Global Disaster Relief's topics - tribe.net

`Disaster fatigue' leads to drop in giving

Rip.............Cor...............Duh — Fri, 23 May 2008 14:32:35 GMT

www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-disaster-fatigue,0,7800466.

By LISA TOLIN

Associated Press Writer

1:21 PM CDT, May 19, 2008

NEW YORK

The numbers are almost too large to fathom, so many Americans stop trying. As bodies pile up in disaster after global disaster, even the most sympathetic souls can turn away.

Charities know this as "donor fatigue," but it might be more accurately described as disaster fatigue -- the sense that these events are never-ending, uncontrollable and overwhelming. Experts say it is one reason Americans have contributed relatively little so far to victims of the Myanmar cyclone and China's earthquake.

Ironically, the more bad news there is, the less likely people may be to give.

"Hearing about too many disasters makes some people not give at all, when they would have if it had been just one disaster," says Michal Ann Strahilevitz, who teaches marketing at Golden Gate University and specializes in the factors at play in charitable giving.

Compared with disasters like the Asian tsunami and Hurricane Katrina, those in China and Myanmar have generated just a trickle of aid. As of Friday, Americans had given about $12.1 million to charities for Myanmar, according to the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. The group said on Monday that it was too soon to count contributions to China.

A number of factors may be at play in the slow American response, including a lack of sympathy for the repressive governments involved, doubts about whether aid will get through, and an inclination to save pennies because of shaky economic times at home.

But Americans may have also been influenced by the quick succession of monumental catastrophes in two distant lands. At least 130,000 people are dead or missing in the Myanmar cyclone, and more than 34,000 in China's earthquake.

"For the vast number of Americans, if they just gave to some disaster far away and then another disaster happens, in their mind that's clumped as `faraway disaster,'" Strahilevitz says. "So they will feel, 'I just gave to a faraway disaster.'"

This problem came up after the 2004 Asian tsunami, an event that brought an avalanche of $1.92 billion in charity from the United States, according to the Giving USA Foundation. Hurricane Katrina eight months later generated even more, $5.3 billion.

But then fatigue seemed to set in. The earthquake in Pakistan that killed nearly 80,000 people generated just $150 million from Americans. And the Guatemala mudslide shortly thereafter that killed at least 800 was virtually forgotten.

If one disaster can be galvanizing, several in a row can be paralyzing.

"It's too much pain, too much tragedy for someone to process, and so we tend to pull ourselves away from it and either close off from it out of psychological defense, or it overwhelms us," says Cynthia Edwards, a professor of psychology at Meredith College in Raleigh, N.C.

A string of tragedies can also make potential donors feel nervous about their own safety, making them less likely to give. That could be especially troubling now for Americans, many of whom are worried about their jobs and rising food and gas prices.

It's too soon to judge the effects of the economic downturn on giving, says Del Martin, chair of the Giving USA Foundation, although early figures show that donations rose in 2007. In general, people tend to give to causes closer to home. In 2006, Americans gave more than $295 billion to charity, but less than 4 percent of that went overseas.

One thing that may make people give to foreign causes is their personal connection to a region, either by knowing someone there or hearing an individual's story, Strahilevitz says. That's something that's difficult when unpopular governments are involved, or media access is restricted, as in Myanmar.

Lurma Rackley, spokeswoman for CARE USA, is heartened that Americans are giving to Myanmar at all, considering the lack of images from the disaster. "There's always concern that the tragedy is going to be forgotten," Rackley says.

CARE USA, World Vision and Mercy Corps all say giving for Myanmar is on pace to match the amount given after the Pakistan earthquake, although the Myanmar death toll appears to be far bigger. That's partly because of concerns about whether aid will reach the intended recipients, with reports that Myanmar's military government may be confiscating the aid or diverting it away from those most in need.

That's part of why Dave Morris, 34, has yet to open his checkbook -- he's not sure he could really help.

Morris aims to give 10 percent of his income to causes such as public radio, the Red Cross and breast cancer. But the engineer from Ypsilanti, Mich., hasn't given to the relief efforts in Myanmar and China, in part because the world's problems seem impossibly large.

"If you thought about at this very second the number of people who were suffering and dying, I could dedicate all my resources to that and yet it would be a drop in the bucket," he says.

Still, experts in the field are optimistic that Americans may still come through for victims of these disasters. The Giving USA Foundation says companies are pledging relief funds for China, perhaps because so many do business there.

"I think we may also see a surge of donations for the China relief effort because of people's frustrations with the Myanmar government's resistance to the aid effort there," says Gerard Jacobs, director of the Disaster Mental Health Institute at University of South Dakota.

Jacobs was in Bangkok working with the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center when the cyclone struck Myanmar, and he got word of the earthquake while in a meeting about helping governments in the region to respond to victims' psychological needs.

"People may feel a sense of relief that the China earthquake presents a situation where the public can genuinely make a difference," he says.

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 1 reply

Survivors of Myanmar cyclone saw neighbors dead in flood waters of stricken delta

Rip.............Cor...............Duh — Fri, 23 May 2008 14:50:27 GMT

Associated Press

May 7, 2008

LABUTTA, Myanmar - Some survivors arrived half-naked, others wore clothes they scavenged from the dead.

Myanmar's rice-trading town of Labutta — the only spit of high ground in a vast watery landscape — has become a beacon of hope for tens of thousands who lived through the cyclone's fury, most losing homes and family members.

The survivors made the journey in rickety wooden boats with makeshift sails fashioned out of blankets, dodging the bloated corpses of buffaloes and dead neighbors floating in the murky waters.

It was a journey from horror to misery for most, who described desperate hours clinging to trees and debris, followed by days of waiting for aid to arrive, in video shot for The Associated Press by a Myanmar journalist.

The footage provided a first glimpse of Myanmar's worst-hit Irrawaddy delta, which has been cut off from the rest of the world since Cyclone Nargis struck Saturday, unleashing 12-foot-high storm surges that flooded the low-lying area of rice paddies and bamboo homes.

"I was hanging from an 18-foot-tall coconut tree for a long time until the weather subsided. I don't know what happened to my wife and young children," said Phan Maung, 55, sobbing as he spoke.

Many survivors were shaking and had trouble telling their tales. Some were angry, others hysterical. Only a few were willing to give their names, fearful of retribution by a government already embarrassed by its failure to bring prompt relief.

"I am the only survivor of a family of 11. The entire village was wiped out," said a man from the village of Yay Way.

Nearby, a woman in her 50s stared ahead in shock as she spoke. "The wind came first and the waves started to roll over us, so that we had to crawl over the thatch walls to get to the upper floor of the house. I saw people drowning and dead bodies floating," she said.

More than 60,000 people were killed or are missing in the densely-populated delta, which sits just above sea level, and as many as 100,000 are feared dead.

Meteorologists say the storm, which gathered strength in the Bay of Bengal and whipped up 120-mph winds, took an unusual track heading eastward into the densely populated delta region where a quarter of the nation's population live.

Jim Andrews, a senior meteorologist at AccuWeather, said that satellite photos taken after the storm showed flooding of similar magnitude to that of Hurricane Katrina. He said water covered thousands of square miles in the Irrawaddy Delta, although it was unclear how deep the water was.

"It's a similar kind of land to New Orleans ... an intricate network of tidal creeks and openings that allow easy access for a powerful storm surge to penetrate right into populated land," said Andrews. "The impact was maybe the same order of magnitude as Hurricane Katrina...."

The survivors in Labutta indicated that roughly two-thirds of the people in their villages had perished.

"About 1,000 people live in my village, only about 300 people survived. All the houses are gone," said a resident of Kwa Kwa Lay. A village headman said only about 100 of 500 people had survived in his submerged town.

Food, clean water and medical supplies were in short supply in Labutta where some survivors resorted to drinking coconut milk.

Those who made it arrived in boats filled to overflowing with survivors from the 51 surrounding towns and villages, most now under water. But each day there were fewer boats, partly because fuel supplies were disappearing.

They plied through stinking waters, past bodies tangled up in mangrove trees and flattened thatch-roofed houses.

Labutta, located in a township with a population of 209,000 before the cyclone hit, was battered by the storm — its communications tower was knocked over, the spires on Buddhist pagodas were broken, windows were shattered. Debris was piled on the streets and roofs were torn off. But many buildings were still standing and helping hands awaited the new arrivals.

Hundreds of people were taking shelter at the Aung Daw Mu temple, where the monks were seen making places for newcomers to sleep and drying out blankets as children scurried about. A private charity group, the Free Funeral Service Society, had set up a couple of big woks nearby to cook for the people.

"Aid still hasn't arrived," said 38-year-old Khin Khin Mya. "My mother, children and husband got separated ... Every day I wait for the rescue boats, hoping to see them at the jetty."

The town hospital was devoid of first aid supplies, medicine or other medical equipment, and no doctors were in sight. Desperate relatives tended to the injured with rusty sewing needles and thread.

A man lay moaning in a makeshift bed, his leg crushed and foot torn off when he got caught between two boats. "There is no help and there is nothing we can do except waiting here for him to die," said his friend.

Another man with a deep gash in his head had leaves and twigs embedded in his skull.

Back at the jetty, people peered at the horizon, waiting for the next rescue boat to arrive.

"I want to try to help as many people as I can, but there isn't enough fuel to carry survivors," said one boat operator, Maung Hyay, whose vessel lay idle.

Nearby, a man distributed soup to all comers. About 30 people gathered around. "Everyone please come and eat," he shouted. "Come, come, you need energy."

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China

dangerangel — Tue, 13 May 2008 04:28:26 GMT

blimey.

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 0 replies

Burma

dangerangel — Tue, 06 May 2008 06:12:30 GMT

15,000 dead?

Will the dictatorship allow foreign aid?

Is it karma for killing monks?

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 1 reply

Bambulance Pilot Project On the Go In Kenya

Rip.............Cor...............Duh — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 21:45:12 GMT

http://designfordevelopment.org/news/20071101.html

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Flooding devastates Southeast Asia Hospitals full of people stricken by waterborne disease; violence flares

Rip.............Cor...............Duh — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 12:08:19 GMT

http://tribes.tribe.net/emergencyservices/thread/67c8b403-f8db-4994-bc65-ae5d63769036?newpostingid=b198ebd5-750c-4f3c-af17-02916332a488#b198ebd5-750c-4f3c-af17-02916332a488

GAUHATI, India - Hospitals in eastern India were packed on Saturday with people suffering from waterborne diseases, and marooned villagers clashed with police as some of the worst floods in living memory ravaged South Asia.

More than 230 people have died over the past 11 days after torrential monsoon rains lashed the region, including much of Bangladesh, causing rivers to burst their banks. ..snip

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The global alert map

Rip.............Cor...............Duh — Sun, 27 Aug 2006 17:58:16 GMT

http://tribes.tribe.net/emergencyservices/thread/57c4c04d-3bdb-4521-8f18-386cd377568b?newpostingid=6497e52d-a73c-471c-9d07-44d4543c5eca#6497e52d-a73c-471c-9d07-44d4543c5eca

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 1 reply

box of t-shirts

Mon, 20 Mar 2006 22:41:22 GMT

i make t-shirts & i have a box of shirts that i can't sell because of misprints. anyone know of anybody/organization at a disaster/poverty site that could use them?

thanks,

zach

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The PEPY ride

Rip.............Cor...............Duh — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 17:11:16 GMT

www.pepyride.org.

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Personal Perparedness Now

Fri, 16 Sep 2005 08:36:15 GMT

I think that in these days when a large percentage of our countries emergency response services are located in New Orleans that we all remain vigilant and observant about what is going on around us. And that we take up the charge to prepare ourselves to survive for at least the first 72 hours after a disaster.

Al-Qaida in Iraq declared war in Iraq this week which means that the troops we have there won't be coming home anytime soon - indeed it will delay the return of a good many troops that have been scheduled to come home over the next 3 months.

Plus Al-Qaida released a video last week stating that an attack on Los Angeles and Melbourne was imminent. I find this to be of great concern because it would be like Al-Qaida to attack when our response capability is highly taxed. What better way to do serious damage in our country?

I think it is important for citizens to call their local officials and voice your concern in this situation and ask that local and federal authorities raise the Security Advisory System Threat Risk to HIGH.

A New York City Event in any other American City while we are working on the Katrina Recovery will be even more devastating than a Terrorist attack by itself. They said that approximately nearly every major American City has sent approx 25 - 30% of its First Responders to the South for the Hurricane rescue and clean up.

Could we try to keep this thread focused on preparedness and not turn it into a political meta discussion. Thanks.

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 5 replies

Detroit Rock Band Jackie Blue to Help Hurricane Katrina victims

jackieblue — Thu, 01 Sep 2005 13:50:07 GMT

Jackie Blue, a rock band based in Detroit and well known for their community work, has partnered with CDBaby.com and the American Red Cross to help victims of Hurricane Katrina. All profits from the sale of our CDs purchased through CDBaby.com will go to the American Red Cross.

To all of the people of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida, we dedicate our song "City Nights" to you.

For more information: www.JackieBlue.com

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 5 replies

Cancun??

Scottica — Fri, 11 Nov 2005 07:31:47 GMT

Anybody know what organizations are working down in Cancun?

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Doctor's diary: 'We need tents'

Rip.............Cor...............Duh — Sun, 16 Oct 2005 04:39:27 GMT

Dr Irfan Noor is keeping a diary for the BBC News website as he
travels into Pakistan's North West Frontier Province as part of a
medical relief team.

From remote Odhi district, he warns that the cold could claim more
lives unless tents are provided.

Odhi, Thursday 13 October, 1630 local time (1130 GMT)

All the medical buildings here have been damaged.

There are thousands of homeless people and an acute demand for
shelter. Many of the houses are destroyed and Odhi is situated at a
very high altitude, so the situation is critical. It's just freezing here.

We saw children outside without any shelter. We need at least 20,000
tents here alone.

They were in extreme psychological trauma. They were desperate because
they have spent four or five days in the open.

Everyone is going to Balakot but that is a dead valley now. What about
the rest? We know that there are still people in villages beyond, but
everyone goes to this town of ghosts.

All the agencies are now co-ordinated and united - but that doesn't
mean we have what we need. We are out in the field and we see with our
own eyes that things are beyond the government and the army now.

We need international aid from all over the world.

There were two major aftershocks today. I saw the mountain and it
looked as if it were about to split into two. An enormous rock was
precariously suspended above us.

It could have killed us.

I've seen doctors in tears. They are on the frontline and they are
working with people who are dying, people without shelter, sanitation,
and they cannot cope with the trauma.

But I have also seen truck upon truck of aid from ordinary Pakistani
people. My UN colleagues have told me they have never seen anything
like this. It makes me feel proud.

It is the one positive thing amidst all this misery.

Balakot, Thursday 13 October, 1630 local time (1130 GMT)

There is not a single building standing in Balakot.

There is an extremely foul smell because the city is full of dead bodies.

We are focusing our efforts on surveys and logistics. The population
of the city was about 24,000. It looks as if 70% of this population
has been wiped out. Our data will help the government revise its figures.

The death toll will inevitably rise.

There are a few people still alive and a Chinese agency has set up a
first aid camp. Another team from UAE has taken up the job of
disposing of dead bodies.

There is talk of mobilising the population that is left and spraying
the rest of the area, because of contamination fears.

Tomorrow I'm going to Odhi, a place nobody has yet reached.

There are airlift helicopters dropping food, tents and medication
throughout the Mansehra district: the population is very scattered
over there.

I have just felt a significant aftershock. Those people who are still
in remote areas must be terrified.

Their first need is shelter. Temperatures are extremely low. People
now have food and medicine, but shelter is what they desperately need.

The onset of the cold has changed all our priorities.

I can see that relief supplies are coming in, but tents please, more
tents.

Mansehra, Wednesday 12 October, 1300 local time (0800 GMT)

There's a place called Jabouri, north of here. The road has been
blocked by a landslide and beyond that there are many, many villages.

Let me give their names because most people won't have heard these
names before: Manabocha, Jhacha, Pandur, Batangi.

People have come from these small mountain villages carrying the
injured on their shoulders, walking for hours. We have heard horrific
stories. The situation there is drastic.

Each village has about 250 houses, all of them are destroyed and in
each home, people have died.

The government is not calculating fatalities properly. We have a
survey team going to Balakot and they will establish numbers.

I have a feeling that in Balakot alone the death toll might be 15,000
or 20,000. But that is not official, these are just guesses - our team
will collect data and supply it to the appropriate sources.

There are teams from all over the world and somebody has to
co-ordinate them. We are going to lead them to the areas facing the
direst need.

I have seen hundreds of patients here. There has been an outbreak of
chest infections, respiratory tract problems here.

Supplies have only just reached here. Doctors are performing surgeries
but without sterilisation equipment, surgical tools, without proper
sanitation even.

Patients need to be taken to Peshawar. It has three huge hospitals
waiting for patients - but they lie empty.

I'm very tired, but every hour is important.

I can see the distant mountains from here - they are covered in snow.
Last night the temperature fell so low and I could only think of those
people homeless outside, those villagers still trapped.

Mansehra, Tuesday 11 October, 1600 local time (1100 GMT)

I reached Mansehra with a UN team just a few minutes ago. The roads
are crowded and it was a long, arduous journey from Abbottabad.

I am standing inside the main hospital. These newly-constructed
buildings were totally damaged before anyone got a chance to use them.

The patients are outside under tents. I can see some being carried in
by stretcher.

One thing is clear. Medical supplies have not reached Mansehra.

People are in a terrible condition but there is not much that doctors
can do. We don't really have the right surgical equipment.

There are many dead bodies, but more importantly there are people
still alive, still trapped
We have kidney specialists, we have some dialysis units but there is
no electricity and no water so how can we install them?

There is no logistical organisation. We have no idea how many supplies
are really needed, how many patients there are, how many there could
be, even how many doctors are in the area.

We see Swiss and Chinese relief teams but even they are in chaos.

I have plans to head to even more remote northern areas.

I've spoken to a colleague who says that the town of Batgram has been
levelled and there are serious casualties - an incredibly high death toll.

There are many dead bodies, but more importantly there are people
still alive, still trapped.

One final plea is that we need helicopters urgently.

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 1 reply

R u heading to the Gulf coast?

Scottica — Thu, 13 Oct 2005 19:40:44 GMT

Hello
I just wanted to give a inquiry to thise heading down to volunteer in the katrina areas.
Who's heading down?
Where are you working?
I am in Biloxi, Miss. and wondering what other efforts are happening in the areas?
I know about waveland.

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lake nyos

acoustichrmny — Tue, 11 Oct 2005 19:17:36 GMT

Lake Nyos : UN Scientists Seek Safety Solutions
http://allafrica.com/stories/printable/200509280046.html
Cameroon Tribune (Yaoundé)
NEWS
September 28, 2005
Posted to the web September 28, 2005

By Choves Loh

Government intensifies efforts to make resettlement areas safe for survivors.

On August 21st, 1986 Cameroon counted some 1,700 dead following the outburst of lake Nyos. Nineteen years after survivors are still haunted in their desire to return to the very fertile land of their ancestors (Nyos and Subum).The entire area remains a disaster zone with some 600 tons of carbondioxide still buried in the lake waters. Life is however visible in the area thanks to an auto syphoning tube planted in the lake to degas some 50tons of carbon dioxide annually. But new risks are evident with some cracks observed on the natural dam holding back the lake waters.

Concerned about the danger, the government of Cameroon through the National Risks Observatory (NRO) and the National Disaster Prevention and management programme (NDPMP) recently went for the expertise of the United Nations Office of Coordination and humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

It was against this back drop that two Scientists from United Nations, Olaf S.R.Van Duin and S. Nurmohamed arrived Cameroon on September, 22nd, 2005. On 25th September they traveled to lake Nyos to assess the new risk to which is exposed the neighbouring populations and those of the two states of Taraba and Benue in Nigeria. On the spot, the team which was reinforced by Cameroon's Dr. Isaac Njilah, (Geo Environmental Scientist from the University of Yaounde I ) they had a mission to audit the dam and develop strategies to improve the watching and the dam management mechanism and its neighbourhood. The courageous team members defied odds as they crossed the outlet and descended into the cave underlying the dam to asses the level of hazards and did a proper check of the structure of the dam.

When Olaf and Dr. Njilah re-emerged from the cave they confirmed fears of the dam collapsing. Other worries include fractures or cracks , rock sliding, in caving, pot holes and some serious earth movements that turn to fragilise the dam and the stability of the lake waters. From the look of things preventive measures are needed to stop the dam from collapsing in the next five to ten years. The causes and development of the phenomenon around lake Nyos and the dam are expected to feature prominently in the mission report of the U.N scientists with assessment of the real risks and its possible impact on human life and the environment.

As Olaf and S.Nurmohamed retire to the U.N, their report is expected to chart a way forward for high level talks towards scientific partners at international level and with bilateral and multilateral donors. The mission report is also expected to lead to the mobilization of financial, material and human resources that give survivors and neighbours hope. According to S. Nurmohamed, the team was in Nyos to "find simple solutions that are easy to implement so that people can return and leave safely in the Nyos area. We already have some ideas about it and a preliminary report will be made before we leave Cameroon". Meanwhile, Dr. Njilah who has been to lake Nyos, 14 times for research after the killer outburst of 1986 says "the lake is still unsafe and if the dam collapses, not only will the floods down valley cause enormous damages but another gas eruption will follow and that is why the U.N team of scientists is around in search of solutions."
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Copyright © 2005 Cameroon Tribune. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).
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Hurricane-force rumors

Rip.............Cor...............Duh — Wed, 28 Sep 2005 07:06:14 GMT

http://www.nola.com/newslogs/opinion/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_opinion/archives/2005_09_27.html#083043

During Hurricane Betsey, then-Mayor Vic Schiro famously said, "Don't believe any false rumors unless you hear them from me.'' Unfortunately, during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, some of the most lurid rumors of violence in the Superdome and the New Orleans Convention Center came from those in charge: Mayor Ray Nagin and Police Superintendent Eddie Compass. And now it appears they were mostly false.

Nearly a month after the storm, officials have come up with no hard evidence to back up stories of murder, rape and other violence that supposedly happened among those who took shelter in those places. No matter how convincing the eye witness accounts, the bodies that back up their stories aren't there.
The toll, after careful inspection, is as follows: four dead in the Convention Center, one by violence: six dead in the Superdome, none by violence. While there were reports of 30 to 40 dead in the Convention Center and 10 to numerous in the Dome, the actual tally has to be given more credibility than unconfirmed reports by traumatized people. During the chaotic week that followed Hurricane Katrina, four confirmed murders took place in New Orleans, a number that's not at all surprising or even unusual for a city that expected to see as many as 200 homicides this year.
Debunking widespread reports of rape, including rapes of children, is more difficult since people have scattered across the country, making it difficult to collect evidence or information. But police, military and rescue personnel who were on the scene say that most of what's been widely reported in the Dome and Convention Center simply didn't happen.
"Don't get me wrong, bad things happened, but I didn't see any killing and raping and cutting of throats or anything,'' said Sgt. 1st Class Jason Lachney, who played a key role in security and humanitarian efforts in the Superdome. According to Sgt. Lachney, 99 percent of the people sheltering in the Superdome --- and there were 30,000 of them --- were very well-behaved.
Bad things certainly happened. That many people jammed together with inadequate food, water, medicine and toilet facilities and a growing sense of abandonment and desperation suffered enormously. But they shouldn't also be maligned as lawless or even, to use Mayor Nagin's unfortunate word, animalistic.
Contrast Sgt. Lachney's comments with those of Superintendent Compass. During an interview with Oprah Winfrey, he said that babies were being raped. Mayor Nagin said that hundreds of armed gang members were killing and raping people inside the Dome.
Thank God it didn't happen. Everyone in south Louisiana --- in the entire country --- should feel a tremendous sense of relief that New Orleans didn't descend into some kind of post-apocolyptic orgy of violence following Katrina. But that doesn't mean damage wasn't done. Rumors, widely reported as fact, can live on even after they are debunked, and the tales from the Dome and the Convention Center are more compelling than most urban myths.
These frightening stories can continue to hurt us by discouraging people from returning to this region and by marring New Orleans' image with tourists. Rumors of violence may have hampered rescue efforts in some cases. We can't afford to allow them to hamper our recovery. It's bad enough that the Superdome will be associated with squalor and misery; far worse to have it associated with murder and mayhem.
It's understandable that in the tense and fractured days after Katrina frightened people reported rumor as fact and soldiers, police and even elected officials believed what they heard and passed it on. In the hell that descended after Katrina, almost anything, no matter how horrific, seemed possible.
But now that we know better, it's essential that people like Mayor Nagin and Superintendent Compass set the record straight, just as forcefully. That might mean saying, "I spoke too soon'' or even, "I exaggerated.'' The latter certainly seems to be true of Superintendent Compass' claim that he and other officers wrestled 30 weapons away from criminals by using the follow-the-muzzle flash technique. Last week, the superintendent insisted that such an incident had happened to Capt. Jeff Winn's 20-member SWAT team, but in a separate interview Capt. Winn said that his unit saw flashes and heard gunshots only once and recovered no weapons.
Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath has more than enough human drama, from heroism to depravity, without embellishment. The people of Louisiana need solid information and credible leaders as we move toward recovery. Katrina inflicted a lot of damage on the truth, and that's just one more mess we need to clean up.

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 1 reply

BM "TEMPLE TO TEMPLE" Katrina-Relief Project Needs Workers in Biloxi!

xtine2 — Wed, 28 Sep 2005 01:24:47 GMT

Dear Fellow Burners -

Tom Price, Press Information Officer at BM, has asked me to help collect information on Burner-related Katrina relief efforts nationwide.

I have created a Yahoo Group that will allow regional and “on the ground” burners share information about their work. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BM_Katrina

Please feel free to post any relevant information, photos, blogs…

The Burning Man “Temple to Temple” crew are already in Biloxi, MS

Matt Lindsay (a heavy equipment wrangler for David Best's Temple crew since 2000) and friends are in Biloxi, MS with several tons of heavy equipment and nine generators. They are working with Oxfam and World Shelters http://www.worldshelters.com to set up temporary shelter for thousands of displaced people.

“Temple to Temple” has set up shop in the leveled Chau Van Duc Buddhist Temple in east Biloxi, and have successfully established a 24-hour free supermarket in a 44-foot dome donated by Pacific Domes http://www.pacificdomes.com, in an effort to aid the neglected Vietnamese community still living there.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/08/AR2005090802141.html

CURRENT NEEDS:

*WORKERS! to come help CLEAR DEBRIS and to help get the community back together.
*MONEY for GAS to run their GENERATORS, and buy more DOMES to house people in!

For more information, contact Shelly Lindsay at 541-482-7288.

You can also contact the Burning Man Staff directly at katrina-relief@burningman.com

There is also a mailing list which will provide periodic updates...
katrina-relief-announce-subscribe@burningman.com

http://burningman.com/blackrockcity_yearround/misc/katrina.

Please try and spread the word to other Burners.

Sincerely,
Christine
SF, CA

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World Not Set To Deal With Flu

joseph — Thu, 22 Sep 2005 03:11:52 GMT

Very scary article. - joseph

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/30/AR2005073001429_pf.html

World Not Set To Deal With Flu
Strategy for Pandemic Needed, Experts Say

By David Brown
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, July 31, 2005; A01

Public health officials preparing to battle what they view as an inevitable
influenza pandemic say the world lacks the medical weapons to fight the
disease effectively, and will not have them anytime soon.

Public health specialists and manufacturers are working frantically to
develop vaccines, drugs, strategies for quarantining and treating the ill,
and plans for international cooperation, but these efforts will take years.
Meanwhile, the most dangerous strain of influenza to appear in decades --
the H5N1 "bird flu" in Asia -- is showing up in new populations of birds,
and occasionally people, almost by the month, global health officials say.

If the virus were to start spreading in the next year, the world would have
only a relative handful of doses of an experimental vaccine to defend
against a disease that, history shows, could potentially kill millions. If
the vaccine proved effective and every flu vaccine factory in the world
started making it, the first doses would not be ready for four months. By
then, the pathogen would probably be on every continent.

Theoretically, antiviral drugs could slow an outbreak and buy time. The
problem is only one licensed drug, oseltamivir, appears to work against bird
flu. At the moment, there is not enough stockpiled for widespread use. Nor
is there a plan to deploy the small amount that exists in ways that would
have the best chance of slowing the disease.

The public, conditioned to believe in the power of modern medicine, has
heard little of how poorly prepared the world is to confront a flu pandemic,
which is an epidemic that strikes several continents simultaneously and
infects a substantial portion of the population.

Since the current wave of avian flu began sweeping through poultry in
Southeast Asia more than 18 months ago, international and U.S. health
authorities have been warning of the danger and trying to mobilize. Research
on vaccines has accelerated, efforts to build up drug supplies are underway,
and discussions take place regularly on developing a coordinated global
response.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will spend $419 million in
pandemic planning this year. The National Institutes of Health's influenza
research budget has quintupled in the past five years.

"The secretary or the chief of staff -- we have a discussion about flu
almost every day," said Bruce Gellin, head of HHS's National Vaccine Program
Office. This week, a committee is scheduled to deliver to HHS Secretary Mike
Leavitt an updated plan for confronting a pandemic.

Despite these efforts, the world's lack of readiness to meet the threat is
huge, experts say.

"The only reason nobody's concerned the emperor has no clothes is that he
hasn't shown up yet," Harvey V. Fineberg, president of the National Academy
of Sciences' Institute of Medicine, said recently of the world's efforts to
prepare for pandemic flu. "When he appears, people will see he's naked."

Other scientists are sounding the alarm as well.

The most outspoken is Michael T. Osterholm, director of the Center for
Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. In
writing and in speeches, Osterholm reminds his audience that after public
calamities, the United States usually convenes blue-ribbon commissions to
pass judgment. There will be one after a flu pandemic, he believes.

"Right now, the conclusions of that commission would be harsh and sad," he
said.

In hopes of slowing a pandemic's spread, public health specialists have been
debating proposals for unprecedented countermeasures. These could include
vaccinating only children, who are statistically most likely to spread the
contagion; mandatory closing of schools or office buildings; and imposing
"snow day" quarantines on infected families -- prohibiting them from leaving
their homes.

Other measures would go well beyond the conventional boundaries of public
health: restricting international travel, shutting down transit systems or
nationalizing supplies of critical medical equipment, such as surgical
masks.

But Osterholm argues that such measures would fall far short. He predicts
that a pandemic would cause widespread shutdowns of factories,
transportation and other essential industries. To prepare, he says,
authorities should identify and stockpile a list of perhaps 100 crucial
products and resources that are essential to keep society functioning until
the pandemic recedes and the survivors go back to work.

Deadly Potential

Since late 2003, 109 people are known to have been infected with the
emerging H5N1 virus in Asia. About half -- 55 -- have died.

Ironically, for the current H5N1 strain of avian flu to gain "pandemic
potential," it will have to become less deadly. Declining lethality is a key
sign that the microbe is adapting to human hosts. That is one reason the 34
percent mortality observed in the most recent outbreak -- a cluster of cases
in northern Vietnam -- has scientists worried.

Pandemic influenza is not an unusually bad version of the flu that appears
each winter. Those outbreaks are caused by flu viruses that have been
circulating for decades and change slightly year to year.

Pandemics are caused by strains of virus that are highly contagious and to
which people have no immunity. Such strains are rare. They arise from the
chance scrambling and recombination of an animal flu virus and a human one,
resulting in a strain whose molecular identity is wholly new.

In the 20th century, pandemics occurred in 1918, 1957 and 1968. Although the
19th-century record is less certain, there appear to have been four flu
pandemics -- in 1833, 1836, 1847 and 1889. On a purely statistical basis,
the nearly 40 years since the last one suggests the time may be ripe.

The microbe called influenza A/H5N1 appeared in East Asia in 1996 and has
flared periodically since. It is highly contagious and lethal in chickens,
but it can be carried without symptoms in some ducks -- a combination that
helps keep it in circulation.

Birds occasionally infect humans, and scientists recently found evidence
that the virus is sometimes passed person to person. That form of
transmission is now difficult and rare, but the virus could evolve so that
it becomes easy and common.

If H5N1 never becomes easily transmissible in human beings, it will never
become a pandemic. If it does become transmissible, the consequences are
difficult to imagine. But history provides some clues.

The "Spanish flu" in 1918 and 1919 was the biggest and, along with AIDS, the
most important infectious disease outbreak of the 20th century. It is on the
short list of great disasters in human history.

At least 50 million people, and possibly as many as 100 million, died when
the world's population was 1.9 billion people, one-third its current size.

The Best Defense

Tests are underway at three U.S. hospitals on an experimental vaccine
against H5N1. But it is not the first H5N1 vaccine.

When a slightly different strain of the virus surfaced in Hong Kong in 1997,
killing thousands of chickens and a half-dozen people, researchers used
viruses from birds and people to make experimental vaccines. But neither
offered much protection in lab tests, and nobody knows why.

Instead of working on the problem, researchers dropped it. First SARS
(severe acute respiratory syndrome), and then a different avian flu strain
that arose in Europe (H7N7), took their attention.

"The urgency around this issue kind of dissipated," said John Treanor, a
physician at the University of Rochester and one of the leaders of the
vaccine project. "I think it's an example of how unpredictable things are.
We got distracted."

The urgency is back.

As the first, small hedge against disaster, the government last fall ordered
2 million doses of H5N1 vaccine from Sanofi Pasteur, one of the country's
three flu vaccine makers, even though nobody yet knows whether it works.

A half-dozen other countries are also working on pandemic vaccines. But
making enough to fight an outbreak is a tall order.

About 300 million flu shots are made worldwide each year. The vaccine
protects against three flu strains. If the global production capacity were
directed to make only H5N1 vaccine, the output could be 900 million shots.

Unfortunately, virologists are almost certain people will need two doses
about a month apart to mount a successful immune response against a wholly
new strain such as H5N1. That would cut the theoretical number of recipients
worldwide to 450 million. If each shot requires a larger-than-usual amount
of vaccine to work, the number will be even smaller.

Can the world produce more flu shots? Not easily.

Because nearly all flu vaccine is made by growing the virus in fertilized
chicken eggs, special factories and a steady supply of eggs are required.
Consequently, a key element of pandemic planning is getting more people to
get yearly flu shots, which will give companies a larger market and an
incentive to expand their plants.

Around the world, flu vaccine production has risen by just one-third in the
past decade. New plants in Brazil, South Korea and the Netherlands will
boost global production by an additional 25 percent in the near future.

In theory, even a modest amount of vaccine might be useful. Fighting disease
outbreaks is like fighting fires. You do not have to hose down the whole
world to put the fire out, but you do have to hose down the perimeter to
keep it from spreading. It might be possible to contain an H5N1 outbreak at
its source if the surrounding population were immediately vaccinated.

Would the United States, Europe and Japan be willing to donate their
precious vaccine supply to mount this long-shot defense? This is perhaps the
biggest unanswered question in pandemic flu planning -- and one likely to be
answered only at the moment of truth.

Officially, it is a possibility.

"If it was done in consultation with the WHO [World Health Organization] --
and with other governments that would make contributions, as well -- we
would be more likely to consider it," said Gellin at HHS. But observers both
in and out of the government said, not for quotation, that they doubt the
U.S. government would ever send a significant amount of its vaccine
stockpile overseas.

Only One Drug

In the absence of a vaccine, the only pharmaceutical bulwark against H5N1 is
oseltamivir. It can shorten the illness's duration, and if taken immediately
after exposure, it can even prevent infection. But the world's supply of the
drug is limited.

Sold as Tamiflu, it is manufactured by just one company, the Swiss giant
Roche, in a laborious, expensive process that takes eight months.

Twenty-five countries have ordered oseltamivir to stockpile, and five others
have expressed interest, a Roche spokesman, Terence J. Hurley, said
recently.

The United States already has a stockpile, but it is enough to treat less
than 1 percent of the population. The government has ordered enough to treat
3 million more people, or about 2 percent total.

At a congressional hearing in late May, the company's medical director,
Dominick A. Iacuzio, said it will begin producing oseltamivir in the United
States soon. The company says it could supply 13 million more courses of
treatment in 2006 and an additional 70 million in 2007 -- provided the
government orders them.

Would having lots of vaccine or oseltamivir make a difference?

In a study published last year, Ira M. Longini Jr. of Emory University ran a
mathematical model of what might happen if a pandemic such as the 1957 Asian
flu, which was caused by a virus far milder than bird flu, hit the United
States.

He and his colleagues estimated that with no vaccine or antiviral drugs,
there would be 93 million cases and 164,000 deaths. Vaccinating 80 percent
of people younger than 19 -- the group most responsible for spreading the
virus -- "would reduce the epidemic to just 6 million total cases and 15,000
total deaths in the country."

Giving that group eight weeks of oseltamivir would have the same effect, at
least temporarily. But it would take the equivalent of 190 million courses
of treatment -- more than anyone thinks the country will have in the next
few years.

Somewhat more realistic is deploying the drug to where the outbreak begins.
One researcher, Neil M. Ferguson of Imperial College in London, said in an
interview that results of his not-yet-published mathematical modeling "are
encouraging."

But unless antiviral drugs squelch a pandemic at the outset, their ultimate
usefulness will be small. Without widespread immunity through vaccination or
infection, the virus will simply move into a population when the drugs run
out.

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 2 replies

tracking rita

acoustichrmny — Thu, 22 Sep 2005 16:13:36 GMT

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/0,,SB112731385505947351-BJ0nkKk5ENd7mMG3PLMk1lEXK88_20060921,00.html?mod=blogs

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 0 replies

Certified Massage Therapist raising funds thru massage

Fri, 16 Sep 2005 00:33:49 GMT

Hi. My name is Greg Dervin. I am a Certified Massage Therapist in San Francisco focused in Swedish Massage, Deep Tissue, and Breathwork. I am heading down to Louisiana on Sept 26th to help with the relief efforts.

I am heading down with some folks to build geodesic domes and hammocks of nylon and rope(see www.solomax.com/monkey-spider.html ). These will be places for people to sleep, play and gather to regain a sense of community.

So far, a half dozen friends are keen to go. We are all skilled in preforming and healing arts, and I know we could create a fun, safe space for many children and stress-out parents.

I am also interested in helping document the abuse and repression that is taking place down there. I'll be keeping a weblog to help spread the word (and pics) of what's really going on.

We'll need funds for gas, food, water and many other things.

I am trying to raise money by offering my services as a certified massage therapist for your donations. So if you've been thinking about getting a great quality massage, now is the time to act! :-)

My rate will be $60/hr and $85 for 90minutes.
Other rates could be worked out as well (longer and shorter times).

All money received from this offer will be going to help fund my time in the relief areas. Please help and get an amazing massage in the process!

I have largely cleared my schedule between now at the 26th to schedule appointments. I will do my best to accommodate you.

Thank you, and I look forward to hearing from you.
Greg Dervin
Certified Massage Therapist
415 999 8126

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 0 replies

EARTHDANCE INTERNATIONAL 2005 (17 September)

! Rob — Mon, 12 Sep 2005 19:25:57 GMT

EarthDance International
www.earthdance.org/
Dance for Peace
FX
;0)

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 0 replies

The mayor of New orleans interview

Rip.............Cor...............Duh — Sun, 04 Sep 2005 19:54:29 GMT

http://lasvegas.tribe.net/thread/4f4503a0-a034-4d4f-a72e-a0c37220f50a?tribeid=b0612a44-efb0-4b9c-8def-bf985a08f018&r=10699

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 8 replies

Latest Katrina News - 08/09/05

Fern — Thu, 08 Sep 2005 04:47:45 GMT

sb/update-Katrina

New Orleans police are trying to force Hurricane Katrina survivors to leave the city after the mayor issued another mandatory evacuation order. Around 10-thousand residents are believed to remain in their homes as efforts to pump out the floodwaters and recover bodies continue. Meanwhile, the political storm over the botched response to the crisis is growing, with calls for top government officials to resign.

sbKATRINA-REBUILD

U.S. President George W. Bush is to ask the United States Congress for lmore than 50-billion-dollars in extra emergency funding to deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. This follows a request for 10-billion-dollars last week.

BODYBAGS KATRINA

Some 25-thousand body bags have reportedly been brought into the New Orleans area in the US to cope with a possible huge death toll from Hurricane Katrina. Louisiana state health department spokesperson Bob Johanssen says he understands the Federal Emergency Management Agency has brought in this number of body bags. New Orleans officials said yesterday the city's official death toll had reached 83. This figure is certain to escalate as floodwaters recede in the coming days. Officials spoke last week of a possible death toll of ten-thousand.

KATRINA-ECONOMY

Hurricane Katrina's economic toll could include the loss of up to 400-thousand jobs and slower U.S. growth, according to the US Congress. The congressional report was released as the White House prepared a 300-billion rand request for the troubled Gulf Coast. The report says the overall economic effects of Katrina will be significant, and could slow economic growth by one percentage point. Up to ten-thousand people are thought to have perished in the disaster.

ECONOMY-KATRINA

The Mississippi, the greatest of America's river arteries, is furred up with a backlog of farm produce after Hurricane Katrina laid waste to the outlets from which US goods nourish the world. Trade in a range of commodities is looking suddenly bleak after Katrina devastated ports along the Gulf Coast. The Farm Bureau estimates the sector could lose two billion dollars in crop losses and higher fuel bills caused by the most destructive storm in recent U.S. history. The Mississippi is the conduit down which farmers in the Great Plains of the midwest get their goods to both national and foreign markets.

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 0 replies

Oct 2004

Rip.............Cor...............Duh — Tue, 06 Sep 2005 14:43:09 GMT

http://newyork.tribe.net/thread/8b43b1dd-a492-47a5-ba5e-9d4af7848561?tribeid=b0612a44-efb0-4b9c-8def-bf985a08f018&newpostingid=0909f4a0-b831-4ef5-baa8-7ee38d69b3b1&r=10352#0909f4a0-b831-4ef5-baa8-7ee38d69b3b1

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 0 replies

Resource for those who can volunteer their time...

Tue, 06 Sep 2005 08:34:46 GMT

National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters -

http://www.nvoad.org/membersdb.php?members=National

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 0 replies

Hippie bus makes it through

siennaatspiralrhythms — Mon, 05 Sep 2005 14:46:40 GMT

This is a forward from "Plenty International" and the people who are connected to the commune known as "the Farm" in Tennessee. They did their own rescue mission to the flood zone. I will post the updates as they come in, if ya'll are interested...

Story from the front--the hippie bus makes it through military lines
author: Peter Schweitzer courtesy of Alan Graf
Story from the front--hippie bus makes it through the chaos of government intervention
The Latest from Plenty's Bus to Louisiana---www.plenty.org

I'm copying this message to a bunch of people from my email address
book...everybody I thought might be even remotely interested in this
story. Can you imagine how many thousands of stories like this are
happening and being told or will come out later? New Orleans
represents an American gumbo, a spicy jambalaya of cultures. Bayou
people are a special breed. I can only listen to Zydeco right now.

Here's what I know related to Plenty's response so far. Funny how
disasters bring us together like almost nothing else...

Gary McGlaughlin pulled into the Farm Friday night in a full size,
diesel school bus. He had flown out to Nashville from Santa Cruz, CA
the previous night and earlier in the day bought the bus from a
company in southern KY for $1500. On the way down to the Farm he
stopped in Nashville and bought another $1500 worth of food and water
and dry goods like TP and handiwipes and aspirin and diapers. He
rolled in the Gate at around 10PM. He hadn't been back to the Farm in
25 years.

Gary had called me on Wed. and asked if the Farm was sending busses
down to New Orleans in response to the Katrina disaster. I said,
"Gary, we don't have any buses anymore." "And there are less than 200
people here now." He hangs up, Googles "school buses/Nashville" and
finds a place with good buses for $1500, buys his ticket and that
night he's in Nashville. He and Dawn have been living in Santa Cruz
and he has a successful remodeling business with his 29-year-old son.

The problem was, we didn't have anybody lined up to go with Gary and
I didn't want to see him head out alone in the big bus (although Gary
was fully prepared to do just that). We thought he was going to spend
the night at Neal and Barbara's but he wanted to just keep going. But
Barbara had dinner for him so we went down to "Honey Base" for
enchiladas and squash pecan pie. Gary could barely eat he was so
pumped. He hadn't had a chance to swap old Farm stories in a long
time. He said he had just gone up on eBay and bid on the Caravan Book
and Hey Beatnik and he had to pay over $100 a piece to outbid the
other people. So happened Josh Heake who's 22 and teaching at the
school has a room at Bloomfield's. He was there hanging out with us.
I ask if he wants to go to New Orleans. Next thing I know he's got
his back pack and sleeping bag in his arms.

So off they went at 1:00 AM. Saturday morning they call from outside
Jackson, MS still two and a half hours from Alexandria, Louisiana
where we heard there was a shelter begging for just the stuff we had
on the bus. Roads had been clear, some convoys of big trucks and
heavy equipment were seen headed south. Some gas stations were had of
gas but they all had diesel. At one stop a guy pumping gas next to
them at 4 AM asked what they were doing and when they told him, he
peeled off 5 $twenties and gave them to Gary.

Got to Alexandria in the afternoon and arrived at the shelter only to
learn they had been stocked up by the Red Cross, but said there was a
camp outside of town with 900 people that could use stuff. They went
there and the people were grateful to receive the food and dry goods
but they were okay for water.

Meanwhile, we'd gotten an SOS from the Veterans for Peace people who
had been part of "Camp Casey" in Crawford, TX. They were setting up
camp in Covington, LA and needed everything, especially water.
Covington is on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain across a long
causeway from New Orleans, so they head there, stopping Sat. night
for a little shut eye at a rest stop. All the motels were full. They
called me Sunday at 7AM. They were at the Park where Camp Casey had
obviously been. There was a sign "Camp Casey" but no people! They saw
a cop and asked him but he didn't know anything about where they
were. So they just started driving around. I went up on the Internet
and Googled around until I found a page that said they had moved to
a school and gave the address. I called Gary's cell and they found
the school and sure enough, there they were.

On the Internet, on the VFP and Camp Casey related pages, I was
seeing messages from what seemed like 8 or 10 groups that were on
their way to Covington with water and other things for Camp Casey.
Apparently they hadn't arrived because they were grateful to get our
load of water. Then they said, "Please stay and help us get people
out of the city." They had a bus but it was their "command center"
and didn't have the rows of empty seats ready for passengers. There
was a rumor that there were hundreds of people stranded under a
bridge in the city so Gary and Josh headed out for new Orleans across
Lake Pontchartrain across the 25-mile-long causeway. Gary said the
causeway was broken up in spots that you had to drive around but
otherwise was very driveable. There was a police check on the New
Orleans side. The officer wanted to know what they were doing and if
they had authorization. I had given Gary a letter saying he was
authorized "by the Board of Directors of Plenty International" and
that seemed to do the trick. So they got to the bridge and nobody in
site. Obviously from the trash there had been a bunch of people there
recently. Turns out they had been moved to the airport.

At this point the airport seems to be the depot for evacuations. All
the people from the hospitals were brought there and have been flown
out to places like Nashville where they've been placed in Vanderbilt
and other hospitals until now they say they're full. Others are being
flown to Houston. Gary headed off to the airport. He said he could
see parts of the city were still under water, but they were driving
though dry neighborhoods where people were sitting out on their
porches enjoying their Sunday and others were walking around or
riding their bikes. Gary says he doesn't think they will be able to
evacuate everybody because everybody's not going to want to leave and
there are still lots of people in the city who seem to be alright.

He gets to the airport and it's bedlam. Military vehicles,
ambulances, utility trucks, buses etc. are jamming up the roads in
front of the airport. The airport itself is swarming with state.
local and airport police and 3 kinds of military cops plus National
Guard, Red Cross, FEMA, you name it. And hundreds of people waiting
to get on planes to Houston or wherever. Gary's trying to figure out
how to get some people on the bus to take them out. He asks a cop who
says "nobody's leaving and get that bus out of here." He asks another
cop who says, "well, if you find some people who want to go, take
them, but don't announce it because there will be a stampede." So
Gary rounds up a bus full and heads them out the door only to be met
by another cop who says, "wait a minute. You can't take these people
out of here, and move that bus!!" So the people start filing back
into the terminal, when an MP comes by and says, "what's going on?'
And Gary tells him, these people want to go and we've been told they
can't. The MP says, "Oh yes they can. Get back on the bus!" Which
they do and Gary brings them back to Covington and the school where
the Camp Casey people have their shelter. Most of them are asking to
go to Baton Rouge which is close, but at the school they're able to
take showers and eat. A few decide to stay there and Gary and Josh
take the rest of the folks to Baton Rouge.

While I'm talking to Gary I can hear a young Black guy telling him
his "amazing tale." This guy was trapped in his house with the water
rising. Next thing he knows he's swimming for his life. He starts to
tire and go under, but he sees somebody on a nearby roof-top. He
yells for help. The guy dives in, swims over and puts him on his back
and swims over to the roof. They climb onto the roof where they
remain without food or water for the next 3 days, when a boat comes
by and rescues them. Three days!*%#!?!

We don't know if our bus will be able to bring more people out but
they will try. As they were leaving people hollered, "When are you
coming back?" People already at the airport don't normally get to
decide where they're going, unless you manage to catch a ride on that
hippie bus...

To be continued...
--
http://plenty.org/

Alan Graf

homepage: http://www.plenty.org/

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 5 replies

Katrina relief: Queer option

thunderpants — Mon, 05 Sep 2005 23:47:34 GMT

Katrina relief: Queer option
NCTE and NYAC: National LGBT Youth and Family Groups Establish “Hurricane Katrina LGBT Relief Fund”

If anyone is looking for donation options, this one may be a good choice. Note from Caeden of NCTE (National Center for Transgender Equality) and press release from NYAC (National Youth Advocacy Coalition):

Hello,
I apologize for this coming to you a few days late. Both Mara and I
have been out of town on work-related travel. NCTE is proud to say
that we have partnered with NYAC and other LGBT organizations on this
relief fund. (For an updated list of partners please go to
www.nyacyouth.org). Please go to www.nyacyouth.org to make a
donation to this fund. Thank you for you support and NCTE's thoughts
are with those who have been effected by the devastation of Hurricane
Katrina.
Caeden

PRESS RELEASE

CONTACT:
Craig A. Bowman Executive Director
1638 R St., NW, Suite 300
Washington, DC 20009
202.319.7596 x20
202.744.2567 / cell

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
01 September 2005

National LGBT Youth and Family Groups Establish “Hurricane Katrina
LGBT Relief Fund”

Humanitarian Effort to Provide Money to LGBT Youth and Family Refugees

Washington, DC – Working in partnership, the National Youth Advocacy
Coalition (NYAC) today announced the formation of the “Hurricane
Katrina LGBT Relief Fund” to ensure that LGBT youth and families,
among the most vulnerable members of our community, receive the
critical support they need to regain stability in their lives.

“In America, there are dramatic moments that forever shape our
national identity. History remembers those times when we come
together in the face of adversity, putting aside our differences to
overcome tragedy,” said Craig Bowman, Executive Director of the
National Youth Advocacy Coalition.

“Thousands of families have absolutely nothing to go home to and
hundreds more people are still looking for their families,” Bowman
added. In Louisiana, in Mississippi and in Alabama the devastation is
so unimaginable, so complete, that solutions seem impossible.

“Like so many of our fellow citizens, however, we believe in the
indomitable spirit of Americans,” Bowman said. “We are awed and
humbled by the spirit of community that has emerged in our country in
countless ways over the past few days; and with this Fund, we honor
the courage and hope shown by so many who are still suffering,” he
added.

The coalition consists of national organizations working at the
grassroots level to affect positive social change for LGBT citizens.
Contributions to this fund are tax-deductible to the fullest extent
allowed under law and will support humanitarian relief for LGBT youth
and families from the devastated areas. These funds will be
distributed directly to local organizations in the best position to
ensure strategic and high-impact disbursement of the emergency funds.

Individuals can contribute securely and with confidence now at
http://www.nyacyouth.org/.

Donors will be able to find out more about the impact of their gifts
in the coming weeks on a new blog being launched on the NYAC website.

PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS INCLUDE (as of 1 September 2005):

Children of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere (COLAGE)
http://www.colage.org/

Equality Federation
http://www.federationlgbt.org/

Family Pride Coalition
http://www.familypride.org

Mautner Project: The National Lesbian Health Organization
http://www.mautnerproject.org/

National Association of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender
Community Centers (NALGBTCC)
http://www.lgbtcenters.org/

National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC)
http://www.nbjcoalition.org/

National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR)
http://www.nclrights.org/

National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE)
http://www.nctequality.org/

National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP)
http://www.ncavp.org/

More groups are welcome and are signing on all the time.

###

The National Youth Advocacy Coalition (NYAC) (www.nyacyouth.org) is a
social justice organization fighting injustice against LGBTQ youth
and advocating to ensure their physical and emotional well-being.

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 0 replies

shelter address please

adriane-dawn-enns — Mon, 05 Sep 2005 20:15:00 GMT

my questions (see below for explanation):
-can someone give me an address that i can send coloring pages and art suppies to?
-is there any creative therapy aid organization out there?

So I just realized how I can channel my agonizing feelings of
helplessness that come up when I connect with the situation into action:
I pledge to donate two dollars from every on-line sale of The
Creative Instinct colOURing book in the next two weeks to relief efforts.

I'm also going to be sending coloring books down to a few shelters in the area. I really feel like we can offer support through creative experience. There are so many loving people who have shared experience with the images in the book. . .I believe that we all go to the same place when we are in the realm of imagination.
Maybe they can find some energetic support with The Creative Instinct. . .and definitely take their minds off the chaos around them as they choose colours and put them in the same pictures many of us have too.
Maybe I'll even be able to post the pages coloured in the shelters with the others in the livinGallery on the website!
http://www.thecreativeinstinct.net/gallery.html
(touch the pages to activate the magic)

So I've been doing research about where to send it. Of course there are so many places to put the money and the Red Cross seems like a good option but they've received 352 million and there isn't anything on their website about what they're doing for suffering animals so I'm thinking it might go to the Humane Society.
So if you do buy one at
www.thecreativeinstinct.net
please drop me a message saying where you think the proceeds should go.
I'll make sure to let you know here and on the website how much was raised and where it's going.
(whew)

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 0 replies

college credit for disaster relief

pedroveracio — Mon, 05 Sep 2005 19:56:44 GMT

this idea needs to get out:

The entire thing with the Hurricane: one of the things that makes this such a bad time is that out of the pool able-bodied volunteers, a lot of them are in school. I'm seeing *all* kinds of people feeling frustrated and trapped in their situations, unable to help because of their various obligations.

On the flipside, the Red Cross is mobilizing and giving people crash courses in CPR and Aid work and then shipping them off. Each of the RC's regional centers has committed to sending 150 volunteers. There being over some 4,000 of these centers, we're looking at a lot of people.

Now, a question-
I'm thinking that there's quite a process in setting things up between two orgs which would take some serious time. But many colleges already have community outreach programs with some of these mechanisms and contracts in place.
I'm not imagining a *flood* of individuals--people still have rent, jobs, a host of other responsibilities.

But if just one University acted as a case example where it was able to do this quickly with a handful of people, then surely other schools would follow. Everyone wins.

Now--folks--if you have the time or inclination, float this idea at your school. Find the community outreach program and talk to the director. This might be redundant--some schools *I Hope* might already be moving on this--(I know SFSU is, because I already floated the idea and got a great response)

but if your school whether it's in Wicheta or in Kansas--if your school can do something here, it's worth them at least considering.

Worried that you might not get financial aid because you couldn't get enough credits or classes are impacted? Well this could be the answer.

any questions reply to this post. this idea is up in the air. if it's bad, tell me why--what are the potential hang ups. (and there are some big ones)

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 0 replies

Katrina - Latest News

Fern — Sun, 04 Sep 2005 18:03:18 GMT

sbAID

The United States has for the first time requested foreign aid to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina. This comes as thousands of people are being evacuated from the shattered city of New Orleans, a week after Katrina struck

*sb KATRINA

Rescuers in the United States have cleared New Orleans Superdome football stadium -- and the convention centre -- of thousands sheltered there. -- Refugees are being taken to sports stadiums and other huge shelters -- across Texas and Louise-iana. -- Linda Sye-sha of the Federal Emergency Management Agency or FEMA -- describes how the situation has changed in the last few hours.....

NUsbOrleans - Bodies

Nearly a week after Hurricane Katrina battered New Orleans, bodies are still floating in the floodwaters. Officials say the number of dead could reach into the thousands. Meanwhile, military helicopters are filling the skies over the battered city, searching for survivors. US Homeland defence official Michael Chertoff says after six days of death and destruction, the government is now in control of the city.

sb/ORLEANS- Search

The US coast Guard and other rescue vehicles are carrying out house-to-house searches in their bid to evacuate people from New Orleans. An estimated 1-million people have been displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

sbHELP

US Homeland defence official Michael Chertoff says that with the evacuation of New Orleans after six days of death and destruction caused by Hurrican Katrina, the government is now in control of the city. In a series of interviews he said relief operations were now underway with full federal help in place. He was speaking against a backdrop of continuing allegations that the Bush administration had been too slow to appreciate the scale of the devastation.

sb/EVACUATE

Thousands of people have been evacuated from the shattered city of New Orleans, a week after Hurricane Katrina struck. Up to 40 aircraft have been flying around the clock to take them to safety. Stricken survivors including the sick and the elderly have been moved out of the two refuges in the city and taken to reception areas in neighbouring states. Many have gone to Texas. Michael Riger is working at the emergency airport hospital for the federal emergency management agency and he explains how refugees are being taken care of...

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 19 replies

list of grassroots/low-income/people of color-led relief org

thunderpants — Sun, 04 Sep 2005 20:14:26 GMT

http://www.sparkplugfoundation.org/katrinarelief.html

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 1 reply

Ben Franklin Had the Right Idea for New Orleans

Rip.............Cor...............Duh — Sat, 03 Sep 2005 14:56:05 GMT

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/03/opinion/03tierney.html

Why is New Orleans in so much worse shape today than New York City was after the attacks on Sept. 11?

The short answer is that New York was attacked by fire, not water. But then why are urbanites so much better prepared to cope with fire than with flooding? Mostly because they learned to fight fire without any help from the Army Corps of Engineers or the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Forum: John Tierney's Columns
For most of history, fire was far more feared than flooding. Cities repeatedly burned to the ground. Those catastrophes occurred sporadically enough that politicians must have been tempted to skimp on fire protection - like levee maintenance, it was a long-term investment against a calamity that probably wouldn't occur before they left office.

But urbanites learned to protect themselves through two innovations Benjamin Franklin introduced to America. He started a fire department in Philadelphia, as well as its first fire insurance company. Other cities followed, often with the firefighters organized by insurance companies with a vested interest in encouraging public safety.

Their customers had a vested interest, too, because they had to pay higher premiums if they lived in homes or neighborhoods that were prone to fire. As fire insurance became a standard requirement for homeowners, they and their insurance companies kept pressure on politicians to finance firefighting and tighten building codes.

As a result, the risk of a fire leveling a city like New York is lower than ever. Although the number of fires has dropped so much that experts routinely advise cities to close firehouses, voters' fondness for the stations makes local politicians loath to close any.

But as we've learned this week, few people seem to care passionately about maintaining levees or preparing for a predictable flood. They've left that to Washington, which promised to hold back the waters and absolved coastal dwellers from worrying about hurricanes.

Starting in the 1960's, the federal government took over the business of insuring against floods. It offered subsidized insurance to people in flood-prone areas, encouraging seaside homes that never would have been built otherwise. Even at bargain rates, most people went without flood insurance - only about a third of the homes in New Orleans carried it.

People don't bother to protect themselves because they figure - correctly - that if disaster strikes they'll be reimbursed anyway by FEMA. It gives out money so freely that it has grown into one of the great vote-buying tools of the modern presidency. Bill Clinton set a record for declaring disasters, and then President Bush set the single-state spending record in Florida before last year's election.

Now it's New Orleans's turn. Since Washington didn't keep its promise to protect the city, the federal government should repair the damage and pay for a new flood-control system. But New Orleans and other coastal cities will never be safe if they go on relying on Washington for protection. Members of Congress will always have higher priorities than paying for levees in someone else's state.

The federal government has a role in coordinating flood control among states and in organizing outside disaster relief, but the locals should fight floods much the same way they fight fires. Fifteenth-century Dutch burghers didn't have the financial or technological resources of today's Louisianians, but they managed to hold back the sea without the Army Corps of Engineers.

Here's the bargain I'd offer New Orleans: the feds will spend the billions for your new levees, but then you're on your own. You and others along the coast have to buy flood insurance the same way we all buy fire insurance - from private companies that have more at stake than do Washington bureaucrats.

Private flood insurance has come to seem quaint in America, but in Britain it's the norm. If Americans paid premiums for living in risky areas, they'd think twice about building oceanfront villas. Voters and insurance companies would put pressure on local politicians to take care of the levees, prepare for the worst - and stop waiting for that bumbling white knight from Washington.

Email: tierney@nytimes.com

* * *

For Further Reading

"Paying the Price: The Status and Role of Insurance Against Natural Disasters in the United States" Edited by Howard Kunreuther & Richard J. Roth, Sr., (Joseh Henry Press, 1998).

"Feeling Your Pain: The Explosion and Abuse of Government Power in the Clinton-Gore Years," by James Bovard (Palgrave, 2000).

"Fire Insurance in the United States," by Dalit Baranoff (EH.Net).

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 2 replies

Kanye West's statement on CBS

Fern — Sun, 04 Sep 2005 12:46:50 GMT

Kanye West appeared on CBS to make an appeal for aid to help the Katrina victims. His statement started...

"George W. Bush does not care about black people..."

Then he was cut off and CBS switched to an emergency tape.

Any comments?

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 2 replies

Katrina Benefit

karina — Sun, 04 Sep 2005 01:03:23 GMT

Some colleagues and I are organizing a benefit for those who are affected
by Hurricane Katrina ...

If any of you are interested in participating, donating your time, energy,
efforts, resources, $$$ - please contact me PM on Tribe.net or via this thread.

All proceeds / profits will be donated to a non-profit Charity for those
dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

This is a not-for-profit event to raise funds for and benefit those whose
current experience and resources are drained by this unfortunate event.

Hurricane Katrina:
http://orsay.tribe.net/tribe/upload/photo/3c9/2f7/3c92f7d0-7c35-482f-8816-5bf886376be0

Much love and light.

Thanks and regards,

Karina

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 0 replies

After watching with the goverment's dealings with New Orleans...

liquidsky — Sat, 03 Sep 2005 23:19:14 GMT

Its safe to say I know what the biggest World Disaster is...It's President George W. Bush. Can we please IMPEACH this man already in honor of those who have died in Iraq and in New Orleans...and those who will continue to die in New Orleans due to his supidity and goverment requirements. Our goverment is a joke.

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 0 replies

New Orleans: A Geopolitical Prize

Rip.............Cor...............Duh — Sat, 03 Sep 2005 14:54:08 GMT

http://lasvegas.tribe.net/thread/12f5ee7a-b5a6-404d-8acb-7db2b3883770?tribeid=b0612a44-efb0-4b9c-8def-bf985a08f018&newpostingid=da806058-36b9-4d78-b976-95bfb475678b&r=10699#da806058-36b9-4d78-b976-95bfb475678b

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 0 replies

Natural History

siennaatspiralrhythms — Sat, 03 Sep 2005 13:13:44 GMT

In the February 05 issue of 'Natural History' magazine is an article about Louisiana, the levies, and how the city is (was) slowly sinking into the sea despite the best efforts of 100 years of "flood control". (For reference purposes, the title of the article is "Taming the River to let in the Sea" ironic, eh?)

The recommendations from geologist Shea Penland, who wrote the article and works for the Army Corp of Engineers, is that the city be moved to higher ground and that the lowlands that it occupies now be allowed to fill back in with sediment that has been halted and diverted from that land for over 100 years. N.O. is below sea level. Has anyone stopped to wonder WHY?

Penland actually states in the article "If you live in Louisiana and you don't know how to swim, now would be a good time to learn." That was back in February.

When the hurricane hit, I dragged out the magazine that I remembered reading a few months ago. Sure enough, it was PREDICTED in POPULAR PRESS in February of this year that a scenario like Katrina was going to happen, because much of the landmass, which for thousands of years replenished itself with the mud of the Mississippi, has stopped having silt dropped on it, and then the building of the city compacted the landmass even deeper.

I wonder what the feasibility of just moving the whole city to higher ground really WOULD be.....

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 0 replies

from a friend in NO

dangerangel — Sat, 03 Sep 2005 06:33:04 GMT

Hi all.
Just so you know, I'm out of New Orleans, fine and in Nashville until further notice.

I am writing to get the word out. As most of you know, I am doing my residency at Charity Hospital in New Orleans. It is a state hospital that serves mostly the poor, and is an integral part of the Gulf Coast health care. Throughout Katrina's terror, I have been able to talk with one ER doc who has been at Charity since Sunday.

It is 5a.m. Friday morning now. I just got off the phone with him. He is doing well, but is still at the hospital. His outgoing message is (approximately)the following:
"Hey this is Roderick Bennett. Once again, thanks for all your support...for an update, everything is looking a little better,we've got some military here, I'm a little worried, as they send us outta here they are talking about making us just like everyone else and sending us along with those who were shooting at us. If anyone knows some way to help us, like sending us to antoher city, hey, we'd greatly appreciate it..."

In our esteemed Charity ER there are 14 volunteer physicians. They began with 41 patients and then closed the ER so they could not treat anyone during this horrific week. (Please don't forget, there are to many other physicans and patients on the other wards of the hospital too) They have been in terrible conditions for almost a week. Until yesterday (Thursday) afternoon, there were no armed guards protecting them from gunmen who were after drugs, food and water. They have been hearing that they would be evacuated soon. In fact, when I spoke with the Senators office on Wednesday, I was told that all the hospitals would be evacuated by sundown that day.

Tulane hospital, a private hospital less than a block away was mostly evacuated as of yesterday. (please find Sanjay Gupta's footage or CNN, who knows if it will be/has been aired).

Here is the gist of my conversation with Dr. Bennett this morning:
He is terribly disappointed at being left behind. About half of the patients were evacuated today. There was a sudden halt when guns were being fired nearby. All but 4 critically ill ICU patients have been evac'd. He expresses deep concern of the lack of haste for lonely , poor old New Orleans. There is no estimated evacuation time at this point.

I am dismayed that our city, which everyone KNEW this would happen to someday, has been thrashed because of poor planning, and little concern. This is dire.

PLEASE forward this to anyone who can spread it, blog it, cover it. On CNN today, one anchor began talking about Race and Class and it's link to this devastation. The situation at Charity is a perfect example.

Thanks
Arwen Adams

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 0 replies

MM calls out GWB!

dangerangel — Fri, 02 Sep 2005 16:17:47 GMT

Friday, September 2nd, 2005

Dear Mr. Bush:

Any idea where all our helicopters are? It's Day 5 of Hurricane Katrina and thousands remain stranded in New Orleans and need to be airlifted. Where on earth could you have misplaced all our military choppers? Do you need help finding them? I once lost my car in a Sears parking lot. Man, was that a drag.

Also, any idea where all our national guard soldiers are? We could really use them right now for the type of thing they signed up to do like helping with national disasters. How come they weren't there to begin with?

Last Thursday I was in south Florida and sat outside while the eye of Hurricane Katrina passed over my head. It was only a Category 1 then but it was pretty nasty. Eleven people died and, as of today, there were still homes without power. That night the weatherman said this storm was on its way to New Orleans. That was Thursday! Did anybody tell you? I know you didn't want to interrupt your vacation and I know how you don't like to get bad news. Plus, you had fundraisers to go to and mothers of dead soldiers to ignore and smear. You sure showed her!

I especially like how, the day after the hurricane, instead of flying to Louisiana, you flew to San Diego to party with your business peeps. Don't let people criticize you for this -- after all, the hurricane was over and what the heck could you do, put your finger in the dike?

And don't listen to those who, in the coming days, will reveal how you specifically reduced the Army Corps of Engineers' budget for New Orleans this summer for the third year in a row. You just tell them that even if you hadn't cut the money to fix those levees, there weren't going to be any Army engineers to fix them anyway because you had a much more important construction job for them -- BUILDING DEMOCRACY IN IRAQ!

On Day 3, when you finally left your vacation home, I have to say I was moved by how you had your Air Force One pilot descend from the clouds as you flew over New Orleans so you could catch a quick look of the disaster. Hey, I know you couldn't stop and grab a bullhorn and stand on some rubble and act like a commander in chief. Been there done that.

There will be those who will try to politicize this tragedy and try to use it against you. Just have your people keep pointing that out. Respond to nothing. Even those pesky scientists who predicted this would happen because the water in the Gulf of Mexico is getting hotter and hotter making a storm like this inevitable. Ignore them and all their global warming Chicken Littles. There is nothing unusual about a hurricane that was so wide it would be like having one F-4 tornado that stretched from New York to Cleveland.

No, Mr. Bush, you just stay the course. It's not your fault that 30 percent of New Orleans lives in poverty or that tens of thousands had no transportation to get out of town. C'mon, they're black! I mean, it's not like this happened to Kennebunkport. Can you imagine leaving white people on their roofs for five days? Don't make me laugh! Race has nothing -- NOTHING -- to do with this!

You hang in there, Mr. Bush. Just try to find a few of our Army helicopters and send them there. Pretend the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are near Tikrit.

Yours,

Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
www.MichaelMoore.com

P.S. That annoying mother, Cindy Sheehan, is no longer at your ranch. She and dozens of other relatives of the Iraqi War dead are now driving across the country, stopping in many cities along the way. Maybe you can catch up with them before they get to DC on September 21st.

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 3 replies

Ted Koppel reams FEMA!

dangerangel — Fri, 02 Sep 2005 07:04:26 GMT

Tonight on Nightline TEd Koppel gave the FEMA director a dressing down like I have NEVER seen on TV. Told him off like he was a real idiot. He is.

Maybe abc.com has a transcript - it was amazing... I'll see if I can dig it up and post it here.

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 4 replies

Some ideas re: donations

kkkkk — Fri, 02 Sep 2005 23:20:52 GMT

Where are you donating to? I'm trying to decide what to do and I'd like to hear some alternatives to the links I'm seeing online.

Thanks for your suggestions...

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 2 replies

Latest Katrina News

Fern — Fri, 02 Sep 2005 16:21:50 GMT

KATRINA ISLAMIC

The Islamic Relief group has pledged two-million US dollars in relief aid.... for victims of Hurricane Katrina. Staff of Islamic Relief's US offices are setting up relief operations in the cities of Houston, Texas....; Mobile, Alabama...; and Bat-in Rouge, Loui-si-ana.

KATRINA-OFFERS

Offers of aid to help thee United States cope with thee effects of Hurricane Katrina.... are mounting. European Union oil experts will meet next week... to discuss thee use of strategic oil reserves... to help thee US cope with serious fuel shortages. Germany, Belgium and Spain have already offered to dip into their reserves. The Netherlands is prepared to send experts in dealing with floods in low-lying areas. Austria, Sweden and Australia have also offered to send emergency teams. Thee US response to these offers isn't clear, as President George W. Bush has said... America can take care of itself.

CLAIMS-KATRINA

Meanwhile, the world's biggest insurance underwriting company, Lloyd's,.... is set to be hit by claims totalling about 10-billion-rand.... in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Experts say it could take between six and nine months.... to establish a reli-able picture of losses. Meanwhile, German re-insurer, Hannover Re,..... has estimated that the Hurricane will knock nearly two-billion rand off its earnings this year. Hurricane Katrina has been described as the worst natural disaster ever.... to hit the United States.

Katrina-Blasts

A severe explosion at a New Orleans train depot... has prompted fears of a major chemical leak in the already stricken city. Clouds of thick smoke billowed over the city...., with flames from the blast site visible some kilometres away. Fears have been expressed that damaged chemical storage tanks in the depot.... could release harmful substances into the flooded city streets. A police spokesperson says a team of experts is on its way to the blast site.... to assess the situation. No further details are available at this stage. Tens of thousands of displaced people remain in the city without food,... electricity... or basic sanitation ...- following severe flooding in the wake of Monday's Hurricane Katrina.

KATRINA-UN

U.N. Secretary General, Kofi Annan, has urged the world to offer assistance to the U.S...... after the devastation by Hurricane Katrina. He's described the Hurricane as a huge disaster. Annan says the U.N. will work with any country or agency... to support the U.S. administration,... the American Red Cross,.... and other US relief organisations. In Geneva,.... U.N. disaster assess-ment and co-ordination teams specialised in natural disasters.... have been placed on alert. They are ready to intervene in the hurricane-hit areas.... if requested to by America. U.S. President George W. Bush has re-assured Americans.... that the government is doing its best to assist them...

Katrina-SA

Five South Africans are trapped in the hurricane-stricken city of New Orleans. Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Ronnie Mamoepa.... says they've received information from the South African Embassy in Washington. But he says no further details are available at this stage. Thousands of people are reported to have died,.... and about one million displaced.... when Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast this week.

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 0 replies

Missing Persons Resources - H Katrina

pedroveracio — Fri, 02 Sep 2005 01:21:45 GMT

http://www.nola.com/forums/searching/

and another one

http://www.gulfcoastnews.com/MessageBoard1.htm

Try not to use up any of their bandwidth unnecessarily, eh?

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 0 replies

Pics of Hurricane Katrina damage added

Fern — Thu, 01 Sep 2005 17:51:55 GMT

Hi everyone

Just wanted to let you know I put some pics up of the damage Hurricane Katrina left behind.

Fern

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 3 replies

Mississippi Gulf Coast

Rip.............Cor...............Duh — Thu, 01 Sep 2005 11:57:04 GMT

http://newyork.tribe.net/thread/02714e42-e287-4bac-8ee6-17d79b20f77a?tribeid=b0612a44-efb0-4b9c-8def-bf985a08f018&r=10352

In this tribe I have a few other post about katrina.

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 0 replies

Real-time Forecast of Earthquake Hazard in the Next 24 Hours

Rip.............Cor...............Duh — Sun, 28 Aug 2005 21:03:10 GMT

http://pasadena.wr.usgs.gov/step/

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 1 reply

New Orleans

Rip.............Cor...............Duh — Sun, 28 Aug 2005 21:14:27 GMT

"...MOST OF THE AREA WILL BE UNINHABITABLE FOR WEEKS...PERHAPS LONGER. AT LEAST
ONE HALF OF WELL CONSTRUCTED HOMES WILL HAVE ROOF AND WALL FAILURE. ALL
GABLED ROOFS WILL FAIL...LEAVING THOSE HOMES SEVERELY DAMAGED OR DESTROYED.

THE MAJORITY OF INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS WILL BECOME NON FUNCTIONAL. PARTIAL TO
COMPLETE WALL AND ROOF FAILURE IS EXPECTED. ALL WOOD FRAMED LOW RISING
APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL BE DESTROYED. CONCRETE BLOCK LOW RISE APARTMENTS
WILL SUSTAIN MAJOR DAMAGE...INCLUDING SOME WALL AND ROOF FAILURE.

HIGH RISE OFFICE AND APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL SWAY DANGEROUSLY...A FEW TO
THE POINT OF TOTAL COLLAPSE. ALL WINDOWS WILL BLOW OUT.

AIRBORNE DEBRIS WILL BE WIDESPREAD...AND MAY INCLUDE HEAVY ITEMS SUCH AS
HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES AND EVEN LIGHT VEHICLES. SPORT UTILITY VEHICLES AND
LIGHT TRUCKS WILL BE MOVED. THE BLOWN DEBRIS WILL CREATE ADDITIONAL
DESTRUCTION. PERSONS...PETS...AND LIVESTOCK EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL FACE
CERTAIN DEATH IF STRUCK.

POWER OUTAGES WILL LAST FOR WEEKS...AS MOST POWER POLES WILL BE DOWN AND
TRANSFORMERS DESTROYED. WATER SHORTAGES WILL MAKE HUMAN SUFFERING INCREDIBLE

BY MODERN STANDARDS.

THE VAST MAJORITY OF NATIVE TREES WILL BE SNAPPED OR UPROOTED. ONLY THE
HEARTIEST WILL REMAIN STANDING...BUT BE TOTALLY DEFOLIATED. FEW CROPS WILL
REMAIN. LIVESTOCK LEFT EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL BEKILLED..."

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 1 reply

The 26 December 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami: Initial Findings from Sumatra

Rip.............Cor...............Duh — Sun, 28 Aug 2005 20:59:03 GMT

http://walrus.wr.usgs.gov/tsunami/sumatra05/

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 0 replies

20 million affected in bombay flooding

acoustichrmny — Tue, 02 Aug 2005 22:47:37 GMT

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article303090.ece
---
More than 20 million people have been affected by the disastrously heavy monsoon rains in Maharashtra state in India.

New rains again flooded Bombay, which was just beginning to recover from last week's heaviest rainfall recorded in India. The centre of India's largest city and financial capital was again under water yesterday, and up to a third of the city was reported to be paralysed.

At least 924 people have died from flooding, landslides and electrocution caused by the rains in Maharashtra, 425 of them in Bombay. "The toll is expected to cross 1,000," K Vatsa, the rehabilitation secretary in Maharashtra state government, said.

Bombay, a city of 16 million people and the powerhouse of the Indian economy, has been largely cut off for days. Although the airport has reopened, few flights are taking off. When officials tried to reopen the airport last week, an Air India jumbo skidded off the waterlogged runway and disaster was narrowly averted.

People in central Bombay have been complaining of power cuts and a lack of clean water. Some say they have been without electricity for five days. Drinking water has been cut off after burst sewage pipes contaminated the supply.

Human bodies and animal carcasses are floating in the flooded streets, and there are fears of disease. Health workers were spraying insecticide to prevent malaria, and distributing medicine and disinfectant. The city authorities asked people to stay at home for their safety for a second day. Navy divers have been deployed to rescue survivors in low-lying areas of the city, which is built across a series of islands.
"The slums nearby are washed away," said Smita Gaikwad, who had to move to her brother's flat on the 10th floor because her ground-floor apartment was under two feet of water. "Dead buffaloes are floating. We didn't have power for 72 hours. Everybody is in a state of numbness."

There have been people demonstrating in the waterlogged streets, angry at what they say is an inadequate emergency response by the authorities.

Shakuntala Nath, a 68-year-old woman in a shanty home in Santa Cruz district, said: "We didn't sleep the whole night seeing the water level rise. Everything is wet; our beds, furniture, all our belongings. When will this stop?"

The rehoused people from shanty towns demolished months ago by the city as part of a grand scheme to turn Bombay into a "new Shanghai" found their temporary shelters too frail to withstand the floods and many were reportedly forced to take shelter in public toilets, exacerbating the risk of an epidemic.

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 0 replies

Extreme Flooding In Romania This Summer

raluca — Sun, 31 Jul 2005 02:51:06 GMT

Hello, I am new to this tribe. I recently visited Romania, which in the last couple of months was ravaged by the most severe floods in the last 100 years. Some 35,000 homes throughout the country were damaged, many totally swept away, a large amount of crops were destroyed and thousands of animals died in the process. There were also a number of deaths, but thanks to the Armed Forces over there, most people were brought to safety.

Whilst funding was made available for rescuing people and for ensuring accomodation for the ones who lost their homes, I am not sure anything was done to rescue animals, both domestic and wildlife. Does anyone know of a way to alert international animal rescue or charitable organisations, that might be able to help? I am not aware of any in Romania itself, though I might be wrong.

Thanks very much.

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 1 reply

London Bombing

RingLeader — Thu, 07 Jul 2005 16:03:55 GMT

My prayers are with those who have lost and those who are hurt.

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 7 replies

we're not Afraid!

Rip.............Cor...............Duh — Fri, 15 Jul 2005 00:57:56 GMT

http://www.werenotafraid.com/

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 0 replies

London Bombings - Pictures up

Fern — Fri, 08 Jul 2005 16:40:29 GMT

Hi everyone

I put up some pics of the London bombings. Please do not reproduce - Reuters News Agency own the rights to the pics.

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 1 reply

how can people, organs, institutions help

shipman — Fri, 24 Jun 2005 02:57:54 GMT

I, like many people and groups was hurt very deeply about the natural disaster. How can we help now that the hype is over, please share your observations with us.

Us being the ordinary folks that want to do some good.

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 3 replies

CRICKET-TSUNAMI

Fern — Wed, 08 Jun 2005 15:36:16 GMT

CRICKET-TSUNAMI

Four South African cricketers will play in the tsunami appeal match between an MCC Eleven and an International team at Lord's in London next Tuesday. Six of the top ten batsmen and three of the top five bowlers in the world will take part in the match. South African captain Graeme Smith and fast bowler Makhaya Ntini will play for the International eleven which will be captained led by former West Indies captain Brian Lara. All-rounders, Shaun Pollock and Jacques Kallis will make their appearance for the MCC Eleven under the captaincy of Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar.

anton/sport 08-06-05 hs

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 2 replies

Tsunami = 100 Megaton nuclear explosion

Fern — Fri, 20 May 2005 06:31:52 GMT

SB-EARTHQUAKE-OF

The earthquake that triggered last December's catastrophic tsunami was so powerful it caused the entire planet to shudder. According to new data, the quake released energy equivalent to a 100 megaton nuclear explosion and was by far the strongest ever recorded. Owen Fay reports.

IN: "The earthquake... OUT: SOC DUR: 40 seconds

F/S jpr 20/05 rwi

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 0 replies

tragedy rekindles memories

acoustichrmny — Mon, 16 May 2005 21:13:27 GMT

http://ipsnews.net/new_notan.asp?idnews=28629
---
TSUNAMI IMPACT-SRI LANKA:
Tragedy Rekindles Memories of Dead President
Amantha Perera

COLOMBO, May 11 (IPS) - In times of tragedy, nations will look for solace in the most unexpected of places, even among the dead. Almost five months after tidal waves from the Dec. 26 tsunami killed more than 31,000 Sri Lankans and left another 200,000 destitute, this seems to ring true in the island-nation.

Many seem to be turning their eyes upon Ranasinghe Premadasa, Sri Lanka's second executive president who died 12 years ago when he was assassinated by a suspected Tamil Tiger suicide bomber on May 1, 1993, while taking part in an International Labour Day procession in the capital.

Premadasa's image has witnessed a revival in the past two months, in the midst of a lethargic tsunami reconstruction effort by the incumbent government.

''If he was here, things would have been okay. He would have made sure that the people would be taken care of,'' G H Munasinghe, a pedicab driver in Colombo said. Munasinghe felt that Premadasa would not have let the tsunami reconstruction effort falter because he ''was a hands-on leader''.

Since the Boxing Day tsunami, spawned by an undersea quake in northern Sumatra in the Indonesian archipelago, the Sri Lankan government has yet to agree on a joint aid distribution mechanism with the rebel Tamil Tigers and a final reconstruction plan.

Initially, the tragedy raised hopes that the government and the Tamil Tiger rebels -- who fought a brutal war for two decades seeking a separate homeland for minority Tamils until a 2002 ceasefire -- would work together to reconstruct the coast including vast swathes under rebel control in the north and east.

The delay also reflects strong opposition to the Tamil Tigers from within the coalition government, where a junior partner, the anti-LTTE People's Liberation Front (JVP), has rejected the plan and threatened to leave the coalition -- a move that would lead to the collapse of the government.

Aid agencies and donors pledged two billion dollars for relief and reconstruction, although about 500 million dollars has yet to be signed and sealed.

Of an estimated 97,000 new houses needed for tsunami victims only a mere 119 have been completed, according to the Task Force For Building The Nation. Work has begun on 3,076 houses and 80,000 houses are to be completed within two years.

''For the man who completed the one million houses programme and undertook the challenge of further building another 1.5 million houses, the task of providing accommodation for a maximum of 100,000 families would have been just a few months work,'' Siresena Cooray, chairman of the Premadasa Centre said in a commemorative message on International Labour Day.

In fact Premadasa's lasting legacy has been the housing programme he initiated from the time he was appointed prime minister in 1978. He spearheaded the Gam Udawa (Village Awakening) programme aimed at providing free housing especially for the rural poor till the time of his death. During his presidency from 1989, Premadasa also initiated a government sponsored dole programme for the poor.

''He helped the poor a lot, now no one is doing that. The poor now are not looked after,'' Premalal Lawrence, who hails from the minority Tamil community, said. The revival however did not materialise out of the blue. Three months after the tsunami, a local TV channel, 'Sirasa TV', featured the slain president in one of its massive publicity billboards in Colombo.

''People's President, you're solely missed,'' said the message. During a protest organised by Premadasa's own party, the United National Party, to demonstrate against the slow tsunami reconstruction effort, tsunami victims garlanded the UNP leaders.

''I never had doubts of my father's ability. It is a Sri Lankan thing to only recognise a person's good after he is dead. It is a reality check,'' Premadasa's son Sajith Premadasa, a UNP parliamentarian from the deep south, told IPS. ''The tragedy is that it has taken so long for people to realise the inefficiency of the present politicians. My father can never be compared with the present lot.''

The former president was known to be a meticulous workaholic who got up at 3 a.m. everyday. Former aides still relate how Premadasa wanted total control of everything from negotiations with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, as the Tigers are formally known, to the plans for the new houses.

''Premadasa would have been on the scene building houses right now, not bickering in Colombo,'' said Munasinghe.

Despite the legacy of being the ''people's president'', his four years at the helm of the nation were also tumultuous.

Extra judicial killings during Premadasa's presidency were at an unprecedented level. In the South, these killings had been perpetrated by Sri Lanka security forces, militant groups and various para military and vigilante groups.

In July 1987, India played a major role in brokering the Indo-Lanka Peace Accord. The Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) attempted to take control of security in the north-east for the next three years. However, this agreement made by Premadasa's predecessor Junius Jayawardena saw violent conflict between the IPKF and Tamil Tigers.

The presence of Indian troops in Sri Lanka also prompted the People's Liberation Front, now a part of the ruling United People's Front Alliance, to take up arms against the government. Premadasa put down this rebellion ruthlessly.

In 1990, the IPKF was withdrawn by New Delhi under pressure from Premadasa.

Premadasa also had to face internal rebellion that ultimately led to the splintering of the once powerful UNP. Two former party and cabinet colleagues Lalith Athulathmudali and Gamini Dissanayake were the key players in an impeachment motion against the president. He used his personal cohesive power and the executive presidency to stop the motion from being brought to parliament. Athulathmudlai, Dissanayake and several allies were then expelled from the party and parliament.

A few weeks before Premadasa was killed by the suicide bomber, Athulathmudali had been assassinated - adding to speculation that the president was behind it.

At the time of his death, Premadasa was not the most popular figure in Sri Lanka because of his atrocious human rights record. In fact on the night of his horrific killing, fireworks were lit in several Colombo suburbs to celebrate his demise.

Till the post-tsunami revival, even his own party members had mentioned Premadasa only in passing. But now that he is back in the limelight, it is unlikely that he will sink back into oblivion, at least not any time soon. (END/2005)

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 0 replies

interesting article in Vanity Fair

dangerangel — Sun, 24 Apr 2005 07:14:02 GMT

This month about the model who lost her boyfriend and broke her pelvis in the tsunami... quite a story.

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 5 replies

rebuilding paradise

acoustichrmny — Sun, 24 Apr 2005 04:51:54 GMT

After the Tsunami, Rebuilding Paradise
By SETH MYDANS
---
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/24/travel/24phuket.html?th=&emc=th&pagewanted=print&position=
---
EVERY morning as the sky brightens over the Andaman Sea, workers in Phuket, Thailand, set out perfect lines of white plastic lounge chairs along the soft sand, punctuated by furled umbrellas ready to be opened as the sun begins to burn. Vendors arrive with their ice-cold water, coconuts and soft drinks. Masseuses spread their straw mats under the palm trees. Jet Ski operators gather by their polished machines.

The peanut sellers, the manicurists, the boy with his book of temporary tattoos and the man who balances a basket of fruit on his head all take their usual places along the beach.

And then, to the soft caress of the surf, they wait.

As the day grows hot enough for mad dogs and Western beachgoers, a few vacationers arrive, by ones, by twos, taking their places here and there along the empty rows of lounge chairs and unopened umbrellas.

Nearly four months after giant waves swept more than 5,300 people to their deaths along the country's southern coast, the island of Phuket - the crown jewel of Thailand's beach resorts - has patched and pasted itself together. An aftershock on March 28 caused a brief scare among those who felt it, but hotels, restaurants, businesses and cruise operators say it has had virtually no long-term impact on bookings and arrivals.

Nevertheless, seismologists say the fault line that caused the original earthquake is still active and it is impossible to predict whether and when further shocks might follow or whether they might cause tsunami waves.

Along the main shopping streets, a few workers still hammer and drill, and some vendors hang their wares in front of damaged shops. But Phuket today is almost as good as new.

"It's 99 percent operational now," Simon J. Hand, a Phuket resident who is associate editor of Asia-Pacific Tropical Homes magazine, said in late March. "At its worst, it was 90 percent operational. Patong Beach is the main tourist trap, and the wave hit everything along the shorefront road. But 150 yards farther up, even the next day, you wouldn't have known anything happened."

All that is missing now, people on Phuket say, is the tourists.

Hotels that had been booked to capacity for January were able to fill just 7 to 10 percent of their rooms, Suwalai Pinpradub, director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand in Phuket, said in a telephone interview. Before the tsunami, she said, about 300,000 tourists visited Phuket each month, both from within Thailand and abroad.

International arrivals at the Phuket airport fell to 13,042 in January from 111,609 in January 2004, immigration figures show. The numbers rose in February, to 37,813, still far below the 114,903 in 2004.

The tsunami destroyed about 40 percent of the 53,000 hotel rooms in six southern provinces, according to the Tourism Authority. The authority cut its forecast for visitors to Thailand this year to 12 million from 13.5 million, a major blow considering that tourism produces about 6 percent of the country's gross domestic product.

Like Bali in Indonesia, Phuket is a tropical island that once relied on farming and fishing but now has one main industry - tourism. And like Bali after the devastating terrorist bombing in October 2002, Phuket has discovered how fragile an economy tourism can be. But it is a self-renewing one, with an endless potential supply of visitors, just as the sea is still filled with grouper, squid and shrimp for the fishermen who lost their boats to the waves.

The number of international arrivals has begun to rebound, reaching 33,855 in the first three weeks of March even as the peak season began to wane. For all of March 2004, there were 82,028 international arrivals. Hotel occupancy in Phuket has grown to about 40 percent, at a time when occupancy is usually 70 to 80 percent.

For some people, this is the time to visit. The beaches and the water are cleaner than they have been in years and the beach road in Patong is no longer one unending traffic jam.

"It's better," Enzo Sare said as he relaxed on the beach. A retired army captain on his eighth visit from Italy with his family, he added: "Yes, I am an egoist. Less traffic, fewer people; very nice. Of course, it's a disaster for the people working on the beach."

Misconceptions are keeping visitors away now, both local people and visitors say. They blame television reports that show the utter devastation of places like Aceh in Indonesia while giving voice reports about Phuket.

"People say: 'How can you go to Thailand? It's dangerous,' " said Louis Bronner, general manager of Mom Tri's Boathouse hotel. "Weeks after the tsunami they still think there are bodies floating, fish contaminated, don't drink the water, you can get cholera, typhoid, crazy things like this."

Even in Bangkok, about 500 miles to the north, hotel Web sites carry tsunami updates that state what should be obvious: "The Bangkok region has not been affected."

Indeed, most of Phuket was far less devastated than the newly opened coastal resorts of Khao Lak about 40 miles to the north, where the Tourism Authority says 80 percent of the structures were destroyed. Almost none of them are operating now. Huge resort complexes, some of them still under construction when the waves hit, are vast dirt lots, their vegetation scraped away, their buildings in ruins, many of their workers and guests swept out to sea.

In Phuket, though, as construction crews continue their work, most hotels are open, or are soon to reopen. Restaurants and bars have been cleaned and remodeled. Tour operators sit ready beside signboards showing beaches and islands that are, for the moment, as pristine and secluded as their photographs.

Shops are restocked with everything from sarongs to souvenirs to sun block. Entrepreneurs have produced commemorative T-shirts, like one that offers a reminder of the shocks tourism has survived there in recent years:

"Patong Beach, Phuket, Thailand," reads the T-shirt, which comes in orange, red, black, white or purple. "2001 Bomb Alert, 2002 SARS, 2003 Bird Flu, 2004 Tsunami. What's Next?"

When the tsunami struck Thailand's Andaman coastline on Dec. 26, the tourist season was at its peak and hotels were full. Then came what some people call the second tsunami - the devastation of the livelihoods of the people who live here.

"No tourists, no work, no money, big problem," said a guide, Jakrin Samakkee.

Not Arunsi Kongon, a masseuse, nor Akani Jigaksorn, a tattoo tout, nor Chari Promden, who ushers people to beach chairs, had had a customer during one recent week. Curbsides were lined with motorcycles for rent. The bright red minivan taxis that once choked the beachfront road were parked and idle.

When a young man came to buy a bottle of water from Urai Chaiyen, who has sold drinks there for 20 years, she did not have enough money to change a 1,000-baht note, about $25.

As occupancy has dropped, some hotels are giving their employees only three weeks' pay for a month's work. Others have sent their workers out to troll the beaches with fliers offering deep cuts in rates.

Even without customers, many of the beach workers come here because, as a lifeguard, Somkid Koernoon, said, "It is our second home."

The harsh truth, though, is that even in the best of scenarios, they will not start earning real money until the next peak season, more than six months from now.

The hardships of the Thai people seemed to be on the minds of visitors who sat in the lounge chairs along the beach.

"That's the reason we came now," said Gordon Brind, 51, who was there in late March on vacation with his family from Britain. "We were here last year and we decided to come again after the tsunami. Everyone was donating in the U.K. to tsunami funds, and in other countries, too, I'm sure. But the main part of it, really, is that they must have work to live."

Pierre Alain, 46, on a visit from Switzerland, said: "I think one must come, because tourism is one of the first resources of Thailand. One must come to help. It's fine here. It's normal. It's magnificent."

Bill Harrison, 61, a relief worker who has spent many months here and knows Phuket well, suggested that one reason to visit is to witness history.

"I'm not sure what to emphasize," he said, "to persuade people to come: because the people here need it, or come because it's great, or come as a traveler, not a tourist."

He said a visitor now has the opportunity "to watch an event in history, watching how a place picks itself up and gets started over again, and you're part of it, too, because these people need the income."

Some potential visitors held back, particularly in the early days, out of a sense that it would be unseemly to splash in the surf in a place of death and mourning.

"You do think about that," Mr. Brind said, as he sat in the shade of one of the few unfurled umbrellas along Patong Beach. "It's sad when you look out at the sea and how it looks now and you think of all the death out there. It's on your mind."

But Jussi Rautiainen, who was on the beach with his wife and two daughters from Finland, said tragedy did not mean a place had to close down for business.

"If that was the thinking, people wouldn't go to New York either after the attack on the World Trade Center," he said. "That didn't stop us from going to New York. You continue on. It's the only way to see the world."

In Thailand, where people really do smile as advertised, the welcome in Phuket is as warm and generous as ever. But for the workers on the beach, it is hard to forget the day after Christmas. They talked of terror, sleeplessness and a constant fear that the next incoming wave could take their lives.

"I'm afraid," said Chulin Promdeng, 42, a masseuse. "I'm so afraid of another tsunami. For 15 days, I didn't sleep. I keep looking for another tsunami."

Ram Battarai, 27, who owns a tailor shop, remembers the wave as "a slap, a very quick slap and within the slap all the shops are flat and the water is filled with cars and people and everything."

Now, he said: "It's very difficult to keep your mind well. You must keep thinking. If you let your mind free, many things come into it."

Mr. Somkid, the lifeguard, explains over and over, why he was unable to save the bathers on the beach.

"At that moment, we choked," he said. "We had never seen anything like that before. When we saw the water go far away, we knew something was wrong but we didn't know what it was. Then we saw the water coming very quickly toward us."

Next time, he said - next time he would know what was happening and what to do.

Sakino Natoto, 27, a tour operator, was sitting just across the road from the beach when the wave crashed in. It flushed her into the basement of a department store, then around and around as it carried her with it to the top floor.

Battered and cut, she returned that week to her desk by the side of the road and she was there late last month, calling out:

"Hello, sir! Tour information! How are you? Sawaddi Ca! Welcome, sir!"

"If it is possible," she told a reporter who sat down beside her, "please tell everybody to come to Phuket. It is safe now. Because this was a natural disaster, not, how can I say it, not Iraq - boom, boom, boom, boom."

She added: "You know, I am very lucky. In the last year, my husband left me for another lady, my leg was broken in a motorcycle accident and now we have the tsunami. My mother says, 'Sakino, you are very lucky!'

"Please tell everyone to come here, for happiness, for business and to change my luck."

SETH MYDANS is acorrespondent for The International Herald Tribune in Bangkok.

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 1 reply

A poem by tribester - AlwaysAuthentic

Fern — Thu, 07 Apr 2005 12:10:01 GMT

…and Water is Life They Say

Excitedly, Mothers cry, “Children, come see the tide!
Come, watch the surfers ride!
Why, the waves are as tall as any skyscraper!
They ’re amazing indeed! ”
Never once suspecting Water was driven by greed
Seeking a bride
Children drowned as a New Year crowned
Titanic …frantic …panic
And Water is life they say,
water is life they say.

Tears roll down faces in a cascade borne of grief
Never once considered Water such a callous thief
Parents cry out from the shore
Begging God to release beloved children into their care once more
76,000, no 77,000 lights...more were extinguished that fateful day
Now, a world is stunned in disbelief.

With the stinging realization that we ’ll never replace
The littlest lights lost at sea
Amidst Sunday play,
who shan ’t live another day,
overcome by the ocean ’s waves
they could not speak their fear,
Water seduces “Come ”
Water warns “Run. ”
Alas, the Water came much too fast
Leaving no escape path
New lives just beginning
Suddenly, relegated to the past
Overpowered by oceanic blast
Who fears the Loch Ness Monster
when the littlest lights are extinguished?
How can Water ’s power henceforth ever be diminished?

People smile on the streets as they have been trained,
“Happy New Year! ”the commonly echoed refrain
I cannot wave today for I am drained
Too many souls cry out from the sea
Many hear their silenced plea
Nature is awesome in many ways
Captivating, yet so freeing
One day we ’re running toward her, the next moment fleeing
The count stands at 76,000, uh, 77,000 according to the news sites
Wonderous ocean reached new heights
A father curses the ocean where fishermen ply their craft
His seed, gone in an instant
What he wouldn ’t give to hear his son laugh …
Oceans swallow dreams,
Oceans swallow dreams
His pain is unbearable as he puts a fistful of dirt upon the earthen cavity
Leaving a part of himself there
And water is life they say?
He questions as a permanent tear sears his spirit.

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 0 replies

Tsunami "Love Soup" initiative for healing

suzi — Tue, 05 Apr 2005 08:24:27 GMT

Tsunami Lovesoup Project
Healing the world, one bowl at a time.

“I’ve learned that going ahead and doing the best you can is better than waiting until you have all the answers.”
-Adam Werbach, the Sierra Club’s youngest ever president

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.”

-Lao Tsu, Taoist philosopher

The project:
The “Tsunami Lovesoup Project” is an initiative by San Francisco photographer and filmmaker, The Pink party promoter, The Pink revolution founder and conscious love activist Suzi Chang. The project is based on the idea of bringing relief, support, help and love directly to people in need, and documenting the process and the results for the world to share the experience of healing. Instead of helping from a comfortable distance, Suzi will travel to the hardest hit region in Indonesia, where help is most needed and has been withheld for political reasons. Once there, Suzi will set up a soup kitchen/meeting point/a community center of sorts and cook for the people in need and care for the children.

Other key activities will include documenting and shooting portraits of as many of the orphaned children as possible to help to begin replenishing their childhood memories lost forever by the Tidal Wave that left a trail of broken memories and lost lives. Also, this is an effort to begin to protect those most vulnerable among us who are being sold into slavery, prostitution and armed militia. We also hope to raise enough funds or to receive donations of crayons and paper to be given to the children who will then be given the opportunity to express and release their emotions and recent trauma through drawing. It’s certain that these children have had little if any psychological or emotional therapy or counseling. Perhaps by offering an outlet and means to express their grief, they may as a result find some comfort or release collectively by sharing their experiences in a creative and low impact way.

The concept of the project is very simple-bringing comfort and strength to the weak through cooking and bringing relief from pain through art-and through it Suzi will explore what it means to be a truly responsible citizen of the world.

Suzi has been receiving direct, sporadic emails and updates and reports through a doctor and a team of medical personnel who have set up a few “Mash” type units operating now in the Banda Aceh region of Indonesia since the beginning of the year. The soup kitchen will set up shop near a medical unit such as Doctors Without Borders, orphanage or similar in order to reach as many people as possible (including medical and agency personnel and other relief workers.) Efforts to create a network of local contacts to support logistics are currently being made and improved upon every day before leaving for the region.

The second important element of the project is to document the process and response to the initiative. Suzi Chang is an emerging filmmaker and talented photographer known for her unique narrative style and maverick approaches to problem solving from the big picture to the smaller details. Suzi will act as soup kitchen chef, narrator and director of a small film crew traveling with her.
In addition to warmly inviting tax-deductible donations, the proceeds from a fund raising benefit in San Francisco prior the trip will manifest the means to realize this project

The Vision: Direct Aid, People power, from our hearts and community to theirs.

This is a project driven by the heart in an effort to break through the barriers of discrimination and hidden agendas based on race/ethnicity, gender, politics, religion or economics. This is also a project that may help to renew our faith in ourselves and in humanity. With support and help from others, this simple soup kitchen could become a meeting point, a gathering place, a communications/broadcast hub; a true community center to share ideas and resources to help each other.
Imagine if architecture and design students from around the country would take a semester off or do a semester abroad helping to rebuild communities and dwellings. Imagine if communities or cities across this nation would “adopt” or take interest in the development of a single orphaned child. Even an occasional letter or care package or book could make such a big impact on the outlook of a potential future Gandhi, or Nobel prize laureate, or the next great leader of the region or the country. We can nurture and foster thoughtfulness, empathy, education, wisdom, peace or turn our backs and send a message of indifference and apathy. We’ve all got a choice. We’ve all got a voice. Why don’t we choose to make a difference by being the change?

The goal: To make a difference, to heal from the inside out

To raise awareness and reconnect with the world around us. To improve international relations and begin dialogues of true diplomacy instead of dropping bombs. To empower the individual and inspire the spirit of humanity and generosity. To build communities rather than destroy. To reunite families and build lasting friendships. To learn and share our gifts and abundance rather than merely dictate or judge. To hold all of us accountable and share the responsibility for the children of the world. Our children, our world. To heal together.

The invitation: To Participate

A very personal and heartfelt invitation from Suzi to you. If you’ve ever wanted to make a difference in another individual’s life that would make a profound impact, here’s your opportunity. You are welcome to participate in so many ways that can’t all fit on just a few pages. Every person has gifts and skill and treasures inside of themselves if they care to look.
∑ Be kind to yourself and that kindness will radiate and touch and inspire others
∑ Pass the info to someone in media and lobby them to help this project take on wings and get broadcast
∑ Volunteer an extra hour or two
∑ Donate an extra dollar or many
∑ Help design the website, flyers, t-shirts etc…
∑ Suggest to your company to offer materials or equipment
∑ Get together with friends and have a crafting party to make gifts for the children
∑ Have a bake sale or garage sale to finally rid yourself of that clutter and donate the proceeds
∑ Sponsor a lovesoup relief worker’s flight, tent, pots and pans, water purifier etc...
∑ Offer unused gift certificates for raffle prizes or to support the artists donating their time and talent
∑ Invite a friend to the benefit and purchase a drink for your favorite dj or performer who just worked their butts off to make a difference
∑ Come to the benefit and make a bid on a silent auction item or donate something beautiful to be auctioned
∑ Come early or stay late and help set up or break down
∑ Go to Indonesia with Suzi and lend your building, documenting, cooking, massaging, sailing, driving, hunting and gathering, tech, solar etc. skills to use on your time off you’ve been meaning to take.

Don’t wait to express your love to someone that makes a difference in your life often and regularly.

Thank you from the depths of our hearts to yours!

Contact info:

Suzi Chang / initiator “love soup” project

Tel: 415-701-7894

Email: worldsuzi@gmail.com

Mail: 3526 Geary Blvd.
San Francisco CA 94118

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 0 replies

relief work in Indonesia?

esteban — Wed, 16 Mar 2005 06:16:45 GMT

Just came across this tribe and thought i'd check in... I'm going to be in Indonesia for a month or so at the beginning of summer, and I'm curious if anyone here is connected to or knows of groups there that are doing direct tsunami aid or other relief work. I'm interested in helping out and would appreciate any leads. Thanks!

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 3 replies

Magnitude-8.2 Quake Strikes Off Indonesia; Tsunami Possible

Rip.............Cor...............Duh — Mon, 28 Mar 2005 18:54:27 GMT

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000080&sid=aUvFI0lWi1Qo&refer=asia

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 2 replies

Tsunami Killed More Women Than Men

Sat, 26 Mar 2005 20:00:48 GMT

By MICHAEL CASEY, Associated Press Writer

LAMSENIA, Indonesia - The tsunami that overwhelmed Asia in December killed three times more women than men, and the resulting scarcity of female survivors has led to reports of forced marriages and rape, the British-based charity Oxfam International said Saturday.
Although official statistics do not provide the gender of victims, partial data indicates that many more women than men were among the 300,000 people killed or declared missing after the Dec. 26 tsunami devastated the coastlines of 11 countries around the Indian Ocean.
The impact on women was seen especially in Sri Lanka, Indonesia and India. Indonesia, the country hardest hit by the earthquake-generated tsunami, now has villages where men now outnumber women 10-to-1.
"The tsunami has dealt a crushing blow to women and men across the region. In some villages it now appears that up to 80 percent of those killed were women," said Becky Buel, Oxfam's policy director. "This disproportionate impact will lead to problems for years to come unless everyone working on the aid effort addresses the issue now. We are already hearing about rapes, harassment and forced early marriages."
The report concluded that women suffered disproportionately because they had a more difficult time outrunning the surging waters or the bad luck of being at home while the men were out at sea fishing or in the fields working.
As a result, men now far outnumber women in crowded camps and scattered settlements, and the women are vulnerable to a range of abuses, the report said. Sri Lankan women reportedly have been sexually assaulted in camp toilets and domestic violence is on the rise, the report found.
Indonesian women, according to Oxfam and women activists, are being sexually harassed in camps, forced or rushed into marrying much older men and victimized by abusive Indonesian soldiers, who reportedly have strip-searched them.
"We know of at least three marriages in which women married older widowers. What we don't know is how forced it was," said Ines Smyth, gender adviser for Oxfam.
"When we asked them, they say they have an obligation to their family and were frightened for the future. If you lost everything you had, including your family, it's very difficult to refuse whatever is being offered, whether it's protection or the possibility of a house."
Indonesian activists claim it is difficult to get women to talk about the abuse or report it to authorities. The few women left in coastal settlements interviewed said they were unaware of any abuse, and they were focusing on rebuilding their lives.
The Aceh province's hard-hit coast is dotted with the remnants of villages dominated by widowers. Lamsenia, a once-thriving fishing and farming village of 833 on the west coast, now has only 35 women among its 158 survivors, and all but one of those women have moved elsewhere. Gampong Pandee, on the edge of the provincial capital Banda Aceh, was reduced from 1,139 people to 246 — with only 20 women.
Such radical changes in a village's population will likely alter a community for good, activists say, with men put in a difficult position of leaving a village to restart a family or bringing newcomers into what often was a very tight-knit community.
The tsunami also could adversely impact poor widowers in places like Lamsenia. Most would like to remarry and start a new family, but they have no money for the costly dowry and no immediate prospects of resuming their jobs as rice farmers, traders or fishermen.
"What we need is women but we also need money to get them," said Mohammed Ali, a 50-year-old sand miner from Lamsenia whose wife and five of his six children were killed in the tsunami. "We also need a house. If we have a wife and no shelter, it means nothing."
Survivors in Lamsenia and Gampong Pandee say they mostly miss the chatter and laughter of the women. There is no one to do the cooking, the washing and, most of all, to keep them company at night.
For 26-year-old Indra Saputra, the tsunami was especially painful. A day before it hit, he and his pregnant wife had celebrated their wedding with a party for the entire village.
Now, she is gone and the prospects of doing it all over again are difficult to comprehend.
"I'll eventually get married because it's too traumatic to be alone," he said. "For now, I have to get this village back to normal and rebuild my home. But it's difficult because I've got no one to share things with."

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 0 replies

Still Shaking...

yoshispacebreaker — Wed, 02 Mar 2005 21:52:18 GMT

Ever since the major quake, I've been checking the USGS up to the minute website and seeing magnitude 4's, 5's, and even some 6's in and around the region. This must certainly make folks over there very nervous, because you never know what's going to happen when the earth starts trembling.

Below is a link to NASA's APOD website, which gives a pretty thorough view over time of just how shaky things are:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050302.html

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 1 reply

whitey to the rescue!

dangerangel — Fri, 14 Jan 2005 05:22:05 GMT

true compassion in action...

http://webmaster.zattevrienden.be/doorgaan.htm

thanks to monster for the link!

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 34 replies

Renewed call for help & media coverage!

Fern — Wed, 02 Mar 2005 19:11:38 GMT

I am just a bit sad how the Tsunami affected areas fell out of the media. The other day at a media planning meeting I raised the point and asked them "what are we waiting for? Another disaster so we can good rates because of good visuals of destroyed lives and dead people??"

It is media that brought disasters right into the living rooms/tv rooms of people globally and made a constant appeal for donations. After that we just moved on to new stories, while people are still hungry, living in relief centres...and still trying to rebuild their lives.

I've put in a request to be sent back to the Tsunami affected areas so I can do my bit to bring the struggle of those people back into the media...And I'd like people here on Tribe and in this tribe to contact big newspapers, broadcasters and radio stations in their area, and to ask them why their focus has moved from the disaster on the islands, India, Sri Lanka & Somalia... Let them know...THE DISASTER IS NOT OVER!

Facing a huge wave is nothing compared to having to face the rest of your life after one has destroyed everything you have and killed some of the people you love. Sometimes, starting over is the biggest battle some of us will have to face...its a battle people in those areas are facing right now.

The disaster in NOT over my friends, and we have NOT given enough!

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 4 replies

Change of Tribe?

joseph — Mon, 28 Feb 2005 01:38:06 GMT

I'm thinking about converting this tribe to a general disaster relief tribe since there isn't one on Tribe yet and it allows us to broaden the scope of this tribe to include discussion on other global and national disaster relief efforts. Thoughts?

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 9 replies

states failing to pay pledges

acoustichrmny — Sat, 12 Feb 2005 19:30:36 GMT

States Failing to Pay Tsunami Pledges
by John Vidal
---
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0208-07.htm
---
Almost two-thirds of the money promised by governments to help the millions of people affected by the Indian Ocean tsunami has not yet been received by the UN, confirming the fear that many countries would try to wriggle out of their commitments.

Margareta Wahlstrom, the secretary general Kofi Annan's special envoy, said the UN's appeal for an urgent $977m (£525m) to fund the first six months of emergency relief work had been met mostly by written commitments, and only $360m had so far been received.

Speaking yesterday in Geneva, Ms Wahlstrom urged governments to pay up.

"This is our key message to government donors: please convert your pledges into hard cash in the bank," she said.

"It's only cash in the bank that makes it possible to do work on the ground".

British charities, which have been overwhelmed by the unprecedented public response, amounting so far to£ 250m, were shocked by the inaction of the governments.

A spokesman for Oxfam said: "When the public pledged their funds, these were delivered in hours, yet governments have had over a month and far less than 50% has been delivered.

"The public need to keep the pressure on to make sure the rhetoric is converted into hard cash."

Ms Wahlstrom praised governments for being generous with money for food, health and children, but accused them of not finding the cash for temporary housing and the reconstruction of local industries, which have had only 35-50% funding. "It's a very laborious process to get to 100% of the appeal," she said.

The UN said in the first week of the disaster that promises of aid from rich countries to cope with the affects of the tsunami, which directly and indirectly killed 283,000 people, might not be fulfilled.

This was because some countries used dubious methods, including "double accounting", to appear more generous than they really were, it said.

And many simply reneged on their humanitarian pledges, promising money but not delivering it.

Ms Wahlstrom said bureaucratic regulations might make it it difficult to transform government pledges into money.

"It has partly to do with how governments take decisions, and then once they have taken the decisions, how to implement the decisions."

Elisabeth Byrs, a spokeswoman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said the problem was that even though government pledges might be confirmed, there might be a significant time lapse before the countries came up with the money.

© Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 3 replies

Tsunami throws up India relics

Rip.............Cor...............Duh — Sat, 12 Feb 2005 00:56:08 GMT

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4257181.stm

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 0 replies

Latest figures

Fern — Thu, 10 Feb 2005 05:45:15 GMT

ASIA-QUAKE-TOLL
JAKARTA Feb 10 Sapa-AFP
DEATH TOLL IN ASIAN TSUNAMI DISASTER AT 284,561

The number of people believed killed in December's tsunami disaster was lowered to 284,561 Thursday, more than six weeks after the catastrophe, as Indonesia revised its toll downwards.

Indonesia was hardest-hit by the December 26 quake and tsunamis, with a total of 231,300 people listed as dead or missing, the health ministry said in its latest figures.

The ministry said the number of people confirmed dead and buried had increased by 768 to 116,396 but the number of people missing and almost certainly dead had fallen sharply by 12,870 to 114,904.

Thailand's toll remained at 5,393 confirmed dead. A further 3,071 people were listed as missing, more than 1,000 of them foreigners.

The toll in Sri Lanka, which was second hardest hit by the catastrophe, stood at 30,957, according to the Centre for National Operations.

The number of people listed as missing was 5,637, but many were expected to be among those never formally identified, hurriedly buried and included in the confirmed death toll.

In neighbouring India, the official death toll was 10,749 with 5,640 still reported missing and feared dead.

The government was soon expected to draw up final casualty figures in which the missing were declared dead.

Myanmar has said 61 people were killed in the tsunamis.

At least 82 people were killed and another 26 were missing in the Maldives.

Sixty-eight people were dead in Malaysia, most of them in Penang, according to police, while Bangladesh reported two deaths.

On the east coast of Africa, 298 people were declared dead in Somalia, 10 in Tanzania and one in Kenya. Relief workers have said they believe the figure for Somali fatalities to be exaggerated.

The US Geological Survey said the earthquake west of the Indonesian island of Sumatra measured 9.0 on the Richter scale, making it the largest quake worldwide in four decades.

Death toll

Indonesia: 231,300

Sri Lanka: 30,957

India: 16,389

Thailand: 5,393

Maldives: 82

Malaysia: 68

Myanmar: 61

Bangladesh: 2

Somalia: 298

Tanzania: 10

Kenya: 1

Total: 284,561

The figures include 114,904 listed as missing in Indonesia and 5,640 in India.

In addition, 3,071 people are listed as missing in Thailand and 5,637 in Sri Lanka but not included in the toll because of possible double counting.

Sapa-AFP

/shob 02/10/05 07-14 49

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 0 replies

Aceh Status

NA — Tue, 08 Feb 2005 23:52:59 GMT

Having spent time in Aceh my heart feels heavy for all the people I met who are now most likely gone.

Theirs is a tricky road given the political temperature with the Indonesian government.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4245595.stm

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 0 replies

tsunami relief benefit in san diego

acoustichrmny — Tue, 18 Jan 2005 19:17:24 GMT

from a friend, private message me if you want to contact robin directly.
---
Dear Friends & family,

I have confirmed Winston's for February 16th from 8:30 - 1:30 a.m. This is a Wednesday evening. Total - It will be $100 for the cost of the venue to pay for production costs.

Bands - does this date fit your bill?

Everyone else, please start to pass the word!

How much would people consider donating at the door? $5, $7 or $10 donations... what do you think?

Donations are still be accepted for a silent auction for the night of the show....

Please let me know if you have any ideas who might be able to fill the other two spots or if we may have any other volunteers to help with the event! I will try to touch base with Ed from Not Since Reagan (ASAP) and have a friend touching base with Al Howard (Josh thank you)....

Also, please let me know if you might be able to help out with Flyers, Advertising or posters!!!!

619-980-6231
lots of love and thanks
Robin

PLEASE FORWARD THIS E-MAIL TO EVERYONE WHO MIGHT BE ABLE TO HELP

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 2 replies

What I'm doing to help. You can too.

Lorena — Mon, 03 Jan 2005 04:21:38 GMT

Hi folks,
I didn't think of tribe.net first (should have), but started a Yahoo group here:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hwthailand/

I personally have an old friend there whom I have been planning to visit for the month of January. I am still going, but instead of vacation it's now going to be a different situation. All the holiday funds and then some are going directly to my friend's village on Kho Lanta, and when I arrive there on Wed this week, I'm going to Kho Lanta too. Roll up the sleeves, etc.

I've set up my Pay Pal account, right on the front page of the above URL, to receive donations if you are so inclined. My intent is not to spam, solicit or otherwise hassle...but if you haven't given everything to Docs without Borders or Red Cross etc already, and you want to take direct action and see what you're funds are doing in a personal way, then bookmark my site above and send us $5, or whatever a latte costs these days...anything helps. This is direct aid to people who need it RIGHT NOW.

I'm just an ordinary person and not a registered charity. I am doing this because it's the decent thing to do and no other reason.

There are wonderful messages to read there from my friend, and some pics, etc.

Thanks for reading this.
Again, I'm not trying to scam anyone, or send you one a guilt trip. It's just that those who know I'm going over there keep asking "how can I help?" (what a wonderful phrase) and that's why I started this.

-Lorena

P.S. I've already sent over $900 US of my own money, and received over $700 in gifts (every penny of which will go to them, well, the pennies Pay Pal doesn't take as their cut, that is)...thanks to the wonderful people in the world that care about making a difference.

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 5 replies

loss of an old family friend in Tsunami

joseph — Tue, 01 Feb 2005 05:50:34 GMT

I just found out that an old family friend, who happened to be my Montessori teacher in Sweden when I was growing up, died in the Tsunami. She was swept away from the rest of her family as they were all scrambling away from the initial wave. The rest of the seven family members there survived and didn't realize that she was missing until it was too late.

<SIGH> Making it personal somehow makes it all that much more real and tragic.

Joseph

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 5 replies

SF benefits

dangerangel — Thu, 03 Feb 2005 23:00:04 GMT

Saturday February 5, 8:00 p.m.
LGBT TSUNAMI RELIEF CABARET AND DANCE PARTY

OUTreachSF, formed in response to the December Tsunami, presents "Turning the Tide," a two-part event staring with a cocktail party and cabaret show followed by a dance party with celebrity DJs. Also, a silent auction and art show. Proceeds will be donated to Rainbow World Fund, a gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and supportive heterosexual humanitarian service agency. Terra, 511 Harrison St., San Francisco. $10. For information visit <http://www.rainbowfund.org>www.rainbowfund.org.

Monday February 7, 5:00 p.m.
CHEFS WITHOUT BORDERS

Bay Area restaurants participate in Chefs Without Borders, a fundraising reception for the Tsunami Recovery Fund. Features include dance entertainment by dance groups from Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Philippines, China, and India, and a champagne and caviar reception followed by a celebrity chefs tasting reception. Also, silent and live auctions. Hilton San Francisco, 333 OíFarrell St., San Francisco. $200/Celebrity Chefs Tasting Reception. $350/VIP Reception Champagne and Caviar Reception. For information call 415/743-3343.

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 1 reply

Disasters and Poor Nations AIDED By PEOPLE, Not Governments

Rip.............Cor...............Duh — Fri, 28 Jan 2005 15:22:43 GMT

http://brendastardom.com/home.asp

This has to be the coolest thing I've heard concerning the tsunami disaster. It's not often something moves me like this has. One thing the Portuguese have is heart and the players and national team coach have blown my mind, as has the reason I'm writing this. It's been a long time since I've been left with a really good feeling after reading something. Even all the relief coverage is factual with lately few reports of something miraculous happening. It's all so sad.

I'll begin with story of little 7 year old Martinus and how the Portuguese futebol players became involved in his life. SignOnSanDiego's Soccer aid article, grabbed me hard.
A British television news crew was filming a story in Banda Aceh about the tsunami's impact on the local fishing industry when it stumbled across an emaciated boy on a deserted beach. He was delirious and dehydrated. He was covered in mosquito bites. He had apparently survived alone for 19 days, eating berries and dried noodles, drinking water from rain puddles.

"It became clear to our Indonesian driver and helper that he had seen his mother and father swept away," said Sky News reporter Ian Dovaston. "He did not know if they were alive or not, and had been wandering ever since. He was swept about (a mile) when the tsunamis hit."

There was also this: He was wearing a red and green jersey of Portugal's national team.
This is a miraculous story. He was taken to "Save The Children" where another patient recognized him, resulting in his reuniting with his father and grandfather.This is where the team and players come in. It's a long paste and a heart-warming read:
Portugal's national coach is Brazilian Felipe Scolari but is known by his nickname, Felipao. Big Phil. He is a tall, balding, gruff man whose halftime tirades are legendary. The sight of helpless Martunis, alone on a beach, with the Portuguese soccer federation crest on his chest, melted him.

"After I saw these images, I knew we had to take an immediate stand," Scolari said. "I would like to bring him over to watch a Portugal game so we could show him how touched and happy we are that someone can live for 19 days like he did, wearing our jersey, our symbol."

Scolari and the Portuguese federation didn't stop there. They have pledged to buy land in Indonesia and rebuild Martunis' home, which was washed away by the tsunami. They've also talked about staging soccer clinics in the affected areas, of restoring stadiums and other damaged soccer infrastructure, of organizing a charity game in Portugal.
Can it get any cooler? The answer is most definitely. Ronaldo, a Portuguese playing for Manchester United has offered to bring him to Manchester to stay at his house and also watch a game. There's more:
Now Luis Figo, Portugal's biggest star, wants to help. So does national-team forward Nuno Gomes and his Lisbon club Benfica. So do practically all 10.5 million of Portugal's citizens captivated by Martunis, whose story has dominated television and newspapers since he was found Saturday.
This was also needed by the citizens of this country in crisis -- no government and predictions of further doom and gloom, even with new elections slated for February 20, not to mention the terrible drought in the south and the EU Commission on their ass for environmental issues. There's also a flu epidemic occurring and there's been no rain, even here in the north and this week is expected to be the coldest in a long time.

Just when I was losing faith in people, disasters have brought out the "heart" and terrible as it is, so much good has come from not just the tsunami disaster, but that of Charlie Womack, who was tragically buried alive in the La Conchita Mudslide. He touched so many lives over the span of his life and though he still surfed he was a big part of Burning Man, teacher, DJ, artist, musician and friend to anyone in need. Ttributes, paddle-outs, and benefits have been held for both Charlie and Jimmy "Gator" Wallet who was living in Charlie's house with his wife and 3 beautiful little girls who were also buried in the mud. Gator had run out for ice cream and watched it happen. I've been told Charlie's passing has changed lives and ways of thinking. His legacy will live on -- from Bonzer5 and the Silverstrand years to the Llama Tribe of La Conchita to Burning Man where his ashes will be placed during this year's event.

Then there's a marvelous effort from Waxploitation Records whose artists are donating items to be auctioned on eBay, with all proceeds going to The Sudan, which was temporarily overshadowed by the larger tsunami disaster.
In its ongoing efforts to raise money for the victims of genocide in Sudan, Waxploitation Records is setting up an all-star online auction via eBay in late starting Monday, January 17th. All of the proceeds will be donated to UNICEF and the UN Refugee Agency, who are actively working relief in that region. The URL for the auction is www.ebay.com/sudanrelief.

A ‘who's who' of artists have donated signed or rare items System of a Down, Dixie Chicks, Wilco, KORN, Yoko Ono, Jurassic 5, Limp Bizkit, The Donnas, David Sylvian, 311, Patti Smith, Skinny Puppy, Good Charlotte, Dizzee Rascal, Danger Mouse, Tiger Army, The Stills, The Cardigans, Rob Zombie, Puddle of Mudd, Dropkick Murphys, Brand New, Dandy Warhols, Fischerspooner, Ozomatli, Ziggy Marley amongst several hundred items. According to the UN, the conflict in Sudan has created one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, with more than one million people driven from their homes and up to 70,000 people killed by government supported militias (CNN 8/31/04). The systematic rape of women and the murder of children have been widely reported.
There is some really cool stuff there. Give it a look and please bid. Also check the website for information on the CD Genocide In Sudan.

I can't leave out The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's amazing donation to vaccinate kids worldwide. From Washington Times:
The director-general of the World Health Organization is praising a $750 million gift to global immunization from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The foundation Monday said it will contribute $750 million over a decade for the work of the Global Alliance on Vaccines and Immunization. Norway's Parliament pledged $290 million over the next five years for a total of more than $1 billion for global immunization.
I take back all I've said about Gates. It seems, at least from what I've gathered, he did this to spur other big businesses to follow suit. ic Wales reported:
Mr Gates's donation will fuel speculation that multinational corporations will increasingly take over the role traditionally played by government aid programmes.
The American Government, especially, should be ashamed. War war weapons and war fuck the poor seems to be their attitude. Take Bush's latest request for 75 BILLION for Iraq. Warmongering idiot is blind to the dire poverty which prevails throughout a large part of the world, not to mention the homeless and hungry in his own country.

Neither fire nor wind, birth nor death can erase our good deeds.
--Buddha

Brenda Stardom
Portugal

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 2 replies

Tsunamis caused by Israel-India nuclear experiments”

Rip.............Cor...............Duh — Fri, 28 Jan 2005 15:38:44 GMT

http://www.albawaba.com/en/news/178858

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 5 replies

Tsunami Relief Benefit Dance Party In Santa Cruz, feb. 4th

*Spring* — Sun, 30 Jan 2005 01:07:41 GMT

HEARTBEAT ~ A TSUNAMI RELIEF BENEFIT PARTY ~ WITH LOCAL DJ'S BROTHER, LITTLE JOHN, BLINK, AND THE ALL WOMENS BRAZILIAN DRUM TROUP, GODDESS OF FUNK ~

Friday February 4th The Santa Cruz Dance Community will step out in support of Tsunami Survivors with a night of dancing, yoga, art, and fine tea : ) at THE ATTIC (located on Pacific Ave in downtown Santa Cruz above the Blue lagoon). The Attic is Santa Cruz' newest Art Gallery Tea House ~

Doors open at 8:30
Yoga at 9pm with Mark Tanaka
Funky, luscious, groovy, keep you smiling and booty shakin' beats with:
10pm Blink
11pm Little John
Midnight live drumming performance with Goddess of Funk
12:30 Brother
Capacity is limited ~ $10 minimum donation at the door

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 0 replies

good ol' christians

acoustichrmny — Wed, 19 Jan 2005 21:11:15 GMT

Sunday January 16, 5:13 PM

Villagers furious with Christian Missionaries

Samanthapettai, Jan 16 (ANI): Rage and fury has gripped this tsunami-hit tiny Hindu village in India's southern Tamil Nadu after a group of Christian missionaries allegedly refused them aid for not agreeing to follow their religion.

Samanthapettai, near the temple town of Madurai, faced near devastation on the December 26 when massive tidal waves wiped it clean of homes and lives.

Most of the 200 people here are homeless or displaced , battling to rebuild lives and locating lost family members besides facing risks of epidemic,disease and trauma.

Jubilant at seeing the relief trucks loaded with food, clothes and the much-needed medicines the villagers, many of who have not had a square meal in days, were shocked when the nuns asked them to convert before distributing biscuits and water.

Heated arguments broke out as the locals forcibly tried to stop the relief trucks from leaving. The missionaries, who rushed into their cars on seeing television reporters and the cameras refusing to comment on the incident and managed to leave the village.

Disappointed and shocked into disbelief the hapless villagers still await aid.

"Many NGOs (volunteer groups) are extending help to us but there in our village the NGO, which was till now helping us is now asking us to follow the Christian religion. We are staunch followers of Hindu religion and refused their request. And after that these people with their aid materials are leaving the village without distributing that to us," Rajni Kumar, a villager said.

The incident is an exception to concerted charity in a catastrophe that has left no one untouched.(ANI)

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 8 replies

benefit

acoustichrmny — Wed, 26 Jan 2005 20:25:29 GMT

Hi all,

I know it's getting to be last minute, but this Friday we are hosting our second Tsunami Benefit.

On January 12th we had our first benefit of the survivors of the
Tsunami disaster that has to this date claimed over 200,000 lives. The evening was an overwhelming success as artists like Mark Eitzel, Jolie Holland, Loquat and a throng of others helped to raise over $5,000 for immediate relief to the Tsunami survivors.

The event was such a success that we felt compelled to try it again. A whole new cast of outstanding performers converges for another evening of incredible entertainment, great raffle prizes, and good times. Again, all proceeds from the door, raffle, beer specials, and this time a recording of the show (by Bay Recorders Organization) will go to help directly with Tsunami Relief through the International Red Cross Relief Fund.

"Together, we can make a difference in the lives of the victims of
this tragic disaster. Join these artists in giving back to the global
community by enjoying some of the best music the S.F. music scene has to offer:

Mark Karan & Friends Pete Sears, Jay Lane, Robin Sylvester w/ other "special guests"

Members Of New Monsoon

Members of Animal Liberation Orchestra

Marc Brownstein (Disco Biscuits)

Eenor (Flying Frog Brigade, Breakfast)

Jordan Fienstein (Samantha & The Ritual)

AND MANY MANY MORE SPECIAL GUESTS

I will announce more acts as they confirm, but this event is going to be splattered with special events and special guests. Raffle prizes include a pair of tickets to the High Sierra Music Festival and a ton of other stuff. And even if you are going to Keller, think about stopping by after the Fillmore show, as things will just be heating up here at the 12.

I hope you can make it out for what is going to be an amazing evening for a great cause. Feel free to spread the word to other lists, I'd love the help getting the word out as much as possible with such short notice.

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 1 reply

friends

Gwydion — Tue, 25 Jan 2005 14:12:39 GMT

These are some personal friends of mine and this is what they are doing for S.E. Asia........ check this out

http://color.funksion.org/

good people doing some damn good things

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 0 replies

Tsunami survivor saved after 25 days

Sun, 23 Jan 2005 22:16:37 GMT

http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=85712005
Tsunami survivor saved after 25 days
Sun 23 Jan 2005
NEELESH MISRA IN PORT BLAIR

WAVING a flag made of his clothes, a tsunami survivor dressed only in his underwear was rescued after spending 25 days alone on a flattened island in India’s Andaman and Nicobar archipelago.

The tale of survival reached Port Blair, the capital and the region’s only city, yesterday as authorities slowly established normal communication links with far-flung islands.

A total of 1,899 people were declared dead across the Andaman and Nicobar islands following the destructive Boxing Day tsunami, and at least 5,553 are still missing.

Officials on Campbell Bay island reported that a Nicobarese local named Michael Mangal had been spotted on deserted Pillow Panja island on January 19, wearing underwear and waving a ‘flag’ made from the rest of his clothes.

Mangal was sucked into the sea when the first wave retreated but an even bigger second one dumped him back on the shore. However, he found that no one else had survived from his village. Injured and desperate, he lived for the next 25 days only on coconuts before being rescued.

The Nicobarese are the largest tribal group in the islands, with about 30,000 members, accounting for around a tenth of the archipelago’s population.

Rashid Yusuf, president of the Nicobarese Youth Association, which has helped survivors reach the safety of relief camps, said: "Miracles do happen."

Almost one month on from the disaster, which is thought to have killed up to 225,000 people around the Indian Ocean rim, Indonesia’s military and rebels continue to row over the aid and relief effort in the ravaged Aceh province.

Despite an informal ceasefire between the rebel Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and Indonesian forces since the tsunami, Indonesian commanders say soldiers have killed 120 rebels for allegedly interfering in relief work in the past two weeks.

A spokesman for the rebels, who have fought since 1976 for independence for Aceh, said the army attacks had killed mostly civilians. Any peace deal with the military could not be trusted, he said.

Although the task of finding bodies continues and hundreds of thousands of survivors are still traumatised by the monstrous waves that swept their world away, officials said it was time to rebuild.

Budi Atmadi, chief of relief operations in Aceh, said: "The emergency is almost behind us."

Indonesia yesterday promised to make sure the foreign aid reached the people it is meant for, despite the nation’s reputation for widespread corruption.

Officials may allow foreign governments detail exactly how they want their aid spent as a way of ensuring honest distribution, welfare minister Alwi Shihab said. "We want to demonstrate to the whole world that this government is different from the previous governments."

Indonesia is listed as one of the world’s most corrupt nations by Transparency International, a Berlin-based anti-corruption watchdog group. Auditors for international lending agencies privately concede that at least a third of their project funding is lost each year. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono took office in October, promising to crack down on corruption. He has appointed international accounting firm Ernst & Young to track tsunami relief.

More than a million survivors around the Indian Ocean rim are in need of food and shelter - including 400,000 in Aceh - and some aid workers expressed worries about Washington’s decision this week to begin scaling back its military relief operations.

The White House said it needed to budget as much as $1bn to fund a relief effort that involves 16 ships, nearly 60 helicopters and 15,000 military personnel.

Chris Lom, spokesman for the Geneva-based International Organisation for Migration, said: "News that the US navy is planning to cut back on its military presence in the area, and in particular the helicopter supply flights that it’s been running down the west coast, is serious."

It was now imperative for Indonesia and the international aid community to work urgently to repair destroyed roads so that truck convoys could bring food and supplies to hundreds of thousands of people there, Lom said.

Meanwhile, a United Nations-sponsored conference in Kobe, Japan, yesterday drew up an agreement that UN officials hope will halve the number of people killed in natural disasters - and pledged to have the Indian Ocean alert system running within 18 months.

Jan Egeland, the UN’s director of emergency relief, said: "All disaster-prone people deserve to have early warning systems. The tsunami was the wake-up call for all of us."

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 0 replies

Tsunami Benefit in SF

joseph — Sat, 22 Jan 2005 23:35:08 GMT

http://www.queercares.com/

My company is donating medical coverage for this event. Its got a great line-up and everyone involved... from the venue to the talent, has donated their time and services so 100% of the door will go to disaster relief.

Hope to see you there!
Joseph

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 0 replies

500 mile walk to benefit victims

acoustichrmny — Sat, 22 Jan 2005 20:50:34 GMT

NEWS RELEASE

To verify the following message you may contact:
Phil Mason , Director of Development - Greater Cleveland Area Services
phil_mason@use.salvationarmy.org or call him at 216 310 8452

Hello....please read this.
ALL of money raised goes to the relief effort

If you cant pitch in you can still help by circulating the
message....I'll be leaving the fourth of FEB. My names is James Huges
and will be walking 500 miles from Cleveland, Ohio to Brick, New
Jersey with the backing of the Salvation Army to raise as much money
as possible for the victims of the recent Tsunami disaster.
We are in hopes other relevant newspapers besides the local Cleveland
press will help so if you wouldn't mind maybe donating some space to
let people know how they can donate and help. Here is an excerpt of
one of the articles ran on my trip, I
will be walking from Cleveland Ohio to Brick New Jersey and be
intersecting with Youngstown, New Castle, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg,
Reading, Philadelphia, Cherry Hill, Lakehurst, and finally Brick, New
Jersey.

James Hughes, 25, of Lakewood, decided that as long as he was moving
back to his hometown of Bricktown, N.J., it might be neat to spend a
month or so and
walk the 500 miles while raising money from per-mile pledges and
donations for tsunami relief.

Hughes has partnered with the Salvation Army of Greater Cleveland to
collect donations and hopes to find a sponsor so he can set up a Web
site chronicling the journey he plans to start Feb. 4.

For entire article:
http://www.cleveland.com/search/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/11060442442575
63.xml?ncounty_cuyahoga

Anyone interested in helping with this 500 mile trek can donate as
follows....
either email me for the forwarding message I received from Phil Mason
of the Salvation Army by contacting me at fshbnsldr@yahoo.com or at
216 254 6071 you can YOU CAN SPONSOR CENTS OR DOLLAR PER MILE (500
MILES) OR A FLAT DONATION....PLEASE PASS ON THE
MESSAGE

Make check or money order payable to: The Salvation Army Re:South Asia
Relief Trek
and send to:
The Salvation Army
P.O. Box 6538
Cleveland OH, 44101
(Re:South Asia Relief Fund Trek sponsor)

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 0 replies

The Therapy Reflex, Psych aid shouldn’t be the first on a trauma scene.

Rip.............Cor...............Duh — Fri, 21 Jan 2005 13:04:18 GMT

http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/satel200501140730.asp

January 14, 2005, 7:30 a.m.
The Therapy Reflex
Psych aid shouldn’t be the first on a trauma scene.

By Sally Satel

To many mental-health workers the tsunami is a time for action. So much trauma, so little time, is the mindset. They should talk to someone themselves — a Sri Lankan psychiatrist called Ganesan. He is the only psychiatrist for the country's entire eastern population of 1.3 million. Since the giant waves hit, Ganesan (who goes only by one name as is customary in his country) has been coordinating foreign aid, distributing medicine to children, and transporting corpses in his pick-up truck.

What he doesn't do is therapy.

"To talk about psychological needs when you've got thousands of people using one toilet in a refugee camp — it's absurd," Dr. Ganesan, 41, told a Washington Post reporter. He is right. The main issue at this stage is to ensure the physical safety, locate missing friends and family members, and disseminate accurate information. Schools opened on January 10, the end of the country's annual holiday. More than any therapy this will promote effective coping by maintaining routines for children and keeping them busy.

In short, the prescription is this: Minimize disorder and plan for the future — and for the vast majority, coping will follow naturally.

This kind of approach is anathema to a swath of contemporary mental-health workers. Dubbed "trauma tourists" by some mischievous colleagues of mine, they are quick to impose Western-style therapies without regard to victims' needs, their natural healing systems, or their very conception of what "mental illness" might be. "This is not what a doctor should do," says Ganesan who has tried to talk agencies out of sending grief counselors.

The Post article itself was a minor revelation. So many other tsunami stories played up the psychological fragility of tsunami victims: "Psychiatrists Worry Tsunami Will Cause Stress in Some Survivors for Years" (Associated Press).

To Ganesan, the agony of the tsunami was existential in essence, not psychiatric. He has come to understand, wrote Post reporter Neely Tucker, "that to suffer is to survive.... To bear it with grace and courage is to live." This reflected the first teaching of Buddhism, the principal religion of Sri Lanka, that life is suffering and that this cannot be avoided.

It is a sensibility not unique to the East. After World War II the renowned psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl pointed out, "Suffering is not always a pathological phenomenon...suffering may well be a human achievement." In other words, suffering can be ennobling. And even when calamity does not strengthen its casualties, a possibility that Frankl certainly acknowledged, it is unclear that clinical intervention will diminish the anguish.

Timing is everything when working with trauma survivors. Crying, trouble sleeping, problems concentrating, a profound sense of dislocation are not pathological within the first few weeks after a catastrophe. Mental-health expertise should be reserved for people who remain disabled by these symptoms after three months or so, the time they typically start to fade.

The immediate crisis is a time when victims need civic order to support the bedrock institutions and relationships — families, communities, churches, indigenous healers — that have always served them in times of uncertainty and immense sorrow. In this case, providing toilets, food and protection against disease, and giving people a semblance of normal life, should be the major form of treatment.

Frequently, humanitarian psychological aid is seen by non-Western recipients as a kind gesture but a bad fit. To downplay the need for professional psychotherapy in no way diminishes the sea of misery that surrounds Ganesan. But psychological first aid has little to do with clinicians.

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 3 replies

Another empowering interpretation

shakti411 — Mon, 17 Jan 2005 17:45:11 GMT

I got this from another tribe. Please share it, but keep it intact as you do so.

Message from the Sirian High Council

02 January 2005

“We come to you in great humility this day to speak as far as we can attempt to understand and to answer the questions resounding through the higher realms –and to address whatever fear may be swelling inside you. The voice of humanity calls out to the heavens: ‘where is God ’? We hear your implorations: ‘why must there be such suffering in the world ’? …These profound questions we wish to elaborate with you as we watch and experience the range of emotions of the human collective.

Now there are many messages being spread amongst you in this time of great uncertainty on Planet Earth. As always, we invite you to exercise discernment. There are seers, politicians, messengers of every nationality and voice …channels such as ours. Some are the voices of truth, some are false prophets, some speak with hidden agendas, some accuse, some deny –it is up to you to wade through all of the noise and clutter to find what resonates with you and that is what you will embrace and reverberate back out into the ethers as the truth you perceive in this hour ... truth that will bend and take new form, perhaps, as your understanding and awareness in these days grow and become more crystalline.

So great is the expression of Gaia ’s explosive rebellion that we dare say there is not a being in your world who has not been affected in some way, to some degree, by the new that is born from this moment. All have been presented with the ‘cruel ’realization that the material world as it is known to you can be washed away in an instant …and nothing is permanent. Nothing, not even the density of those great concrete walls and steel foundations, can stand against the unleashed fury of nature. You are being given the ultimate opportunity to dissolve your collective illusions …and you are witness to the manifestation of those illusions evaporating before your incredulous eyes. They are being washed away in the waters of Gaian emotion.

What emerges from this epic catastrophe is a rapidly evolving universal dialogue in your realm that has finally recognized the conscious will of Gaia and the relationship of the living beings of the planet to the emotional and spiritual body of the planet herself.

In the wake of this enormous disaster, in which you are actually witness to the lands of the earth being reshaped and redefined, the mass mind of humankind is awakening to how all the living are inextricably dependent upon the balanced energies of the Earth. The next phase, inevitably, will bring more human beings to the understanding of how that balance is utterly determined by the thoughts and actions of the All. We observe with reverence how this tragedy is triggering you into higher states of conscious existence as caretakers of Planet Earth.

As you reeled from the terrifying images of the destructive unleashing of Gaia ’s emotions, you could not but feel powerless before the goddess. You held your heads in your hands, filled with compassion for the suffering and a growing sense of dread –for you realized from this cataclysm that your great planet is finally rebelling. She is refining, remodeling, releasing in preparation for her passage and you know this deep within the soul. You fear it on some levels, you celebrate it on others but you do know it …you always have. Although you still may not completely remembered why …you came here to take part in Gaia ’s revolution. You came here to serve and you are soon to know your role in the unfolding.

Today, as you observe with what swiftness and solidarity the international relief effort has moved into action, you are aglow with the wonder of how humanity always rises to the call of the needy and as the shock of these difficult days wears off you begin to see beauty even in tragedy. You are reminded of the greatness of simply being human, stripped of pretense, stripped of religions, nations, status …you are reminded of what you are capable of in the most desperate hours of human trial and despair.

Where is God? God is within you
God is the light of love that shines from every cell of your body
The heart, a hand, the word
God is the reaching out
The utter compassion
The selfless savior
The strength to renew, rebuild, restore
The Light

Why must there be suffering?
This is far more complex.
Perhaps it is because through darkness we are reminded of our godliness
We seek to find the light; we are challenged to move beyond obstruction
To find our way out of the cold dark chasm and into the warmth of the Sun
To move beyond the blackness of stagnation and into the shimmering brilliance of progress
We believe it is our own Creation –our reflection.

What of the innocent? What of the children?
We believe we are all innocent, all children of the universe
Trying to find our way out of the chaos
Moving back to Source
Some of the children are far more ancient than you
Perhaps they have come to touch you ever more deeply
For you are always moved by the innocence of the young

These are thoughts that give us pause
For we wish for you lives of joy and celebration
We wish love and comfort for all the living of your realm …for the children
And yet, we too have passed through pain to reach this place
We know it as the soul ’s progression
Each must move through suffering to know bliss.

We do not purport to have the answers to the riddle of creation.
But we can tell you this.
There where these souls have passed —far higher ground —so will you.
There is light
There is forgiveness
And eternal Love abounds.

The Light will Prevail.
The Light Always Does.

copyright 2005
Patricia Cori

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 1 reply

grassroots village adoption/letters from Thailand

Wed, 19 Jan 2005 04:40:56 GMT

These letters are from Lorena. I'll post them as I get them...She is now in Thailand and working at a very grassroots level with the money collected from donations from folks in tribe and a few other places. Please consider helping if you can....

Hello everyone. This is going to be a long email, so get comfortable.

We finally left Bangkok at 10PM Tuesday(?) and drove all night. Got to
Lanta at 3PM the next day. On the way down I got the story from Mong
about the first days after the disaster.

He immediately drove down from Bangkok on Dec 27. All night.
Everyone was safe but needed to stay here to help, so he turned around
and drove straight back. Around this time I sent him $900 by Western
Union and he put that in his mom's bank account. Then he rented a 6
wheel (big) truck and sent a delivery of drinking water in bottles. Lots of
water. This was distributed free to the people on the island. Mam is
getting a rough accounting together of the rest of the money sent by us,
where it went, etc.

I also got the story from Mam of the day the waves hit. There were
three big surges about a half hour apart. She had just left her house
behind the beach bar when she heard on the radio that the wave hit
Phuket. Then an hour later, Phi Phi. She raced back to the house on her
motorbike and the water was already up to her hips. She grabbed a
sack and stuffed some things in it, then raced off again on the bike,
afraid to look back. She got to the bar in town (next to mom's shop) and
yelled at the neighbor with a truck to take her family in the back to the
mountains. He wasn't worried and she convinced him the water was
coming finally. They just had time to close the doors and take off - she
went on one road on the bike and the rest of them in the truck, all
headed for the mountains. They didn't know the others were safe until
the next day. Very scary. The water came up into Saladan town about
50 ft from the bar and shop but then stopped. Of course, the beach bar
and her house are nonexistant now. (see new pictures today).

Yesterday, Mong and I got a jeep and drove around the whole island
checking it out. The ocean side, where all the big resorts are, is already
cleaning up. The people somewhat still have jobs at the resorts, about
half of usual, and some are laboring for money cleaning up. There is
crap everywhere on the beaches, refrigerators in trees, boats inland,
stuff and junk. The water sucked everything out to sea a couple of times
and then washed it all back in. Everywhere are the ubiquitous single flip
flops...large and small, all kinds of flip flops...

On the other side of the island, especially at the south end, is where all
the fishermen live. Sea gypsies, or Chao Lay as they are called in Thai.
These people are an older race, illiterate, simple lifestyle. They are
suffering the most. They have no way to earn a living with the boats out
of commission, and the houses wrecked. We stopped in a village called
Ban Sang Kha Du for some time, and talked to a young woman named
Ging there.

Ging was in her house with her 9 mo. baby in her arms. The men in the
boats saw the water pull back, and they all started running. (THis village
is almost on a cliff, no beach, and it's straight uphill! The houses are on
stilts over the water.). A boat came and smashed into her house and
the water-facing side was ripped off. ALl the stuff was pulled out of the
house.

No one in Ging's family was killed, but she lost 12 relatives on Phi Phi.

While we were there some people came from Bangkok, Thai and
Farang, with a truckload of rice. But, there are no pots and pans to cook
it in. They also did not bring any baby food or formula, which they need.
There are 93 families in this village. The worst part is, that at the really
local level, the "committee" is not distributing aid equally, and some get
nothing if they show up late. Others show up that don't even live there,
for a handout. Worst of all, the men are just hanging around unable to
do any work. Women too. The in-fighting and politics are starting and
the organization is a mess. No one is hungry, but they are paralyzed in
some ways, and you have to remember, still in shock and psychological
trauma at losing everything.

We gave Ging some cash - 2000 baht (almost 2 months wages for her)
for her baby and so on. She's the only one in town with any education
and has been fighting for the rights of the locals with the govt.
Unfortunately this also means that people blame her for what goes
wrong. This is responsibility of a leader, I suppose. No idea where the
village muslim head man is...he seems to not be stepping up.

So, we left there very depressed and helpless feeling...and were going
to leave Lanta the next day for somewhere...maybe Phang Nga or Khao
Lak, but were afreaid of finding more of the same frustration. But there
is good news.

In old Lanta town, there is atown square and a lot of people around. We
stop to check it out, and there are signs in Thai that a company has
donated parts and the Technical University in Bangkok has sent
students...there were all these tents with boat engines, rows and rows.
It seems the student mechanics (very young, teenage boys really) have
come down with their teachers to fix all the fishermen's boat engines!
The Chao Lay all took the motors off the boats, screw the boat, there's
plenty of wood to make a new boat, but the engine is critical. They
brought them all there and soon, there will be fishing again! Hooray!
The long pier was destroyed in the middle, but that's for later. The
boats are small and can come in close. I took a lot of video is this town
and will make a DVD of it when I get home.

Then, in town last night, we sat down with a Dutch ex-pat couple. Joop,
known as Papa, and Clairie, known as Mama. (They live here now in
retirement.) They also raised money back in Holland. They know all the
locals, even more than Mong, and are getting people back on their feet
in little ways. The old man that did Thai massage on the beach, lost
everything but the clothes on his back, including his glasses. And he's
blind in one eye. So Papa got him some new glasses. Papa paid for a
roof for someone else, and a motorbike for two young guys, so they
didn't have to go to Samui for work. Lots of little stuff, not a handout,
but tools for living. So we made a vow to work together and pool our
resources, to make a difference for the people in Lanta. This was a
really postive end to a really bad day, and now Mong and I are both
really happy to be doing something effective right here.

We might still go to Phang Nga, but (more bad news) it just came out in
the paper last night that the Royal Thai police are taking over the
forensics of the bodies in Phang Nga...Dr. Porntip is out. It was carefully
worded, but it's clear to us that she embarassed the govt by diving in
before they got organized, and by criticizing them for it on TV. That
means we probably cannot get anywhere near the operation there
anymore...so, we stay in Lanta and do what we can here, helping
people on a small scale directly. Luckily we now have Papa to know
where it needs to go best. As usual, it seems the people "in charge" are
unorganized and ineffective, but one individual show starts things makes
it happen. Papa and Mama have also had an effect on the local's mental
health, because for instance the woman with the supmarket lost
everything, and couldn't even begin. Good Dutch hard working that she
is, Mama insisted on first, you get a broom. You get rid of the sand. You
dry out the mattresses in the sun, etc etc, and then it gets people
moving and out of being overwhelmed. THen other people see that and
they start moving. And so it gets rebuilt.

some of the roads are really unbelievable.

Bye,
-Lorena

Here is lorena's next post and a connect to her website...

groups.yahoo.com/group/hwthailand/
Update: January 15, 2005

Okay, here is a more detailed breakdown of expenses.

2 shipments of supplies to Lanta
(within the first couple days after the tsunami)

Shipment one, Dec 28(?), 2004
water: 500 packs x 6 36,000 bt
Shipment two, Dec 29(?), 2004(?)
rice: 500kg x 100 50,000 bt
instant noodles: 300 boxes x 36 37,800 bt
dry meat: 150 kg x 100 15,000 bt
can foods & cooking oil 12,000 bt
plates, paper cups, forks & spoons 9,000 bt
batteries & lamps & flashlights 13,000 bt
gasoline & diesel fuel 22,000 bt
transportation (shiiping by truck and ferry) 34,000
total 227,800 bt
divided by 2= 113,900 bt, for this US group
(in US dollars: $2847.50)

This stuff was all distributed from Mong's parents shop in the town. People lined up and were handed food and water, no questions asked.

Now, the emergency period for the most part is over. There is enough food & water to go around. Now we're in the short term transitional period, where we are trying to help the small businesses from going out of business, until tourism returns. This could mean everything from the old man who gave Thai massage on the beach, whom Papa provided with clothes and a new pair of glasses (the man is half blind on top of it), to the Chao Lay fishermen Na Noi knows who needs boat repair (he supports a family of eight), or the many, many small restaurants and bungalows. If these people can't make it now, the big resorts will buy them out of their property, or they'll have to leave the island to work on Samui (?), or who knows?

Our little "team" here, of me, Mong's family, and the Dutch family, are all in agreement that the best way to help is not with a cash handout, if possible, but with material goods that will make the difference in making their livelihoods. The people need work to make a living. The exception being Ging, who is somewhat of a leader for her village, honest, and hardworking. She's going to be our connection with the fishing village, and cash seems the best solution there. Plus, next time we see her we will bring some infant formula. Transitional period expenses
cash to Ging in Ban Sang Kha Du village 2,000 bt
new boat engine for fisherman friend of NaNoi 20,000 bt
car repairs for truck, renting a jeep to get to the end of the island (for the month) 10,000 bt
total 32,000 bt
(in US dollars: $213.00)

Total expenses
Emergency period: 113,900 bt
Transitional period: 32,000 bt
total 145,900 bt
(in US dollars: $3,785.00)

As you can see, we're in need of ongoing donations. The income so far was only $122,456 bt (about $3100 US). So, er, more money would be good right now.

Please tell your friends. I will be giving more of my own savings, but it won't be enough. And yet, let me say again, many, many thanks for all your caring gifts so far.
-LH, Jan 15, 2005

1/18/05
Lorena's latest post...lightly edited for length

Sabai dii mai ka (How's it going?)
I twisted my ankle badly and am on crutches. Well, one
crutch, because there weren't two left on the island since the tsunami
injuries. Mong finally found one tall enough for me on the far side of the
island.
I'm doing my part by "working the
phones" over the internet to raise more money.

Mong went to Bangkok to get more supplies and tools and parts for
fixing the fishing boat engines. While he's there, I told him to buy more
crutches! There's only two doctors on the island, one on each side, and
they really ought to have crutches for anyone that gets hurt between
now and the next couple months (like me). They're cheap in Bangkok.

I had some more hassles today with getting money out of the bank. The good news is, Western Union has dropped its service
charge to $7 per transaction if you send to Thailand. Let me know if
anyone wants to send money this way - it's super easy. Go to
www.westernunion.com, register yourself and then send money to me,
Lorena Hitchens, in Saladan, Ko Lanta Krabi, Thailand. I just go show ID
and pick it up. Way faster than all these bank transfers and no limit
(well, limit is $999 per) and best of all, it gets here instantly. Pay Pal and
deposits to B of A still work, of course.

I want to tell you some more stories about the way
things are here. Sorry if I am repeating any of this.

We've been here a while, and find that the most effective way to help is
to get the fishing boats back in the water. I think I already told you about
Ging in the fishing village. We're going back to see her later this week,
and bringing baby formula, which the aid workers forgot. But we know
some fishermen too. The first we met is Anake. He's a muslim. His
family of 8 depends on him for food, and a livlihood. His boat is okay,
but he lost the engine completely. Mike is getting him a brand new
engine in Bangkok. They don't know yet that it's new. They would be
happy with second-hand. But Mong has connections and can get the
engine via his Bangkok shop's account and his friend in the city has
already organized it. This fisherman is a friend of Noi Na's, who is a
good friend of the Choowong family and the Dutch family. Noi Na runs
the only bookshop on the island. English books, too!

The Thai have a "thai face" I call it...totally blank. Not mean, not nice,
just full-on neutral. They can hide a lot of emotions behind this, if they
want to. It's a blank face. I'm getting used to the subtlely of expressions
though...when Noi Na told about her friend's bad luck, we Farang had a
quick conversation and Mong got on the phone to Bangkok...the English
was to fast for her, and when someone translated that I said "let me
pay for the engine" she went SUPER blank. She just froze, in shock!
Literally, she was unable to speak for several minutes. (The cost of an
engine is 5 years wages for a fisherman.) Stunned. She recovered her
composure fairly quickly and was very gracious. I will never forget that
look on her face - not embarrassed, not falling to pieces, just deeply
grateful, then joyous. A smile like sunshine!

Ging was the same way in her Chao Lay village. When she spoke to us, I
could sense the sadness behind her dignified mask. (She lost 12 family
members on Phi Phi, her house, and her living.) Her gratitude for some
cash was strongly evident, but again, dignified. Above all, the Thai, as a
mainly Buddhist people, live their lives by acceptance and compassion.
This means to help others and accept help equally. They're not too
proud to receive help when they need it, because they don't feel inferior
to anyone. It's just bad luck. They will help someone else at some time,
in this lifetime or the next lifetime.

Since the last two days, we've gotten connected with some other
fishermen. One is Gong, also a muslim, who is super nice and hard
working. he's also friendly with the Choowongs, and has helped build
the beach bar and clean up the wreckage now, too. His family sells fish
to mom & dad Choowong. His family's boat provides for 10 people. He
saved half his engine. The boat has a hole though, but that repair is
underway. Mong is bringing parts for him.

The third fisherman, Bhoramate, is a Buddhist from Saladan. (The other
two guys mostly live in Old Lanta Town on the other side of the island).
He saved his engine, but it's all corroded from salt water inside. He just
needs it fixed up. Turns out Gong's uncle is a mechanic, so they're
cooperating to fix this engine. They need tools. Mong is bringing two
sets of small engine tools from Bangkok (again, cheap there). Tools are
really needed right now for this kind of repair. Bhoramate also needed a
small battery for his engine, which we already bought for him.

All three of these boats should be back in the water a couple days aafter
Mong returns from Bangkok, so I look forward to taking pictures and
seeing how they turn out! The fishermen here decorate their boats with
colorful scarves.

There's lots of other little stuff going on all the time...too much to write
about. Just trust that your donations are making a difference here in
Lanta. And you won't be forgotten when it comes time to say thanks
from the Thai people - please send your mailing addresses so we can
write letters from here!

And of course, my daily plea, in closing: please spread the word about
this project to anyone you know. The nest person you meet at a party
might be looking for a way to make a difference, you never know. It
would be a real shame to run out of money before my time here is up.
Especially since the word is getting around only now that Mong and I are
helping, without question, no papers required, no strings attached,
helping muslim and buddhist and chao lay equally. All we ask is that they
be honest people (everyone knows everyone a little, so you can tell).

Phop khun mai (catch you later),
-Lorena

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 1 reply

incredible satelite photos

james — Wed, 19 Jan 2005 03:43:54 GMT

check it.

http://homepage.mac.com/demark/tsunami/

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 1 reply

help find this boys family

rogerfojas — Tue, 18 Jan 2005 23:47:49 GMT

- got this email sent to me so I thought I'd post it here:

http://losangeles.tribe.net/template/pub%2CViewPhoto.vm/context/tribe?parentid=8c87d7d0-8a9e-44dc-ba12-4596e017727c&page=1&currentoffset=0&r=10025

Please just look at the picture and if you have seen this boy before and know his family let tem know about the boy.

Bless you all!!! My best regards Dr. Mattie Klare, D.C.

>PLEASE SEND THIS TO ALL YOU KNOW
>
>Thailand Hospital seeking help with finding this boy's family
>
>Nobody knows who this boy belongs to. We are looking for his family.
>
>The boy about 2 years, from Khoa Lak is missing his parents. Nobody
>knows what country he comes from. If anyboy knows him please contact
>us
>by phone 076-249400-4 ext. 1336, 1339 or e- mail:
>info@phuket-inter-hospital.co.th

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 3 replies

IRS allows deductions thru Jan. for tsunami donations

musie — Tue, 18 Jan 2005 23:57:11 GMT

The IRS released a statement that they are allowing anyone who donates to the tsunami relief efforts through the end of January to claim it on their 2004 return.

"There are no extra forms to fill out or any additional burdens for taxpayers,” said IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson. “As long as you send your check by the end of the month, the donation will be treated just like it was still 2004."

Read the details here:

http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=133843,00.html

You can search to see if your charity of choice for donating to tsunami relief is included here:
http://apps.irs.gov/app/pub78

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 0 replies

an account

tigerific — Wed, 12 Jan 2005 20:55:10 GMT

Sent to me by my friend Lucille who teaches in indonesia...

#1
What others did on there xmas vacation..how was yours?? probably a little better!!!.rick Hello all.

Sorry for the mass email, but I am far too tired right now to write you each individually. I never thought I would say this but we happily got back home to Kuwait, leaving Sri Lanka behind. What started out as a lovely holiday turned into what you can imagine to be, a surreal, terrifying and quite humbling, experience.
We were humbled by the sheer awesome force of the sea reclaiming land, albeit for a brief period, but long enough to claim so many lives. We were basically at ground zero, or a ground zero I should say as there were so many scattered over a 10,000km radius...perhaps my number is a bit large, but not by much.

I awoke on the 26th from a lazy dream about the sound of the ocean that grew bigger and bigger in my dream until, in my dream, I knew something was not quite right, the sound was too loud, and then there was that gurgling coming from the bathroom, and then the screams. As one does when instinct takes over, i was wide awake, got Ria up and a pair of shorts on, I could not get our passport and ticket holder out from its hiding place in the mosquito netting fast enough so I ripped the whole thing from the ceiling. We stepped into the knee high water racing from the beach through the beach entrance of our guest house, through the main corridor and past our room through to the back yard, driveway and street. We were instantly swept away as walls crumbled around us. I lost sight of Ria and was panicked as a huge wall, silently and delicately fell down in front of me onto where I thought she was. I was unable to hold my ground. I managed to keep my head mostly above water as I clutched at what seemed to be solid objects...fence posts that fell away at the touch and finally a large concrete gate posted that I clung to for about 15 seconds before it too bent and succumed to the unrelenting force. As I was spit out into the street I finally caught sight of Ria who managed to cling to a bus stop pole...those things really work! She made it to a second story of a house and I could relax enough to find a bit of a calm area to rip our passport bag out of the mosquito netting that I somehow managed to still be holding onto (along with my scrip
sunglasses!) I made my way to the house Ria was safely in, but not before dropping into and open sewer as all of the concrete tops that line the sewers had popped off from the pressure...we were basically in a briny sewer bath anyways....finally I made it to Ria within 20 minutes (time was not a real, quantifiable thing at this point) the streets looked almost dry...I walked back to our guest house leaving Ria in the building.

The house was intact but devastated as I helped the family who were our hosts bring all of their belongings up to their second story still under construction while someone stood watch at the ocean entrance to see if the swell would return...as someone put it...it want a Hollywood wave, it was jus that the wave did not stop coming in...on top of all of this, it was also the full moon...

I collected what I could (we had nothing of consequence with us in any case), paid the hotel people and helped that as best I could....the only ting more humbling than the water was the spirit and generosity of the Sri Lankan people...on leaving, the owner gave me two bottles of water and a package of glucose cookies...what happened over the next few days continued to humbled me. The sheer goodness that came from the Sri Lankans was astounding.

I got Ria and we left, under heavy protest from the house owners...they were hysterical and now that we had experienced the wave, each new group of people running by screaming in Sinhalese sent us all into a panic...the old lady of the house was a hysteria machine and it made it difficult to wrap my head around everything...I knew if there was an after shock...this house wasn t the answer. so Ria and I headed back to the street and down about 500 meters to the steps of a temple (those Buddhists pick the bests spots huh?) about 120 meters above sea level...it would have been a huge wave to get us up there. We spent the remainder of the day on the grass and running scavenger hunts down on the beach in groups of 3 for water etc....one restaurant that we ate in the night before for Christmas had a freezer full of food and plates. We got all of there shrimp tuna crab and chicken along with about 50 plates that we washed with soap and water and cooked for about 100 people who were up there with us...people's true colors really come out in a crisis, and I can honestly say, I wasn't all pretty.

Not a lot of sleep that night as we could still hear the surf...at 7 Ria and I and two other couples walked down the mountain and with the sea on our left made our way about 5k north to get to an inland road...the entire sea coast road was impassable. The train we took down 3 days earlier right on the coast...the same train that day was demolished and everyone aboard was dead...so we headed inland. Weheard on short wave that the farthest the sea had gone inland was about 1k so after about 2 k in we all felt a lot better...we got some rides and walked until we got a ride from one guy who took us way out of his way to a town where we could catch an inland bus line all the way to Colombo...that took another 7 ours...at about 6 30pm we wound up at the gate of the Trans Asia Hotel a 5 star hotel with visions of white sheets, fried chicken and watching TV in the bathroom...what we got was a huge lobby filled with refugees. We got some free mobile phones and finally contacted Ria's family and then mine in Sweden. We also ate our first real meal since Christmas dinner (we didn t really eat any of the food we cooked on the temple)

After an offer from the mobile phone guy to go back to his place (which we thankfully denied....we just couldn t move) we fell asleep on a couch. We were awoken by hotel staff and led to a ball room where thy had laid out king size beds with sheets and blankets an down pillows...that was the first time I felt I could let my guard down and began to really feel the weight of everything. We awoke, got some medical attention (we were pretty banged up and we have some pretty awesome gashes all over us from the floating debris). We had the sense enough to get some disinfectant on our wounds as soon as we were in the
house during the while ordeal. After some more free
food we made our
way to the airport hotel, which was the one place we had reserved for the trip because getting to the Colombo airport is hell on a good day.

We arrived, washed clothes and finally ourselves (you could say we smelled like homeless people after two day in dried sewage water clothing). I went down to the landlady for some sandwiches in a towel...and she asked me to check on a guest with her who went to bed the night before ,an elderly gentleman, who had not come out all day. We went into his room to find a very bloated and stiff dead man...obviously a diabetic with his syringe and insulin vials all over the bed...it was just too much

On top of all this we were worrying about Ria's re-entry visa back into Kuwait, so we didn t even know if she would be allowed to board the plane, be allowed out in Kuwait or what...

We are home now, I am done now, I need to bed...sorry for typos and the lack of eloquence...I had to get this all out once...please don't be upset if we done write back to you right way...we are just done right now.

We are very lucky to be alive...I cannot tell you how devastating this was to Sri Lanka. I really urge you all to do what you can....Ria and I were really torn about leaving Sri Lanka...we wanted to stay and help, but we also had no more money and were worried about not getting her back in the country with me...we did what we could with the people we met...some how it just never seems enough. help if you can I can try to pass along some info on some organizations that are trustable. Don't just give it to the government there, it wont get to where it needs to be

We love you all and hope that this year is happy, lucky and healthy. We feel lucky to be alive...enjoy the year, the people you are with and the good food you eat peace and love

Ria and Ted

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 1 reply

Benefit Concert Tuesday, 1/18

Tue, 18 Jan 2005 07:13:55 GMT

For all my San Jose peeps, there will be a benefit concert Tuesday, Jan 18th at the Historic Herbert Hoover Middle School Theatre, near the Rose Garden. Tickets are cheap, like $5, plus copious donation buckets and silent auction goods. Concert starts at 7:00, bring your opera ears, your classical ears, your jazz ears, your rock 'n roll ears and your ska ears.

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 0 replies

Lets do a benefit!!

hernancortez — Wed, 05 Jan 2005 22:02:42 GMT

Who here is experienced in producing benefits?

Who here is an artist, performance or otherwise and wants to create art to benefit the victims.

Please speak up.

I can get 1 or 2 going maybe other people want to start thier own.

Can the people who want to raise money speak up so that we can get started?

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 22 replies

Deepak Chopra on the Tsunami

shakti411 — Fri, 14 Jan 2005 20:48:54 GMT

A spiritual perspective on the tsunami

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Deepak Chopra interview on Larry King Live regarding God and the Tsunami, 1/7/05

KING: Deepak Chopra, how can you have faith when you see something like this?

DEEKAPK CHOPRA, AUTHOR: Hi, Larry. In fact, your faith increases, Larry.
Because faith is trusting that God is all the forces, the forces of creation, the forces of protection and the forces of destruction. This is an opportunity for us to transcend our religious differences, our ethnic boundaries, and create a new humanity which is based on love, sharing, compassion, giving.

And we are seeing that. The militaries of the world are getting together to bring relief. People are losing their differences in Sri Lanka. The Buddhists and the Hindus and the Muslims are getting together. This is our opportunity.

You know in historical traditions, in religious traditions, God rained on the earth for 40 days. And from that came Noah's Ark and the creation of a new humanity. Can we create a new humanity that is not based on militarism ethnocentrism, racism, bigotry, hatred, and prejudice?

KING: Deepak, if he loves us why does he bring us such pain that could be prevented?

CHOPRA: I think, Larry, one of the problems right now is we keep referring to God as him and his. We have a very sexist, male identity that we've given to God. I agree with Michael Lerner, that our idea of God, our concept of God, our experience of God, changes as we evolve. I think the idea of sin and punishment is very, very primitive. And we have to ask ourselves right now, are we going to choose between sin and compassion? Compassion is the way to go right now.

And you know, there's lots of evidence, even scientific, that the earth is a living organism. The gaia (ph) hypothesis. Is it possible that our consciousness and the turbulence in our consciousness has anything to do with the turbulence in nature? Michael Lerner just referred to that. One of the very interesting things that happened with the tsunami was, no animal died. The elephants. The hares. The rabbits. The birds. They were so tuned in to the forces of nature that they escaped. They ran. Some of the elephants broke their chains and ran to the high level mountainous area where the tidal waves could not reach. We have lost that connection. Is there a way that we can collectively transcend to a level of consciousness where we see that the turbulence in our collective mind, possibly, is inseparable from the turbulence in nature? Because we are part of nature.

KING: Is it hard, Deepak Chopra, to stay up? In other words, is it hard to ground that feeling of good will when you see a tragedy like this?

CHOPRA: No, it in fact helps you ground that feeling of good will, Larry. You have to remember, as again, Rabbi Lerner said something very profound. The actual figure is 40,000 children are dying every day of preventable causes. 23 million people have died since World War I due to war and related violence. Right now there are 35 wars going on in our world. This is an opportunity for us to say, the cataclysmic events in nature are so big, but the inhumanity of man to man is even bigger. And can we learn from this, that at least there are certain things that we can do to make this a better world? What can we do? This is our opportunity to go beyond our religious differences because of what's happening. It brings out the essential goodness of man.

CALLER: The question is, do you have any advice as to the masses, exactly how to keep this a little more balanced?

KING: Good question.

CHOPRA: It's a very good question. You know, the idea here is that if we quiet the turbulence in our collective mind and heal the rift in our collective soul, could that have an effect on nature's mind, if nature has a mind? The gaia hypothesis says nature does have a mind, that the globe is conscious. So a critical mass of people praying or a critical mass of people collectively engaging in meditation could conceivably, even from modern physics point of view, through non-local interactions, actually simmer down the turbulence in nature. And there are precedents for this in all the religions. That when you pray, that you quieten your mind, that you go into deep silence, you change the way nature behaves. That it's not a cause/effect relationship; it's the inseparability of one consciousness that manifests itself in the diversity of creation.

KING: Deepak, do you doubt?

CHOPRA: No, Larry, I don't doubt. But I do feel sorry sometimes that we have allowed God to be hijacked by religious dogma. For example, right now on the show there aren't any women. You know, why is that? Every time we do a show on God, religion, it's always us males representing these different traditions. We need to realize that when we share our suffering, out of that comes compassion. And out of compassion comes love and understanding. And from that comes healing. As long as we stick to "my" version of God, we're going to have problems. I say that right on the show.

(As an aside, Chopra's comment about the absence of women led King to ask the other participants whether he was right and if there was a religious show on television the next night, would they expect to see a woman. The responses led King to suggest a program just on that issue.)

Hi everyone,
A friend emailed this to me so I don't have the reference or url.
Sorry!

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 10 replies

Racism in Tsunami affected areas

Fern — Sat, 01 Jan 2005 14:38:56 GMT

Today I witnessed something really really sad. I would not have been suprised if I had come accross this anywhere else in the world, because sadly, racism exists in society today still.

I was sitting in the relief camp trying to take pictures of how the Tsumani victims are coping and living day to day in this camp, also how they have adapted to this temporary living conditions.

As I was taking photos of kids playing, I noticed a new relief group walking into the camp. First thing I noticed was that they were Jewish because of the little covering on their heads, and because their boxed supplies and gear had a jewish marking on it. One elderly gentleman walked towards a crowd of people and asked for all "Jewish people" to step forward.

I was totally shocked that someone would send a team to come and assist a single "group/race/nationality" in a disaster situation that has affected millions of people...not only Jewish tourists!

It turns out they were an American Jewish organization. We, myself and 2 of the photographers that witnessed this with me, have decided that we will write a BIG letter to their leadership (& send copies to various newspapers) as soon as we leave.

It totally shocks me that we still find open forms of racism like this during this day and age, and during a time like this when millions are affected. How can you be selective about who you are going to help when millions suffer? It was really sad.

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 53 replies

Donation thoughts + link to Thailand Dive Shop Commentary

ReReKuka — Fri, 14 Jan 2005 06:26:07 GMT

Hi,

Someone from another tribe asked me to post this here:

We were just in Thailand, but not in the affected areas. Besides $, they need blood. All types, Rh Negative most of all.

Also remember to find out about your company's matching funds program for donations. Even if they don't usually have one, they may have one just for this or be willing to start one.

Additionally, take a look at www.lagunafundivers.com. They are a dive shop on Ko Lanta; my partner knows the owners and they were also able to tell us that Otto (of fabulous Otto's restaraunt on the beach) and they areokay, although their businesses are thrashed. Anyway, check the link if you'd like to hear their comments, including the story of one of their divers who was in the water at Phi Phi when the tsunami hit.

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 0 replies

another Survivors letter

hockeychick — Thu, 13 Jan 2005 05:52:01 GMT

This letter comes to me from my bosses sister . . . how she knows these people, I don't know! I hope I have successfully edited out surnames and contact info for all!

The letter writer is still searching for a Japanese girl he helped; if anyone recognizes any of his details, let me know--I will keep the original letter with his personal info intact!
Angela

Sent: Wednesday, January 05, 2005 8:37 PM

Subject: UNBELIEVEABLE STORY

This is from Bob (he worked for Esso in Ga.) Barb 's bro
that I worked with in Cust Serv. Glens falls.
Pat

This is from Linda's sister............Bob

What a story from one of our employees based in London.
Laura

Hello everyone,
You may have heard me mention Luke in the past - the guy that came
to MEC Denmark and Hong Kong with me and now works in our European HQ in
London. Luke was on Phi Phi Island in Thailand when the Tsunami hit.
Thankfully he's OK - we spent an anxious day until we word came through that
he was safe. I met up with him on New Years Eve in London - its one hell of
a story which he has written up and asked that I forward. It's well worth
spending 10 minutes reading his very compelling and graphic story
David

Dear All

Firstly, I should say thank you for your kind words. This whole experience
has been shocking but if anything good has come out of it, is the knowledge
that I have some of the best friends and colleagues anyone could have. I
truly appreciate all of the calls and the messages - it does help.

I am ok, my injuries are nothing, just some cuts and bruises. Ironically, I
received nearly all of these after the event, walking or rather stumbling
around the island. Unfortunately, many people have not been so lucky. The
pictures on TV give a clear picture of the death and destruction, but I
haven't seen anything that comes close to depicting the horror of the
injuries.

A number of people have suggested that I write down my experience - I think
this in part will help me, but also saves me repeating the story too many
times. I do not feel uncomfortable with sharing this story, and in some
respects I think it probably helps recounting what happened. Please do not
feel awkward if you want to talk to me about this. Below, I will try to
recount exactly what happened to me, before during and after. At times, it
will be graphic so please be warned.

I arrived in Thailand on the 20th and spent 3 days in Phuket on Kata Beach
with a Swedish girlfriend and her family. They had planned their trip for
months. I decided very last minute to join them before going onto meet
Danish friends in Koh Phi Phi, and finally onto Bangkok with friends from
Hong Kong for New Year. I moved onto Phi Phi on the 24th and celebrated
Christmas with 3 of my Danish friends - Lars and his girlfriend Rine, and
Jasper. On the evening of the 25th, I was exhausted so didn't join them for dinner and went to bed at around 9pm. This is important, as anyone who knows
me, will know that I tend to sleep late! But given a long nights rest, I was
up early and had breakfast with Lars & Rine.

At about 10:30 we went to the beach. Lars and I planned to go sailing, but
there was no wind so we opted for water skiing. We waited for the boat and
noted the wind was picking up so we would sail afterwards. First Lars skied
and then it was my turn. At the moment I got into the water the lagoon

started to drain out - in particular on the far right hand side of the bay
(as you look out to sea). Within seconds it was too shallow to ski, so I
climbed back into the boat. Lars, I and the driver sat there just watching
the water drain away without any comprehension of what was to happen next.
At first we saw a couple on a Kayak struggling in the current - they were
being sucked out to sea. But then almost immediately they were on the top of
a small wave kayaking into the beach at some speed. We were excited by the
site and just imagined they were having some fun. Of course we could not
know of the huge volume of water that was underneath them, that once it
reached the shallow water would simply rise up into a huge wave. That is
basically what happened next.

We were in the ski boat facing towards the shore, when the water passing
underneath us began to pull the boat around and towards the shore. Almost
out of nowhere there was a huge wall of water, behind us at the beach. We
were at the bottom of a 10 meter wave that stretched the entire length of
the beach, maybe 1km. I said to Lars that we were in trouble - at this
moment it didn't even dawn on me that the wave would pass through the island
causing the destruction that it did. I screamed at the driver to get us out
to sea, but even at full power, the boat just got sucked to the bottom of
the wave. The wave collapsed on the top of the boat. I remember covering my
head and rolling into a ball. Underwater, I just kept on thinking please
dont get hit by something. I came to the surface, breathed, and then was
pulled under again. I like to think that all of the diving I have done
helped me - I knew not to fight the current and to wait as long as I could
before reacting. The truth is, I was just lucky. I came to the surface,
grabbed some more air, and then saw a huge wave coming at me. I could see
that it wasn't about to break where I was so I took a breath and dived
through it, coming up the other side. I grabbed some wood to hang onto, but
then saw a life jacket (presumably from our boat) floating 10 meters away. I
swam like crazy for it - in my head I knew it was the best thing to do. I
got it on and instantly felt safe - I was afloat in the sea and things
didn't look that bad for me. I knew I was safe from drowning I just had to
wait for help. I looked for Lars, saw our driver first, and then Lars about
150 meters away, he looked unhurt, but even from that distance I could see
his face had taken on a different aspect. I have thought about this since
and have decided that it was survival.

We were all then pushed inland, over what I now know was the Cabana Hotel
pool where so many people had been when the wave struck. I saw the water
flooding into open spaces and it was here that I got very frightened. Water
was rushing into fill any empty voids and I could see that I was likely to
go wherever the water went. I smashed into the first floor balcony of the
hotel and was hanging on with my body being pulled under. It was too strong.
I took a breath and then was pulled under the hotel through the ground floor
poolside balconies. I am sure I survived due to the life jacket , as it was
always trying to get me to the surface. I think I came up around the corner
of the hotel and drifted a little way to the back of the Hotel before
swimming to a tree and climbing up.

About 3 or 4 minutes later the water subsided. I climbed down and almost
immediately saw Lars and the driver, they were both fine. Then the screaming
started. People calling for their loved ones. At first a guy looking for his
daughters, Fredericke and Isabella. I asked him where they had been (in the
pool) and then I explained how far I had traveled and that we needed to
spread out and walk away from the Hotel. Everywhere was devastation. The
small wooden bungalows were ripped open. We called their names, we never
found them. Then 2 French girls stuck up a tree asked me to help them down.
I now know from Lars that he had a similar experience. Whilst looking for
Fredericke and Isabella he found 2 Thai girls stuck in a basement room,
filling up with water. He helped them out as the water was rushing in to
fill the space they occupied. On a lighter side, I understand one of the
girls didn't want to come out as all of her clothes had been pulled from her
body - Lars didn't give her a choice!

At the Cabana Hotel we started to make a hospital area. Some people came on
their own, others we heard screaming and we went to them. Another English
guy, called CC ( spelling ? ) was a psychiatrist, and so we kind of
appointed him in charge. The first girl we collected from the rubble was an
English girl called Sally. She was covered in the most severe cuts I have
ever seen. Imagine those documentaries about liposuction, etc..... it was
like that. Gaping holes with grotesque cuts in the flesh, to the bone. She
had at least 7 lacerations over her legs and tummy. We saw wounds like this
throughout the day caused by the debris in the water. The bungalows often
had their roofs made of corrugated iron, which traveling through the water
at 40 KPH clearly just tore through bodies. We kicked down a door to use as
a stretcher and carried her to the first floor. She was the first, and then
they just kept coming. A Japanese husband and wife. The wife had lost half
of her throat. We simply held her neck together. A Swedish women whose head
was cleaved open - we tied her head together. A Japanese girl whose leg was
so badly broken, we decided that we had to put it straight. I held her hand,
and kissed her, whilst crying with her, as 3 guys pulled her leg straight.
It took 3 or 4 minutes of the most unbelievable pain for this girl. She was
amazing. I am still trying to find her. I know it was the stress of the
situation but somehow there was a very special connection between us.
Afterwards we all prayed for the rest of her group. She was missing 16
people! I have since contacted some Japanese newspapers as I feel that I
will find it hard to put this behind me until I know what happened to her. I
would get on a flight to Japan in an instant if I knew that I could see her
again. Then there was an Israeli boy, traveling on his own, I think called
Tommy. He had a major cut by his armpit and was petrified that he would lose
his arm. I cleaned out his wound whilst trying to give reassurance. I'm
pretty sure he would be OK as he was able to move everything - It just
looked so horrible. Whilst we were helping someone, often you would hear, =93
Doctor, please come and help my friend.=94 I didn't know whether to explain
that I wasn't a Doctor or not. 9 times out of 10, I said I wasn't, but still
people were desperate for help.

I think it was about 12:30 now and around this time the first reports of
more waves came. They never did, but the effect was to cause even more
panic. Around this time I met another amazing person. Michelle walked over
and asked if she could help. You need to understand we had very little. We=20

were sending people off to the rooms (if they were prepared to leave the
relative shelter of high ground) to get water from the mini bars, cleans
sheets, and the sewing kits (we thought we might have to sew up some of the
wounds... fortunately we did not). I looked at Michelle and could tell she
was holding back. I said we needed help, but how was she and who was she
with? Her husband was missing, he=92d been swimming. We cried, but then she
just said, =93 right, lets help these people=94.... unbelievable! An hour la=
ter,
her husband Marvin walked in, unhurt!!!! I cannot describe to you that
moment, it was pure joy.

At around 14:00 we heard that a boat was coming in. CC and I spoke and where
concerned that people would panic and rush for the boat. He pointed out we
would have to restrain people. I made an announcement about what was
happening and said that only the most injured would be allowed to leave and
that CC would decide who they were.... I think we all knew who had to go.
The boat came in and we carried about 20 people down to the boat on doors,
deck chairs, etc. We took Sally, the 3 Japanese, a number of Swedish and
Thai people..... I think it was about 20 people in total that went on that
first boat.

After that I tried to make it over to my Hotel to find my friends. Lars and
I had got separated and I hadn't seen him since the water first subsided. It
was impossible to cross the island and it was in this journey that I started
to see how bad the destruction was. In the 200 meters I traveled I saw at
least 20 dead bodies. I gave up and went back to the Cabana Hotel. Time went
by and as more warnings of waves came in, people left to go to higher ground
... up the mountain. A number of people stayed and were debating the risks.
To get to the mountain was probably 30 minutes across flat ground of total
destruction. If a wave came and you were out there, you were dead. Simple as
that. At about 4pm a guy came in with a walkie talkie and confirmed that
another bigger wave was coming and that we were not high enough. This wave
never came, but again the damage was done. Those that could walk left. I
decided it was time I had to go too.

As I was leaving a S. African family, mother, grandmother, aunt and little
girl were making their way very slowly. They all had cuts to the legs. As I
understand it, the little girl had drowned but they had given CPR and
brought her back to life, but she was unresponsive. I said to the mother I
would take her and go. I am not sure if she really understood. She passed me
the little girl, and I went. I was very frightened. I did not look back.
This has given me some nightmares. I got to the mountain and it was
impossible to get up whilst holding a little unconscious 6 year old. An
English guy helped me (his name may have been Adam and his girlfriend Emma),
and we only got up about 15 meters. I sat there with her in my arms trying
to feed her 'sugar water' for about 2 hours. Eventually I decided she would
not make it unless she got to a hospital. I climbed back down the mountain,
which I could not have done without the help of an American guy called Larry
and crossed the island (unbelievably scary, fear of another wave), got to
the beach where there was a boat with about 100 people trying to board from
1 plank. The Thai's saw me with this little girl and just hoisted me aboard.
Going out to sea was one of the most bizarre moments. The harbour was full
of debris and dead bodies. Very silent. Everyone frightened of another wave.

At sea, we boarded a bigger boat and waited for other boats to join us. I
still held the little girl in my arms. Her name I thought was Shania (she
had whispered it in a moment of consciousness), I later found out it was
Chane. We arrived at Phuket town at approx 22:30 and were the first into an

ambulance, with 2 other English guys I met on the boat - Jimbo (21) and Mark
(32). We went to the Mission Hospital and got the little girl into intensive
Care - I had not put her down for 8 hours. I now have some understanding of
what it must mean to be a parent and I look forward to that day for me.
Later though, we had to move to the Government hospital to get a brain scan.
All ok, so back to Mission hospital. Throughout the night I tried to find
relatives of the little girl. I called S. African embassy (shut) so left a
message of who I was, where I was, and who I had. Spoke to British embassy
and repeated the story. In intensive care there were 2 other Europeans -
Angelika from Austria, and Antonio from Portugal. Antonio's girlfriend Anna
was there, unhurt, so we talked a lot. She helped me. I felt very
responsible for the little girl and was suffering some guilt at taking her
from the Mother. I kept on thinking about how the Mother must be feeling,
not knowing where and how her little girl was.

Later on I noticed the Austrian women (who I would find out was called
Angelika Thomes) looking in my direction. I went over to speak to her. " How
are you, are you ok?=94 She just burst into tears - she had lost her husband
and 15 year old son. I told her that I would go and phone the Austrian
embassy and give them her details. The next day we heard that both her
husband and son were alive and well! Such happiness. During the night I
called Angelika's friend in Austria (Karin) and told her what was going on,
who I was and where we were. An hour later a call was passed to me " Doctor
Luke, this is Angelika=92s Doctor in Austria=93!!!!!! This happened on a num=
ber
of occasions, people mistaking you for a Doctor. I must say this was quite
surreal. Especially as I was wearing a pair of ripped shorts from the day
before. Her Doctor and I spoke and he was just happy to be
able to talk to someone properly in English. I love the Thai people, they
are simply one of the, if not THE, kindest races out there, but in our
hospital language was a problem. In the intensive care unit not one of the
nurses spoke English. Often I would go down to the administration department
to talk to the staff there who were excellent and were really trying to
help, but it was chaos at the hospitals. Perhaps worse was the lists - names
were spelt wrong, nationalities wrong, etc. All this made it more
complicated to find people.

I slept a few hours at the hospital and about 6am the little girl Chane
opened her eyes. We played a game of trying to spell out her surname. I held
up letters in front of her and she nodded or pointed at them. Her surname
was PANAINO. I ran (hobbled) downstairs to phone the embassy. I kind of
broke down at this point for a little while. I had been desperate to find
her parents, but with no name, and her not talking it seemed an impossible
task. Now it seemed just a matter of time. At this point I still hadn't
spoken to anyone from home or any of my friends. Losing your mobile phone
cuts you off from the world. How many numbers do you know? I didn't know
many and was too tired to concentrate. I was leaving messages at home, my
Brothers mobile, even tried the office. But hadn't spoken to anyone. I
called my own mobile and heard messages of people calling in. Most
importantly I heard that Anneli (my Swedish girlfriend) and her family were
fine. However, the desperation in her voice was clear. She wanted me to call
her but didn't leave her number! I tried to call her Hotel but the lines
were down, so no way to tell her I was ok. I then realized that if I could
get my messages I could re-record my own message. So I called back and did
this. Unfortunately it did not save the message, so it wasn't until I called
back 6 hours later that I realized this. I recorded a new message which I
think many of you heard.

At about 9am I walked through the hospital reception and heard my name
shouted. Corny I know, but of all the hospitals in all the towns, there was
Lars and his girlfriend Rine!!! Both of them well, cuts & bruises. No sign
of Jesper and today as I write this almost a week later we still have no
news. I think we accept that he has gone, but just hope he did not suffer
and that we can find his body. We left the Hospital to go to the Pearl Hotel
where all the Scandinavians were being moved to. I stayed with them a little
while but felt disconnected and isolated. I wanted to be around British
people and I wanted to go back to the Hospital to find out how Chane was, so
i left.

I have spoken to Lars about what happened to Jesper and this is all we know
: Jesper was on the beach with Rine when they saw the wave coming. At first
they gathered up some of our belongings and then started to run through the
Hotel bungalows that we had been staying at - Phi Phi Charlie. Running in
flip flops is hard. Jesper fell over and Rine fell on top of him. They got
up, left everything and carried on running. They were separated. Rine was
trying to get up some stairs when the water came. She was hanging onto the
top step, with water up to her neck, when two Thai guys pulled her up to
safety. She did not see what happened to Jesper.

Back at the hospital, at about 11am, a nurse came in holding a mobile phone
which she shoved next to the ear of Chane.... it was Daddy !!! Chane could
not talk, i took the phone. It was not her Dad, but her Uncle Anton. I told
him who I was and where we were. He arrived 30 minutes later and collapsed
into my arms. Actually I collapsed into his too. We just cried and hugged.
He had spoken to the Auntie and knew who I was. The mother and Grand mother
were all fine just miles away. I explained the story and how guilty I felt
for taking her. He was brilliant and just thanked me for saving her life and
told me that the mother was so grateful. Since getting back to the UK, I
have called the hospital , the mother was there, we spoke, it was great ...
nothing else to be said !

I think around 14:00 I had this sense that it was time for me to leave.
There was no-one else left who I was connected with that hadn't met their
family / friends, yet I was on my own and still hadn't spoken to anyone. I
went to the City Hall to get papers but gave up after an hour when someone
said, just get up to Bangkok and sort it out there - a Thai guy gave me the
shoes he was wearing, a t-shirt from someone else. I went to Phuket airport
and waited 5 hours before getting on free flight from Thai Airways. At the
airport I met the 2 French girls I had got down from the tree 36 hours
earlier !!! I became part of their extended family as they had been
'adopted' by a French guy , Bernard , and his wife and Kids. At Bangkok,
within 30 minutes I had a piece of paper to admit me to the UK, and within 1
hour I was on the BA flight that had come from Sydney, First Class. I lost
the plot here. For about an hour I was in 'shock'. I could not stop shaking
and crying, I think the plane represented home. The staff were great and I
really must contact BA to let them know that the crew on that flight helped
me significantly.

Home, my Brother , the Press, guilt. I am safe , unhurt and I was out so
quickly. Every day I think about what happened and whether I could have done
more. I have a strong urge to go back, but think that first I will have to
go to Denmark to be with my friends there to deal with the loss of Jesper. I
sleep, but wake up very early. I am glued to the TV. I have contacted the
press, as some of you will have seen. I want to know what happened to the
people we helped. Last night Sally's Mum called. She is recovering in
Bangkok hospital. Another amazing call from a Mum who was frightened for her
daughter. She knows the extent of Sally's injuries, but she is alive and
will recover. I hope to go and see them in Jersey when they are ready.

I am now just looking for the Japanese girl. I have sent an email to some of
the papers out there and hope that someone will pick up on the story - I
hope so.

I lost everything out there. The only thing I came back with were the shorts
I was wearing and lots of paper with names, telephone numbers, messages to
give to family and friends. I know that I am very lucky to be alive. We must
do everything we can to help those that have not been so lucky. I urge you
to go and make a financial donation - if you have done it already , do it
again. I am trying to get a passport so I can go to Denmark, but it seems
that it may take some days. I will come to the office and already I have
read all of your mails. Please forgive me If I have not written back yet, I
hope that this 'story' will answer your questions. I cannot wait to see you
all soon.
All my love Luke

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 3 replies

Debt of Tsunami hit countries

Fern — Thu, 13 Jan 2005 06:18:08 GMT

SB/TSUNAMI-WOLFENSOHN

The Paris Club of creditor nations has agreed to a temporary moratorium on debt repayments.. by nations hit by last month's tsunamis. This comes as the World Bank is working with governments.. to determine long-term reconstruction needs for tsunami-hit nations. World Bank President James Wolfensohn says the issue is complex...

IN: Sri Lanka's trying to.... OUT: you're a fisherman (heh) DUR: 24"

F/S pck 12-01 hs rwi

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 1 reply

tribe that know water was coming...

tigerific — Wed, 12 Jan 2005 20:57:31 GMT

My friend Lucille who lives in indonesia-- heard a story of the animals that had sensed the oncoming disaster and fled inland. The animals were all inland before the wave struck.

Also, she had heard of a tribe of people on a small island in Indonesia. They were already quite tuned in to the temperament of the sea and of mother nature.
They knew by the actions of the water, before the wave struck that it was to happen. So, they retreated inland. By the time the helicopters arrived to see if these people were o.k., they were deep inside the jungle. The tribe s people were so shocked by the presence of the helicopters that they shot arrows at the helicopters.

posted in Global Disaster Relief - 4 replies