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Massive Earthquake

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What always amazes me is the generosity of people in the US - in the face of such a tragic event. I heard on the news tonight that the amount of private donations from Americans is expected to be phenominal and may surpass our government allotment. So if you think that whatever amount you contribute won''t make a dent, you are wrong.....we are the most giving people in the world. Thanks to those who gave us links to donate much need funds!
 
Another organization I heard about in the news today is Heart to Heart. They have several transport planes scheduled to leave the US in the next couple of days carrying food, medical supplies, and other necessities, as well as crews of relief workers, to the area. The local chapter director said H to H was planning a long term committment to the area, possibly as long as 2-3 years.
 
The news today said the death toll reached 80k+...

The magnitude of this tragedy is unimaginable. What amazes me is how natural disasters such as this seem to hit highly populated, and many times extremely distressed areas of the world.......and...the after effects have really yet to come.....

As a person who has experienced large earthquakes as a child, I can tell you they are not only scary but they can leave you scarred (if you are a scardy cat like me when it comes to earthquakes) forever. I did not experience any tsunamis resulting from the earthquakes I felt, but my mom did as a little girl, and they are indeed devastating to say the least.

God bless those people. Thanks to all who are posting links to how we can help.
 
Donations: Agencies Accepting Aid Dollars

December 28, 2004


Following are some of the agencies accepting contributions
for aid to people affected by the earthquake and tsunami in Asia.

ACTION AGAINST HUNGER
247 West 37th Street, Suite 1201
New York, N.Y. 10018

212-967-7800 x108
www.actionagainsthunger.org

AMERICAN JEWISH WORLD SERVICE
45 West 36th Street, 10th
Floor
New York, N.Y. 10018
800-889-7146
www.ajws.org

AMERICAN JEWISH JOINT DISTRIBUTION COMMITTEE
South Asia
Tsunami Relief
Box 321
847A Second Avenue
New York, N.Y. 10017
212-687-6200 ext. 851
www.jdc.org


AMERICAN FRIENDS SERVICE COMMITTEE
AFSC Crisis Fund
1501 Cherry Street
Philadelphia, Pa. 19102
215-241-7000

www.afsc.org

AMERICAN RED CROSS
International Response Fund
P.O. Box 37243
Washington,
D.C. 20013
800-HELP NOW
www.redcross.org

CARE
151 Ellis Street
Atlanta, GA 30303
800-521-CARE

www.care.org

CATHOLIC RELIEF SERVICES
Tsunami Emergency
P.O. Box 17090
Baltimore, Md.
21203-7090
800-736-3467
www.catholicrelief.org

DIRECT RELIEF INTERNATIONAL
27 South La Patera Lane
Santa
Barbara, Calif. 93117
805-964-4767
www.directrelief.org

DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS
P.O. Box 1856
Merrifield, Va.
22116-8056
888-392-0392
www.doctorswithoutborders.org

EPISCOPAL RELIEF AND DEVELOPMENT
Emergency Fund
P. O. Box
12043
Newark, NJ 07101
800-334-7626
www.er-d.org

INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF RED CROSS/RED CRESCENT

www.ifrc.org

INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL CORPS
Earthquake/Tsunami Relief
1919 Santa Monica Boulevard,
Suite 300
Santa Monica, Calif. 90404
800-481-4462
www.imcworldwide.org

INTERNATIONAL ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN
CHARITIES
Asia Disaster Response
P.O. Box 630225
Baltimore, MD 21263-0225
877-803-4622
www.iocc.org


ISLAMIC RELIEF USA
Southeast Asia Earthquake Emergency
P.O. Box 6098
Burbank, Calif. 91510
888-479-4968

www.irw.org/asiaquake

MERCY CORPS
Southeast Asia Earthquake Response
Dept. W
P.O. Box 2669

Portland, Ore. 97208
800-852-2100
www.mercycorps.org

OPERATION USA
8320 Melrose Avenue, Suite 200
Los Angles,
Calif. 90069
800-678-7255
www.opusa.org

OXFAM AMERICA
Donor Services Department
26 West Street
Boston, MA
12111-1206
800-77-OXFAM
www.oxfamamerica.org

SAVE THE CHILDREN
Asia Earthquake/Tidal Wave Relief Fund

54 Wilton Road
Westport, Conn. 06880
800-728-3843
www.savethechildren.org

UNICEF
General Emergency Fund

333 E. 38th Street
New York, NY 10016
800-4-UNICEF
www.unicef.org


link to article





Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company
 
The same friend (an American who is a former Buddhist monk) who sent me the list above from "The New York Times" also sent me this:

" A good friend in Connecticut, sent me an additional website that some of you may find helpful. The website is www.charitynavigator.org which is an outfit that examines the way various charities in many different categories work, and the site rates these charities for their efficiency in getting the funds donated to the people they serve. I''m sure that sorting out the many charities is not a perfect science, but for those of you who like me, have heard that sometimes the money is not as wisely spent as one might hope, you may find this site helpful in deciding where your donations might be most effectively used."

charity information
 
I dont know how true this is and if it still applies today, but it was posted on a blog on December 28th, 2004 11,03 pm:

This as an e-mail which was forwarded to me by my brother Niresh who himself was an AP correspondent in Sri Lanka. It describes how desparate the country is. Please Please help.

Hello All,
This is just to let everyone know the REAL situation prevalent in the South. I, along with another journalist and photographer went down to Matara, Galle and other outlying towns yesterday. I just got back a few hours ago and am heading back down there at 2pm local time today (28th).

The Television Media (esp STATE RUN TV) is painting a picture a pretty picture of aid being sent and everything being alright. Yesterday, more than 36 hours after the first waves hit the south, there was still NO aid in EITHER Galle or Matara. That means there was nothing. Zilch.

In Galle at the Cathedral, there were close to 700 people. The Father there said that locals had provided aid. No government stuff had come at all. How odd. There were infants who did not have formula milk. Yet the Government had 'mobilized' every unit under the sun. Hmmm..

Now with all the aid being sent from here, my questions is WHERE is all that stuff going? So just be careful. My advice is not to send aid through the State. Villagers near Kamburupitiya (inland from Matara) said that the Police were pilfering stuff. My advice is to send aid through Churches, Temples or other religious institutions, where corruption will be a lot less.

Secondly, despite the lovely picture of 'humanity being helped' that the State is painting, the south (and I believe the east, we have a correspondent there who said it's worse off in fact) is very very badly hit.

In Matara, there were not enough police officers to transfer bodies to the graves. There were no officers to record the deaths. The hospitals were barely functional. It is not fun. And the Government, for the last 36 hours has done JACK. I'm sorry Mr. Prime Minister, but your seat is suffering the most. What are you doing? There are (or WERE last evening) 5000 bodies in the Hambantota town. Not moved. 36 hours after the wave. What is the Government doing?

What about the UN? The ICRC? With all due respect to both organizations, their presence was not seen or heard in any of the place we went to. How long does it take a prominent international aid organization to get down to a danger area? One and a half days? Two? How long?

So my plea to you is, please, please help. Sri Lanka needs you. We have never seen destruction like this. Those of you who have already responded, thanks. To those of you who are still thinking of helping - please do so. Just get in touch with a religious organization and send the stuff. Do not trust the state.

If you are going down there, go in groups. People are looting very badly. Don't travel after dark. If you want to help out here there are areas where volunteers are wanted very badly - Mattakuliya, Ratmalana etc. Find out and go. Again, try and work with private / aid / religious organizations. Sorry GOSL but you really dropped the ball this time. Don't trust them.

For those of you who were out clubbing Saturday night, here's a thought. Those clubs could have been hit first, if the wave came further up the coast. So please, if you want to party, go ahead. But just put your Sri Lankaness aside.

It's time to come together. It's time to do something. There is a lot of TALK going around. Lets see how many of us can do something.

Thanks, and God Bless you all,
Mahangu
Mahangu Weerasinghe,
Freelance Journalist,
The Sunday Times News Desk,
Colombo,
Sri Lanka.
 
Amazing Tomatoe.

One of my best friends (and my wifes boss) just gave a heap of cash to his brother in law who has lived in Columbo for several years and works with Expats as an architect specializing in amazing beach houses around Galle.

Graham gave him the cash and he took his 4WDrive loaded with water, tooth brushes and all sorts of hygeine and simple foods etc and has dirven down from Columbo. It seems he too does not trust the govt to get things done.

Even though I know that red Cross employs a lot of people and 1/3rd of the money is spent on them, I donated to them because I felt their established infrastructure would lead to rapid deployment. I hope this is true.
 
From some of the reports Iv seen the biggest problem is a lot of the roads ran along the coast and are destroyed and a lot of the others arent suitable for the larger trucks to get there.

In some areas there is a huge amount of red tape at the airports getting stuff thru customs.
Some of the countries have basicaly stopped doing customs checks on incoming aid and it has increased how much and how fast its getting to those that need it.

With the US marines getting to the area they should be able to use their landing crafts to get supplies in to the outlaying areas if the red tape can be cut so they can go in.
 
And sadly, be careful of scam organization. I received one call from someone who was supposedly from a volunteer organization I belong to. Not only did they pronouce the org. wrong, they used a nickname for my hubby's proper name. NO ONE who knows him calls hiim this. Turns out they wanted my Credit card info to "charge" a gift.
 
Your safest way to donate is to contact these organizations yourself. The easiest way to get scammed is for someone to call you saying they represent "x" org or charity and get you to give them your credit card info.

I heard today that one group, Dr''s without Borders, I think, have received so much in donations that they''re going to channel some of it to other needs. Between Federal dollars and individual donations the total is very large.
 
Largescale disasters like this are rife with problems.

As tomotoe reports (from the blog) - it is very common for the local government to break down. They do not have the resources (people or supplies) to do much. Of course there are not enough police officers to handle the bodies, or control things. There never will be as the police, and all other goverment services, is sized to deal with problems for a few percent of the population - not with problems for a large percentage of the population. Worse is when the police and other goverment officials are also affected - they get hungry and have families too.

One thing that I note. Very few people have supplies to last even a week if their home was not destroyed in a catastrophe. If half the homes were destoyed in an area (anywhere in the us or world) - the fact is that within a day or so the survivors would have used up most of the available food from the intact houses. So for everyone reading this - I would like to toss in a slight prod.. what have you done for your family to handle even a minor problem (like loss of electricity for a week).

It can take weeks for the major international organizations to successfully deploy to an area. The US military has the best record in the world for large scale deployments - yet it took severall weeks after given the go ahead to put any real presence into Sadia Arabia in the first gulf war (and that was executing a off the shelf plan developed for "just in case", and the military has hundreds of those plans stuffed on shelves).

One report I heard was that the US military is now moving in half of all emergency shipments to the area. Considering all the other nations involved - that is quite the statement.

While money and supplies are needed, the fact is that many organizations can only effectively use so much so fast. More important is the long term aid to rebuild the country for the people who survive the first 30 days (and it will probably take 30 days to get basic adequate relief set up in all the affected areas). Please keep in mind, that in such disasters in the past the people who survived the first month often didn't last the next 9 months as their food crops and shelter was destoyed. This will be a vast improvement on that. What the press has not yet shown is that when setting up the initial help centers the staffs will have to ration the supplies they have and will be turning away many. Only later when there is enough staff and enough supplies delivered can they help all in the area. Ultimately, the major death toll may well be from people injured or starving until adequate help arrives.

However, the good side is that the world is responding and the area will get an unprecedented amount of help. Far more will survive and rebuild than if this had happened 25 or more years ago.

For that the world can feel proud. The real honor and blessing here is in how many we can save - that wouild have died in the past (I suspect that 90% of those saved in the next months would have died if this had happened 25 or more years ago).

Keep up the good work.

Perry
 
I find it very ironic that the very people who are still very active in posting about their precious diamonds are leaving this thread alone and are not posting anything at all.
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I am still in shock over the tsunami. My relatives in Asia are fortunately all safe and sound but I cannot even begin to imagine the horror the victims faced. Thanks for the links posted. I''m sure there''ll be tons of scammers around waiting to make a quick buck on the misfortune of others.
 
Date: 1/5/2005 11:42
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1 AM
Author: tomatoe
I find it very ironic that the very people who are still very active in posting about their precious diamonds are leaving this thread alone and are not posting anything at all.
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Would it make you feel better if I (we) all came on here and posted about how horrible we feel?

Not being a news-watcher I didn''t hear about the earthquake or the tsunamis until a couple days after they''d started. The girls on the LIW thread alerted me to it.

Since that time I have read a few very tragic accounts of what is happening half a world away, and have given what I can to the relief efforts.

In a time of such tragedy, when I have done what I could, what purpose does it serve to obsess about a problem I cannot solve?

Granted I lost no friends or family to the tsunamis, or maybe I''m just coldhearted, but I come to this board as an escape and I feel that adding my voice echoing "Yes, it''s horrible" to this thread doesn''t do anybody any *real* good. This does not mean I did not read it or use the information given here.

I am insulted by the insinuation that I do not care because I did not post.
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You are a sweetheart, Goldengirl. I see no virtue in posting about the disaster or lack of virtue in failing to post about it, either. We all have lives off this board and there may be no one *ON* this board who knows an iota about who we really are or what we really do.

Hugs,
Deb
 
Date: 1/5/2005 11:42
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1 AM
Author: tomatoe
I find it very ironic that the very people who are still very active in posting about their precious diamonds are leaving this thread alone and are not posting anything at all.
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ok... and how would posting about the disaster make it better? does it help anyone? what does posting about the disaster prove? does posting on a forum mean that you are compassionate etc? posting vacuous, sentimentalised platitudes about how it is such an awful situation.

perhaps those who have not posted on here are actually doing something more worthy, donating their money, time, clothes, food to a charity? or perhaps they just don''t think that indulging in pointless pontificating, or worse, narcissistic grandstanding, about a tragedy on a public forum is acceptable behaviour?
 
Date: 1/5/2005 3:48:15 PM
Author: goldengirl
Would it make you feel better if I (we) all came on here and posted about how horrible we feel?


Not being a news-watcher I didn''t hear about the earthquake or the tsunamis until a couple days after they''d started. The girls on the LIW thread alerted me to it.


Since that time I have read a few very tragic accounts of what is happening half a world away, and have given what I can to the relief efforts.


In a time of such tragedy, when I have done what I could, what purpose does it serve to obsess about a problem I cannot solve?


Granted I lost no friends or family to the tsunamis, or maybe I''m just coldhearted, but I come to this board as an escape and I feel that adding my voice echoing ''Yes, it''s horrible'' to this thread doesn''t do anybody any *real* good. This does not mean I did not read it or use the information given here.


I am insulted by the insinuation that I do not care because I did not post.
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I am sorry that you feel insulted and I knew what a messy can of worms I was opening up when I posted this. I do not expect everyone to come and post on this thread, but it is very sad that here we (all, myself included) are having fun talking about a luxury item when half way around the world (for most of you) and right in my backyard, as AGBF said what "appears to be one of the great tragedies of our time", has occurred and it is very-in-your-face where I come from. That''s all.
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p/s: It got you to post something, so at least something good, in a sense, came out of it.
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Date: 1/5/2005 4:32:32 PM
Author: tomatoe
p/s: It got you to post something, so at least something good, in a sense, came out of it.
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lol. Ok. Now you know I care.
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Date: 1/5/2005 4:32:32 PM
Author: tomatoe

... it is very sad that here we (all, myself included) are having fun talking about a luxury item when half way around the world (for most of you) and right in my backyard, as AGBF said what ''appears to be one of the great tragedies of our time'', has occurred and it is very-in-your-face where I come from. That''s all.
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tomatoe,

I don''t think you should assume that by not posting on this thread or posting diamond related material in other threads, people are not moved by this great tragedy. Different people deal with emotional events in their own way. I know that you mean well and countless people have experienced undescribable hardship, loss and pain. Just because some don''t post doesn''t mean they don''t care, aren''t helping, or feel the enormity of the situation.
 
Date: 1/5/2005 5
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5:50 PM
Author: noobie
tomatoe,
I don''t think you should assume that by not posting on this thread or posting diamond related material in other threads, people are not moved by this great tragedy. Different people deal with emotional events in their own way. I know that you mean well and countless people have experienced undescribable hardship, loss and pain. Just because some don''t post doesn''t mean they don''t care, aren''t helping, or feel the enormity of the situation.
Click to expand...

Noobie, thanks for not jumping on my butt. I have been thinking for the past few days about this thread and the lack of responses while everyone still happily goes on posting about diamonds, before actually posting what I did and I will not retract it though it was tactless and offensive. But it did get some responses.
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I keep thinking how I could have been one of those 10,000''s of people killed since it was so close to home and am rather emotional. *sheepish* I am, also personally for the first time in my life, considering going to one of the sites affected to help, most likely Thailand (soft-spot), but am not sure how to go around doing it, so will have to find out more and if it is really viable. This whole tragedy must be impacting me more than I realise.
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I suggest contacting an aid agency and arranging to volunteer through them. It wouild help if you can indicate that you are available for 2, 3, 4 weeks, 1, 2 or 3 months, etc. and would be willing to schedule something in the future (long term needs are actually going to be more importanat than the short term).

Plan on living in crude conditions for the duration - and plan on taking whatever routine medication/birth control/ etc you use with you.

The aid agencies will be more than willing to work with anyone in good health who can be slotted into a future schedule.

Perry
 
Tomatoe, I think it is natural for you to be more emotional and upset over this tragedy than you even realize. It's a tragedy felt around the world, but even more so by those in its backyard, as it is more real for you. 911 caused many Americans to fall into a depressed state as we watched the funerals and suffering of the families. The world cared and was very supportive, but it was our yard, so it really hit many people very hard.

I agree with the other posts. Just because people haven't been posting vigourously here, doesn't mean they don't understand or care about the vast implications of this event, and the suffering it is causing. At some point I think, what can I say that even comes close to being meaningful? I certainly don't want to enter into a debate or arguement about it with anyone. I have too much respect for the people's suffering to debate in on the Internet. This is no doubt the worst tragedy of my lifetime. Colin Powell is in all the headlines here today saying that it is worse than war...

I hope you find a way to help. The whole world needs to help with whatever they can.
 
i just mail in a small donation of $100 to the american red cross international response fund,i hope
this time my money go''s to a worthy cause.the last time i made a donation to a 911 fund ,who knows where my $$ went...maybe it end up in Bin Laden''s pocket.
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too many scams.
 
Tomatoe,

Your backyard is my backyard. I am as affected as you are. What happened is really tragic...

I don''t know what relief agencies in Singapore set up for people to help.. but if you want the info we, Indonesians, use to help (through major newspapers, major banks, etc.) let me know.

BTW, a group of Singaporean doctors have reached the worst hit area (the western coastal town of Meulaboh).. to help treat the people there.
 
Tomatoe, I adore you and I can only imagine how much of a reality check this was for you being so close to the areas of devastation. Surely emotions are running high, especially for those closer to the area and that's understandable. I agree with Lop's sentiments in that even though some of us were far from the actual locations of the 911 events, there was no way we could not be affected or feel helpless by it as this was a country's crisis, OUR country, and our back yard. The same can be said for how I feel with the earthquake devastation and why I feel for you and others so close to the area. I'm sure that no one feels anything less by not posting. Truly this has shaken all of us. I don't think there is room for judging on either side. For those who found the comment offensive, I hope there's a way to channel those feelings positively and be understanding of the emotions running in us all right now. It's a mind boggling catastrophe that we all face, there or not.

Finding ways to help would be most healing I imagine, in whatever capacity possible.

Peace to all.

~kmom
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I have just been approached by the Aussie guy I mentioned earlier who has lived and worked as an architect in Sri Lanka for many years. He is an architect and builder.

He has designed a small solid inexpensive modular house - the first part without bed rooms can be constructed for around $2k and supply a basic living room, kitchen and bathroom with all amenities. He is starting a fund and plans to begin construction in 14 days.
My retail business will be paying for one, and if anyone wants to be put in direct contact with Bruce you may PM me. Ii have known them for about 20 years and my wife has stayed with them 3 times in Sri Lanka (me once).
 
What is there to say? A catastrophe on the scale of the tsunami in Aisa, India and Sri Lanka is an unimaginable horror. The sheer scale of death and families lost, or separated, communities destroyed and survivors left with perhaps physical and certainly deep emotional trauma is mind boggling.

IMO, American people have responded with generosity and concern. Yes! I'm so proud! Please be careful with your intended charity.

For me, I wouldn't even have thought of posting about the fact that I donated to Doctors Without Borders on pricescope..until I read the Tomatoe post. Like Goldengirl said, there are a lot of people who care. We love our jewels (that's true), but we really do care.
 
I found this story fascinating. Apparently the people of one area, reminded of the story of a 1907 tidal wave, passed on to them by their parents and grandparents, knew they should get to higher ground when others thought that the danger had passed.


Oral History
 
Interesting story Deborah..

I am glad to see that donations for this cause spanned the globe in efforts to send aide in the form of donations.

The local grocery store here in Sitka (which is poulation of about 8,000) held a fundraiser for 2 weeks and any dollar amount donated with the purchase of groceries would be matched by the owner dollar for dollar and then sent to the relief fund.

It is very minimal but I was glad to see that we raised 10,000 dollars for the relief effort. 5 grand from the locals and 5 grand from the owner. This is the kind of nurturing which I enjoy seeing, especially crossing cultural, political and ethnic barriers.
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