posted
A small bit of good news, the young swedish boy Karl has been taken in by a swedish couple living in Phuket. Coincidentally the husband, Bo Guldstrand, is a member of the same parish as my father.
Our government were taken completely offguard and still haven't sent down any mediaid planes or helicopters, admitting they've been bogged down in procedures and researching. One of our airlines OTOH managed to send down three empty 747's yesterday, of their own accord...
-------------------- "I'm nigh-invulnerable when I'm blasting!" Mel Gibson, X-Men
Registered: Aug 1999
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- That UN guy was really stupid on mentioning the word 'stingy', before the actual aid got rolling.
- Some are trying to critisize Bush again, but I think the US is doing a really good job. They are sending in Navy forces and have given more than the EU.
- Holy crap. Amazon has already collected over 2 million dollars in donations. And check out your Reload button. It goes up every second! In a few hours, there should be about 3 million dollars!
Nim: yes, but in this case, they KNEW* that there were waves inbound, not just that there had been (what was first thought to be) another 8.0 quake, and they STILL dismissed it with such nonchalant arrogance and total disregard for human lives that "underestimate" is about the last expression I would use to judge their "actions" with.
(* Now, for the record, I'm not actually sure that's true, and I HOPE it's not, but something tells me to be more, I don't know, cynical than that.)
Registered: Nov 1999
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"That UN guy was really stupid on mentioning the word 'stingy', before the actual aid got rolling."
Well, even though he wasn't specifically talking about the US, despite the Washington Times' lies, if we assume they at least got one number right, there's at least one country's government being stingy. That being the US. They're spedning more than twice as much on Bush's inauguration ceremonies as what they're giving to the tsunami victims. And that's not counting the money spent on security for the inauguration.
Registered: Mar 1999
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quote: - Some are trying to critisize Bush again, but I think the US is doing a really good job. They are sending in Navy forces and have given more than the EU.
Actually the EU is giving $44 million compared to $37 million from the US: EU $44m US: $35m Canada: $33m Japan: $30m UK: $28.9m Australia: $27m France: $20.4m Denmark: $15.6m Saudi Arabia: $10m Norway: $6.6m Taiwan: $5.1m Finland: $3.4m Kuwait: $2.1m Netherlands: $2.6m UAE: $2m Ireland $1.3m Singapore: $1.2m Source: BBC
Personally, I don't think the total is too stingy, although I suppose it could be higher; these are just initial donations anyway, plus there's all the aid personnel being sent out.
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted
Now take those figures and weigh them up along GDP and/or population. Australia has a population of 20 million,
The UK is giving 1.9m (pop 60 million), Japan 3m (pop 127 million) and the US 8m (pop 293 million) dollars more than Australia. That is pretty pathetic. Nice to see good ole China helping people out.
-------------------- "Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica." - Jim Halpert. (The Office)
posted
Now it jumped up to 120000, and I still haven't gotten news if my friend is on his way back. I read on Reuters that northern Sri Lanka has the added problem of old, floating landmines now, thanks a lot.
I heard from a friend of a friend at our "Institute for Infectious Disease Control", saying that the news has totally overhyped the dangers of cholera, malaria, corpse-spreading diseases and such. She said it will take a long time for a body to get so decomposed as to infect other people, and malaria isn't even an issue as the mosquitos don't hatch in saltwater.
I also heard that the peace-talks in Sudan has progressed significantly, I wonder if this event had anything to do with it. Maybe they got some perspective...
EDIT: Cartman, your Richter-scale link to HowStoughWorks said that the worst quake ever measured landed on 8.9, so if that article is correct then this asian quake is the new worst quake ever, since I've read several sources that say it was a 9.0.
-------------------- "I'm nigh-invulnerable when I'm blasting!" Mel Gibson, X-Men
Registered: Aug 1999
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"That UN guy was really stupid on mentioning the word 'stingy', before the actual aid got rolling."
Well, even though he wasn't specifically talking about the US, despite the Washington Times' lies, if we assume they at least got one number right, there's at least one country's government being stingy. That being the US. They're spedning more than twice as much on Bush's inauguration ceremonies as what they're giving to the tsunami victims. And that's not counting the money spent on security for the inauguration.
NOthing like some healthy US bashing. So, the US is being "stingy"...although the US is the single largest contributor to the relief efforts (the EU being several countries pooling together) and although our relations with Indonisia have been pretty rocky....and it's not as though it's not just the start of relief aid from tyhe US- that money was pledged before deathtolls were known to be so astronomical.
You make it sound a though further US aid is not going to happen in favor of some party- be real. Dont let your hatred to Bush's administration obscrure a good start to relief efforts in a disaster worse than anything that could have been planned for.
Way to spit on the helping hand.
The figures cited are only GOVERNMENT donations- I'm sure that many private agencies are already there in force (Doctors Without Borders as example is there).
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
The UK Govt. is now giving �50 million. Bit of an outcry after the public alone raised �25 million, you see. Current BBC estimates put the amount of government-pledged money at about �200 million worldwide.
Our best friends actually went to Thailand on a belated honeymoon a few weeks ago. We're so glad they didn't decide to go over the Christmas period! They actually spent a few days on Ko Phi Phi island, and said they could see the remains of restaurants they'd eaten at on the TV news.
posted
I'm glad your friends are safe, I'm pointing out that there are many who would use this disaster to slander the US to sell papers/ further their own agendas.
It's not a situation where finger-pointing is remotely helpful.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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Charles Capps
We appreciate your concern. It is noted and stupid.
Member # 9
posted
quote:Originally posted by Harry: - Holy crap. Amazon has already collected over 2 million dollars in donations. And check out your Reload button. It goes up every second! In a few hours, there should be about 3 million dollars!
It was up to 5.1 million when I calculated the average as $61.70 and promptly contributed. I am such a geek.
Registered: Mar 1999
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