Quotewell 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
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.
Injustice anywhere threatens justice everywhere - Martin Luther King Jnr.
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
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.
The glass isn't half full or half empty it's just too damn big!
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
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Did you see the two British tourists sitting in a bar with bottles of Heineken, father and sonOriginally Posted by shedite
Right in the middle of it all too, aye sure lets go for a beer
Go lí cúnna ifrinn do thóin bheagmhaitheasach
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.
They're red, they're black
The hatchetmen are back.
We'll support you evermore
Though you never score...
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.
'Fascists dress in black and go round telling people what to do, where as priests.....'
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.
Life isn't all beer and football...some of us haven't touched a football in months
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.
Last edited by Risteard; 02/01/2005 at 10:27 PM.
City definetly have the best bands playing at half-time.
O'Bama - "Eerah yeah, I'd say we can alright!"
G.O'Mahoney Trapattoni'll sort ém out!!
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.
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. 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
Last edited by dahamsta; 03/01/2005 at 11:53 AM.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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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
...and a lack of lots of money.
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...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
Last edited by dahamsta; 04/01/2005 at 3:48 PM.
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.
" I wish to God that someone would be able to block out the voices in my head for five minutes, the voices that scream, over and over again: "Why do they come to me to die?"
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.
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