event of a repeat of December's tsunami.

A declaration at the end of the aid conference in Indonesia also urges the UN to mobilise the international community for the relief effort.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan urged donors at the conference to convert aid pledges into $1bn cash for urgent use.

Pledges exceed $3bn, but promises have not always been fulfilled in the past.

The leaders said it would take 5-10 years to fully rehabilitate the region.

[...](The pledges have actually reached $4bn now; the IMF pledged $1bn today.)

[Risteard]

I don't want to come across as tasteless but $4 billion seems a brilliant amount to have been raised.
Could this actually be 'enough'?

[mypost]

True, but a few hundred people die on Irish roads every year and we don't hold minutes silences for them either. Is that to say noone cares at all? If there was a train disaster involving 300 caucasian Australians would it be such a big deal? No? Is that because we would value 150,000 Asians over 300 Australians, or are lives to be measured out in media print.

We are talking about a global disaster here in fairness, but if we had minute silences for road deaths, we'd have one (or several) every day. Last March, we had a minutes silence for the Madrid train bombings, but we didn't have one for the Bali bombings 2 years ago. A similiar number of people were killed in both incidents because of the same reason, and many of them were Westerners. So what's the difference between them that decides which tragedy gets a minutes silence? Do we care about one, but not the other?