SE Asia Earthquake/Tsunami

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I've seen it said as many as 80,000 people may have been killed all in all.

Looks like it could wind up being the worst earthquake caused Tsunami on record (Krackatau and Tambora caused Tsunamis killed way more)

[Huckleberry Finn]

Also hundreds Swedes are missing.

Al, Lewis, Jens, Bono and Hugento?  Have you any numbers about your countrymen? And how about Americans and Canadians?

There were some Germans who died...I don't care about the exact number except inasmuch as its a minuscule part of the whole.

Well I think it's natural to be worried for fellow countrymen.  This could be worst disaster to my country since WWII.

[minionofmidas]

I've seen it said as many as 80,000 people may have been killed all in all.

Looks like it could wind up being the worst earthquake caused Tsunami on record (Krackatau and Tambora caused Tsunamis killed way more)

The Krakatau Tsunami killed an estimated 36,000, I read somewhere. Obviously, that would be a higher share of the area's population, though. (And Krakatau killed more people, in other ways - by causing harvests to fail.)

[minionofmidas]

Also hundreds Swedes are missing.

Al, Lewis, Jens, Bono and Hugento?  Have you any numbers about your countrymen? And how about Americans and Canadians?

There were some Germans who died...I don't care about the exact number except inasmuch as its a minuscule part of the whole.

Well I think it's natural to be worried for fellow countrymen.  This could be worst disaster to my country since WWII.

It's probably different from a smaller country's perspective. I don't feel I have that much more in common with most Germans than with people all around the world. Plus, there have been disasters (and a terrorist attack, on Djerba) in recent years where Germans made up a disproportionate share of the victims - Airplane crashes, mostly. It's not the case now, and although you do see "European tourists among the dead", "including four Germans" (in Sri Lanka alone) etc, it's not the media's main selling angle.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

The Krakatau Tsunami killed an estimated 36,000, I read somewhere. Obviously, that would be a higher share of the area's population, though. (And Krakatau killed more people, in other ways - by causing harvests to fail.)

I thought it was higher.
Tambora was at least 100,000. Probably much, much higher.

[minionofmidas]

It probably depends on who does the estimate - since historical estimates of population outside Europe and a few other regions such as China vary extremely widely.

[opebo]

I've seen it said as many as 80,000 people may have been killed all in all.
Here's one for Opebo: Thanks to the Tsunami, the ban for foreigners on travelling in Aceh has been lifted.

Hmm.. well I won't be going there.  I am going to Singapore in a few days for a little visa run.  I'll be there 3-4 days and will probably take this ferry they have over to some Indonesian islands nearby.  I hear they're fun places and then I can say I have been to Indonesia.  Maybe I'll spend a couple hundred bucks to boost the economy.

[minionofmidas]

Just watched quite a bit of news, and they're talking more about German victims now than they were yesterday. Seems that, of the ca.1500 people killed in Thailand, as many as two thirds were Western tourists...for example, there's this one resort hotel with about four hundred guests, about half of them German (the owner - they had him on TV - is a Germany-raised Turk) that got pretty much destroyed, with over a hundred of the guests dead.

[2952-0-0]

And there was a strong earthquake in the sea between Australia and Antarctica a week ago. Maybe that is related to.

[J. J.]

There were fairly large after shocks today between 4.0 and 5.5.

[The Man From G.O.P.]

good ol' stock market isnt paying any attention to this disaster

[The Man From G.O.P.]

good ol' stock market isnt paying any attention to this disaster

I would have thought it would have taken a plunge like it normally does when, someone sneezes, a girl gets lost, the pope has a cold, etc. or any bad news that makes it tank

[??????????]

If anyone wants to help, donations to the Red Cross can be made here.  Select "International Response Fund" to have it go to that location.  I already donated the $100 I got for Christmas; I figure they can make much better use of it than I can.

Other places you can donate to are Oxfam America and Save the Children.

I've donated £100 outta my Building Society account and £20 I found lying around.

You can donate some to me as well you know Al.

[J-Mann]

Please consider donating a bit of money to a relief organization of your choice to help in the recovery and reconstruction efforts for this disaster.  I wasn't able to give much, but I chose to donate to Catholic Relief Services, which has given $500,000 already toward immediate care. 

A list of organizations taking donations can be found here:

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/12/27/quake.aidsites/index.html

Please help out in any way you can.  Individually we can't give much, but together maybe we can make a difference.

[Platypus]

geez this is bad-68000. (Including about 10 Aussies).

My mum is organising to go over to Sumatra or Sri Lanka with a surgical team, leaving on new years eve :S.

I don't know if she'll be accepted, but I suspect she will, and we still don't know where they'll end up or how long they'll be there...

In Australia, many of us have family or friends affected. My cousin was on Phi Phi Island in thailand before the waves, he was going to stay there until Jan.5th, byut decided to come home early for christmas after having been in europe for 8 months. My boss at work attended a wedding a week before christmas, the husband saved his new wife's life and hasn't been seen since.

This is huge in America, massive down here, but imagine how bad it must be in India, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia, and please, please support the effoprts to prevent water-bourne disease, and also identification. I would ask you to donate to Red Cross Australia, or Red Cross/Cresent in the countries affected, as these are the groups most involved, or charities such as Oxfam, world vision, and CARE. The UN is also heavily mobilised, and all money donated to the disaster relief will go to relief; they are specifically focussing on the Maldives, India and Sri Lanka at this time.

[Huckleberry Finn]

It seems that the final death toll will be huge. I wouldn't be surprised if it was 200-300 000 in whole area.

I fear that also Western countries have suffered MUCH bigger casualties that they have reported yet. For example there are still over 200 Finns missing, but only 13 confirmed dead. Sweden seems to suffering worst: about 1500 Swedes are missing! It would be a worst disaster in Sweden since 1809. Finns are searching  their relatives by the aid of internet. My dad knows personally one lost person.

A former leader of Finnish Conservative Party (National Coalition) Sauli Niinistö almost died in Thailand. He was interviewed on TV. He used to be a tough guy, but now he was very moving and  impressive. A politically interesting point is that he is possible presidential candidate in the 2006 election. I really hope that he will win. I can't stand more our current socialist president Tarja Halonen. I haven't seen her on TV during the whole crisis! She seems to concentrate to keep Finland outside of NATO.

[minionofmidas]

There were fairly large after shocks today between 4.0 and 5.5.

One of them right in the Andaman Islands.

[Michael Z]

I have two friends in the region. One, in India, was thankfully unscathed but I'm still to hear from my work colleague in Sri Lanka. He only arrived there on Christmas eve and was meant to spend three months on the island (in a hut by the beach, of all places). I'm yet to receive word from him and fear the worst. In any case, this is an absolute tragedy, quite possibly the worst natural disaster in history.

But actions speak louder than words, and as J-Mann said,

Please consider donating a bit of money to a relief organization of your choice to help in the recovery and reconstruction efforts for this disaster.  I wasn't able to give much, but I chose to donate to Catholic Relief Services, which has given $500,000 already toward immediate care. 

A list of organizations taking donations can be found here:

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/12/27/quake.aidsites/index.html

Please help out in any way you can.  Individually we can't give much, but together maybe we can make a difference.

If my broke ass can donate a fiver to the Red Cross then so can you. It doesn't take much so just do it.

[J. J.]

A UN spokesman just reported that in one Indonesian provience, he expects a death toll of 100,000.

It was also reported up 5,000 Australians working/vacationing in the region are missing.

I'm guessing that initial deaths will be in excess of 250,000.

[muon2]

Here's what the quake looked like on the seismograph at Shemya Island in the Alaska Aleutian chain. Each trace across is 15 minutes long. Note the hours of shaking and the magnitude of the shakes compared to normal earth motion.

[Huckleberry Finn]

Myanmar aka Burma has reported only 36 dead. The country is damn dictatorship. I'm sure that there are much more casualties, but they simply don't care.

[minionofmidas]

Myanmar aka Burma has reported only 36 dead. The country is damn dictatorship. I'm sure that there are much more casualties, but they simply don't care.

Not sure...Bangladesh had only three. The Northern part of the Bay of Bengal was obviously not very hard hit by the wave.
Still, I wouldn't rule it out. That strip down in the Sutheast (which is also home to an ethnic and religious minority, the Muslim Arakan.) should have seen quite some damage.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

It's over 80,000 now (over 50,000 of those in Aceh)

[??????????]

Did anyone hear about the elephant?

[MODU]

Once I can find all my pictures from Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and Sumatra (especially Sumatra), I'll get them uploaded.  Two of the ports I had visited in the early 90's apear to be devistated:  Panjang and Padang.  Panjang had a shanty town just above sea level which serviced the port, and it was filled with very nice people.  One family took a whole bunch of us in for the evening and fed us dinner, even though we did not speak their language and they didn't know English.  One of the best nights of my life.  It's sad to think that this family is probably a part of the 114K that are now dead.