A link to an article in The Times. Quite a scathing article in a number of places. In the end it is a plea to give money.
A short extract:
"The West will get bored first — yes, even of this. By the end of January, nobody will be talking much about the earthquake (with the exception of those forced to cancel winter holidays in Thailand and Sri Lanka). Whole towns and villages, sometimes entire islands, and the tourist and fishing industries which support them, their hotels but also their homes and boats, have been devastated. But look at the way the majority of the reports are from the tourist resorts, from Phuket and the southern beaches of Sri Lanka. The farther away from the tourist trail one goes, the less the developed world is interested. Hundreds die in floods in Bangladesh every year — this summer, two thirds of the country was swamped and more than 20 million people were left homeless — and few in the West are much bothered."

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-159-1418301,00.htm

(sorry - you'll have to copy and paste the URL to get to the page..)l

It is true. Why should the west care? Death is a part of life. Be it "natural" or not. Every one of us will die at some point. We don't know when or how, and in all reality, there is very little we can do about it. We can be prepared and equipped, but death is well beyond our control. I do not want to die, but I know it must happen. Please don't take this the wrong way, I'm not a fatalist by any means. I do all that is in my power to prevent the loss of my life, but when it happens, it happens. Who can control earthquakes? Drunk drivers? The 100,000 in SE Asia were all going to die sometime. And remember what Stalin said. To most people, the numbers thrown around today are just statistics. It could be 1,000,000 or 10,000,000. It's not going to make a difference to people who are not personaly affected. Sad but true. I see people who are dying every day here in the US. The homeless, heroin, speed, crack addicts, prostitutes, HIV, AIDS, Hep C patients, alcoholics, car crash victims. Life is fragile. I want to die of old age, but I take risks every day that put me in danger. Even living in the neighborhood that I do increased my chances of being killed. I think that most people need to accept the risks of living - including the 100% fatality rate that comes with it. Do the best you can to keep going, but only God knows when our number is up. I still feel sorry for the loss of so many people in such a short span of time, and I've prayed for the families and survivors every day since the event.

I hope you all don't think I'm some cold harted sob now. Sorry for the rant.

-Jeff

You can never have enough gear, stock, stores, junk, whatever for every situation there could be. The hope with the PSK and other gear is to make it easier to get through those situations and increase your chances of survival. Anything is better than nothing and the more the better provided you know what to do with it.

There is a bit to understand about dedicated donations. Meaning donations where the donor specifies where the donation should go.

First, I need to say that I am a National Red Cross Volunteer.

Just after 9-11, the Red Cross said it would be sure that donations for 9-11 would go to those affected. I don’t know the exact wording, but that was the intent. The result was a gigantic outpouring of donations which were, as specified, routed to those affected. Unfortunately, this restriction prevented using the donations for helping the responders (fire fighters, police, EMT’s), or any support functions. This all came from the general fund.

The Red Cross took a lot of heat for the large amount of assistance they provided to those affected by 9-11. Many said it was far in excess of the assistance normally provided. Yet the resources of the Red Cross are severely depleted. Especially after this summer. I am in Florida at the moment and the situation here is still very critical. Many are still without housing. The panhandle of Florida will probably take years to recover. The Red Cross presence in Florida and elsewhere was expensive and much of its financial strength has been exhausted.

Although my involvement with the Red Cross is mostly in the Technical area, I have gained an appreciation for the way the organization functions. It truly does provide assistance to those in need. There is no ulterior motive in their actions. No religious, political or other requirements, just assistance to those in need.

So, please consider that placing a restriction on your donations may have un-intended consequences. By all means, contribute to the charity of your choice. But if you respect the work of the charity enough to donate, please also respect their ability to decide how to best use those funds.

A link to some videos not shown on tv and some jpg images.

**The one jpg image has a warning for extreme graphic content, and he means it. It isn't pretty.**

http://jlgolson.blogspot.com/2004/12/tsunami-video.html

The PSK and "other junk" we carry in our pockets are obviously not enough to defend against a moving wall of water. All you can do in this type of situation is evacuate quickly if you are aware about tsunami hazards and prepared mentally to keep your cool. But this is just one type of survival situation which belongs to the disasters category. Then again, in my humble opinion, if you happen to survive the tidal waves, the PSK could still increase the odds in your favor. For exemple you could use some items in it to help strecth out some kind of tarp and catch rain water until you get help (if you have the luck to get enough rain) I don't know, it's just an illustration. You have to adapt to the situation... The items in the PSK and EDC are based on experience return from a large range of situations. Equippment is only the tip of the iceberg of survival. Will to survive, self-control, physical fitness and knowledge are other factors. And indeed, this site focuses on the equippment part, on gear reviews. So equippement is only one link of the chain. And as in any chain you are only as strong as your weakest link.

I hope this rant makes senses... I'm not a survival expert and I don't have much experience, especially with the ocean. And I really don't think I would have done better than most of the people involved there.

François

Jeff, you are of course correct in that the dead are dead and there's not much that is going to change that. It seems that your post is missing the point, though, which is not so much about the dead, but about the living. They still have the capacity to suffer and it seems like a good thing to hold out a hand right now to try and reduce that suffering. Statistics about the dead are a way of measuring the magnitude of the disaster, but the real number that matters is the number of survivors who continue to suffer in the aftermath and who, with a little aid, can survive the critical period, get their lives back together, rebuild their communities, raise their children and the new orphans, etc.

A small report from Sweden, apparently outside of the disaster region Sweden was hit hardest, 60 dead confirmed, 3500 missing, presumed dead. This in a country with a population of nine miliion. New years day was official day of mourning, luckily non of my near and dear were in the region. Scandinavia has been hit hard and lots of money has been collected, + $30 Milions in a week in sweden alone.

Most of the injured persons have returned home even tough it took a while to organize the transport using air transport regular passengerliners and converted MD-80s to carry stretchers that have to fuel up 3 times on the way.

The media focus has been on Thailand mainly because it there were a lot of swedish tourists there. The aid efforts is mainly sent to Sri Lanka and Sumatra wich were hit the hardest.

Interesting side story on the news about a village that avoided widespread death or harm by paying attention to warning signs, even though they did not know what was coming.

First they heard a moaning sound coming from the sea. Then all of the birds started squaking and flying away. So they ran away from the sea aand up hill and were able to avoid the rushing waves.

A far more sensable reaction than the gawkers who ran down to the shore to see the exposed sea bed.