There are soooo many threads on this topic that I have created a new thread just for this horrible disaster. I have made this into a sticky.

Anything to do with the Tsunami and related to it should only be posted here. Do not start up other threads.

I have locked all current threads and I have listed the links below to each of the locked threads.

http://prince.org/msg/100/127790

http://prince.org/msg/100/127787

http://prince.org/msg/100/127784

http://prince.org/msg/100/127396

http://prince.org/msg/100/127585

http://prince.org/msg/100/127630

http://prince.org/msg/100/127654

http://prince.org/msg/100/127572

http://prince.org/msg/100/127577

http://prince.org/msg/100/127563

http://prince.org/msg/100/127423

http://prince.org/msg/100/127482

http://prince.org/msg/100/127494

http://prince.org/msg/100/127630

http://prince.org/msg/100/127803

http://prince.org/msg/100/128093

http://prince.org/msg/100/128908

Looks like no one wants to continue over here...

Tsunami death toll rockets to 114,000


- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Chris Brummitt



Dec. 30, 2004 | Banda Aceh, Indonesia -- The death toll from last weekend's earthquake-tsunami catastrophe rose to more than 114,000 on Thursday as Indonesia uncovered more and more dead from ravaged Sumatra island, where pilots dropped food to remote villages still unreachable by rescue workers. A false alarm that new killer waves were about to hit sparked panic in India, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

The increase came after Indonesia reported nearly 28,000 newly confirmed dead in Sumatra, which was closest to the epicenter of last weekend's massive earthquake and was overwhelmed by the tsunami that followed. Some 60 percent of Banda Aceh, the main city in northern Sumatra was destroyed, the U.N. children's agency estimated, and 115 miles of the island's northwest coast -- lined with villages -- was inundated.

Indonesia, with around 80,000 dead, was the worst hit, followed by Sri Lanka, India and Thailand. The total across 12 nations in southern Asia and East Africa was likely to rise, with thousands still missing and fears that disease could bring a new wave of deaths.






Tens of thousands of residents fled coasts in India, Sri Lanka and Thailand after warnings that a new tsunami was about to strike after new aftershocks hit the Indian Ocean Thursday.

India issued a tsunami warning at midday, but then hours later its science minister, Kapil Sibal, went on television to announce the warning was incorrect and based on information received from a U.S. research firm.


Fears of a new tsunami were "unscientific, hogwash and should be discarded," Sibal said.


Still, the alert sparked panic among people traumatized by Sunday's devastation.

"We got into a truck and fled," said 40-year-old Gandhimathi of Nagappattinam in India's Tamil Nadu state, who said authorities told her to leave her home. "We took only a few clothes and left behind all of our belongings, everything we had."

Sri Lanka's military later told residents there to be vigilant but not to panic, while coastal villagers climbed onto rooftops or sought high ground. "There is total confusion here," said Rohan Bandara in the coastal town of Tangalle.


Tsunami sirens in southern Thailand sent people dashing from beaches, but only small waves followed the alarms.

An estimated 5.7 magnitude aftershock was recorded in seas northwest of Indonesia's Sumatra island by the Hong Kong observatory Thursday morning, along with earlier, overnight quakes at India's Andaman and Nicobar islands. But a 5.7 quake would be about 1,000 times less powerful than Sunday's, and probably would have "negligible impact," said geologist Jason Ali of University of Hong Kong.

The false alarm highlighted the lack of an organized tsunami warning system in the Indian Ocean region -- which experts have already said may have worsened the crisis after Sunday's 9.0 magnitude quake hit off Sumatra's coast, sending a massive wave racing at 500 mph across the Indian Ocean.

Sibal, the Indian science minister, said Thursday's warning was based on information from a U.S. research group that "claimed they have some sensors and equipment through which they suggest there was a possibility of an earthquake."


He did not elaborate on how the information was incorrect.

Meanwhile, military ships and planes rushed to get desperately needed aid to Sumatra's ravaged coast. Countless corpses strewn on the streets rotted under the tropical sun causing a nearly unbearable stench.

Food drops began along the coast, mostly of instant noodles and medicines, with some of the areas "hard to reach because they are surrounded by cliffs," said Budi Aditutro, head of the government's relief team.

Government institutions in Aceh province, the territory on Sumatra's northern tip, have ceased to function and basic supplies such as fuel have almost run out, forcing even ambulances to ration gasoline.


On the streets of Banda Aceh, the provincial capital, fights have broken out over packets of noodles dropped from military vehicles.

"I believe the frustration will be growing in the days and weeks ahead," U.N. Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland said.


The United States, India, Australia and Japan have formed an international coalition to coordinate worldwide relief and reconstruction efforts, President Bush announced.

"We will prevail over this destruction," Bush said from his Texas ranch Wednesday.


The number of deaths in Indonesia stood at about 52,000. Authorities there said that did not include a full count from Sumatra's west coast, and UNICEF estimated the toll for that country alone could be 80,000.


Sri Lanka reported 24,700 dead, India more than 7,300 and Thailand around 2,400 -- though that country's prime minister said he feared the toll would go to 6,800. A total of more than 300 were killed in Malaysia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, the Maldives, Somalia, Tanzania and Kenya.


The disaster struck a band of the tropics that not only is heavily populated but attracts tourists from all corners. Throughout the world, people sought word of missing relatives, from small-town Sri Lankan fishermen to Europeans on sand-and-sun holidays.

On hundreds of Web sites, the messages were brief but poignant: "Missing: Christina Blomee in Khao Lak," or simply, "Where are you?"

But even as hope for the missing dwindled, survivors continued to turn up.


A 2-year-old Swedish boy was reunited with his father days after the toddler was found alone on a roadside in Thailand's southern beach resort island of Phuket. In Sri Lanka, a lone fisherman named Sini Mohammed Sarfudeen was rescued Wednesday by an air force helicopter crew after clinging to his wave-tossed boat for three days.

Rescue workers on Thursday plied the dense forests of India's remote Andaman and Nicobar islands -- an archipelago just to the northwest of the quake's epicenter -- where authorities fear as many as 10,000 more people may be buried in mud and thick vegetation. Many hungry villagers were surviving on coconut milk, rescuers said.

Mohammad Yusef, 60, a fisherman who fled his village and was holed up at a Catholic church in the territory's capital Port Blair along with about 800 others, said all 15 villages on the coast of Car Nicobar island had been destroyed.

"There's not a single hut which is standing," he told The Associated Press. "Everything is gone. Most of the people have gone up to the hills and are afraid to come down," Yusef said.

Many villagers had not eaten for two days and said that crocodiles had washed ashore during the disaster, compounding the horror of more than 50 aftershocks since Sunday's quake.







Associated Press

dreamfactory313 said:

Kayleigh said:


I'll keep my thumbs crossed for them and hope they turn out to be ok and will be joined again soon.
[Edited 12/30/04 12:34pm]

Tsunami Relief

http://www.google.com/tsu...elief.html

It's hard to comment on something so big, none of us can grasp the horror.

You do what you can; you pray and/or donate. You feel blessed.

Words will here just spill into discussion, which is human. I will accept that my voice is one amongst millions. And deal with this in my own way.

shit, man...this is crazy.

Donate. This is going DIRECT.

'dre

Here some stuff I found on www.96X.ca (my fave radio station). They sent this to me.

"Tsunami Death Toll Tops 116,000

Relief workers find devastation in Indonesia. The death toll from Sunday's tsunamis has jumped sharply to over 116,000 after Indonesia reported nearly 80,000 people were killed in that country alone (CNN.com)

A special note from 96X:
The world really is a small place ... when disaster strikes... we all feel the pain. 96X asks you to keep those families torn apart by the devastating earthquake and tsunami tidal waves in South Asia in your thoughts and prayers. There are ways you can help. Whether it's another part of the globe or at home... Edmonton cares! Thank you from 96X!

HOW TO HELP
Edmontonians and all Canadians considering making a financial donation can contact the following established relief organizations or another preferred charity.


Canadian Red Cross: 1-800-418-1111 or www.redcross.ca
Oxfam Canada: 1-800-466-9326 (1-800-GO-OXFAM) or www.oxfam.ca
World Vision Canada: 1-800-268-5528 or www.worldvision.ca
UNICEF Canada: 1-877-955-3111 or www.unicef.ca
Canadian Tamil Congress: 1-416-751-8777
Canadian Relief Organization for Peace in Sri Lanka 1-416-429-2822
Development and Peace: 1-888-664-3387 or www.devp.org
Christian Children's Fund of Canada: 1-800-263-5437 or www.ccfcanada.ca
Doctors without Borders Canada: 1-800-982-7903 or www.msf.ca
CARE Canada: 1-800-267-5232
Mennonite Central Committee: 1-888-622-6337

3,500 swedes are missing

i just got word from my newspaper that its snowin in Dubai.
And temperatures are goin zero at night over there.
the weather is gettin colder here in asia man...

Ecnirp84

Whateva said:

Thanks, my cousin came home this morning without his family, they'll probably be in coffins when they return. I'm sorry I'm so sad right now :'(

Kayleigh said:

You're probably right, but I can't help but hope for a miracle

The numbers continue to grow...

How will it ever be possible to know all who are missing or gone?

Teacher said:

Why so many?? Where they all on a holiday?

Teacher said:

It is terrible *hugs*

2the9s said:

it wont be ...

Whateva said:

Thanks, you're so kind

one of my good firends and her husbad are still missing ...

Mach said:

So sorry to hear

Kayleigh said:

( oh wait... are you one that doesnt like hugs ??? )

anyway

peace be with you and your family too

Website matches photos of relatives with victims

Press Association
Friday December 31, 2004

A website which will allow families to identify loved ones in the Thai resort of Phuket went online today.
Photographs of the dead and injured taken by volunteers in hospitals and emergency centres have been loaded on to the site. Internet users worldwide who have missing relatives can now upload pictures of them which will be automatically scanned against the database of photographs using a hi-tech facial mapping system.

Close matches will then be emailed back for relatives to see if it is their loved one.

The site, www.peoplematch.rc.tv/peoplematch, was set up by RC Group, a specialist biometric company from Hong Kong. It is free to use and updated every hour.

Volunteers from the company are taking photographs of victims in Phuket and the project may be expanded to cover other devastated areas.

A spokesman said: "We hope it will offer hope to families searching for missing relatives or at least provide confirmation of their worst fears."

we all need to read some happy stories amid all this sadness. here is a link to some stories of survival. i encourage others to search for such stories and post them here as well. we all need some encouragement from this.

http://www.cbc.ca/storyvi...41228.html

Mach said:

No, I do like hugs

I hope next year will be better, this one has been quite hard in so many ways.

fantasyislander said:

i agree.

I don't know if this has been posted already. I came across it on CNN.



The left image shows Khao Lak, Thailand, a popular tourist destination on the southern coast of Thailand. The right image shows the destruction caused by the tsunami.

Just think about Myanmar (Burma). There is no way we'll get proper figures. I can't believe only 9 or 10 have perished there.