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Dec-26-2004 17:22

Just wanted to put out my thoughts and prayers to family and friends of all those lost, and suffering loss of life, home and general safety due to the Earthquake and folowing tsunami and aftershocks of Sundays (Sumatra time) (8:00 p.m. EST Saturday evening).. which is about 6pm sleuth time I think.

Anyway Delvin is in Singapore and he should be safe, but usually logs on daily and I haven't heard from him, and he does know people that would have been in effected areas.

So any good thoughts you want to send him, or people there feel free to add on to my posting.

HOPE if anyone else here lives in SAsia or SW ASIA are safe and everyone they know are also.

Again Prayers and my good wishes to those in that part of our world.

Rivergallery.

Dec-28-2004 15:35

I can't comprehend the lose and suffering. My prayers go out to all. I read today 30,000 are missing in India, one of our members is from there and I only pray that he is ok.

Dec-28-2004 20:34

Lady K, I'm so sorry about the loss your country has suffered. I am just devastated about what has happened. I'm just over in Phnom Penh and I've spent a fair amount of time in Thailand over the years - I go about 3 times a year. I have a work colleague who was supposed to be kayaking at Krabi, but haven't hear anything about him since this occured. Another colleague was visiting family in Bangladesh, but I'm not sure where. I am working on setting up a fund for donations from people here in Cambodia through the Canadian embassy hopefully. We will do what little we can to help.

Dec-29-2004 17:35

I am just still so saddened for these people, like Lady K. I FINALLY got word on my next door neighbor who was in Sri Lanka. All I could find out is that he is okay, no word on his other family members. We were told it would be several weeks b4 he can come back stateside. Knowing this guy if there is any physical way possible, he is helping the people there through this. Oh, my heart just aches for these people. I have prayed for my neighbor & all these victims to be okay.

JSTKDN,
You are just kidding right. I understand where you are coming from throwing out the Gross Domestic Product VS. the public donation. This tragedy DOES NOT compare to the war. You cannot throw the 2 into the same basket. Yes, America is spending a lot on the war. It however was thrust upon ALL Americans & free people everywhere. If the US did not step up to the plate & fight the terrorists. They would have won. If you know your history, the first incident of Islamic terrorism began in 1968 with the assination of Robert F. Kennedy. There have been numerous incidents in between since then leading up to Sept. 11,2001. That is about a 33 year time span that America turned it's head again & again. Yes, freedom comes with a cost. American citizens are not doing nearly enough to support this war in comparison with the noble citizens of WWII. Our parents & grandparents even rationed thier food to fight for freedom. America is a good nation with a great big heart. The monetary donation you are seeing right now is just the beginning of what She will do to help with the Tsunami/Earthquake victims. You are focusing on the instant government donations. What you are not seeing is the millions of dollars, volunteers & supplies that are pouring into private organizations. America will be there for these people in anyway possible. You will see, we are always the 1st nation to extend a loving, helping hand anywhere in the world at anytime. America & Britian are the most loyal caring bunch of people.

Dec-29-2004 19:06

Tbird although I do not agree with your political point of view, the war in Iraq, or if that would be the right country or way to start a war with to battle terrorism. Even though my country is in Iraq as well. Ironically, the biggest danger come from terrorist cells within Europe.

I am glad your neighbour is OK. Although, as you don't know how his family is doing, he may not be all that well. A lot of people are going from the red cross to the hospital over there to figure out if their loved one was found or not.
A really sad story about was about a young boy (2-3 years old) whom was found in Phuket. The hospital put a webpage up, as they had no idea where the little boy came from, from shock he could not talk. A day later when he got a bit better, they figured he spoke Swedish. His family in Sweden saw the picture and flew over. Turns out the little boy was on holiday with his parents, and grandmother. They are all still missing. His uncle was now flying over to be with him, and to try and find out what happened to his parents. Many people are frantically looking for their loved ones. I can not even imagine such dispair around that. The not knowing, or finding out your loved ones have died. And to only know, that's where the story starts. I have travelled in the majority of the places hit, and people were already barely surving with the jobs they had then, jobs that no longer exist

I hope that the civil war/fights and the groups associated with it in Sri Lanka and Aceh are not going to cause much problems. They say that the tamils were already in peace discussions with the Sri Lanka government, so it would likely be OK that no fighting starts over who gets what, or someone should get no aid at all. However, Aceh is a different story. Thankfully, the usual stubborn Indonesian government wants Aceh to have the aid. But god knows what is going to happen over there between the Aceh people in civil war, with this disaster, and the matter of aid on top of that.

Dec-29-2004 19:16

And like I said previously, I think that the American citizens are great people. And that all sorts of organizations and people are coming together. I just said, I wish your government would follow their lead.

I would be very careful about saying the Brits and the Americans are always the 1st countries that come to aid. There are a lot of smaller countries that are never talked about that are either there too, or actually are first. Few people for instance realize that WWII that you mentioned was not an American, British effort only, but Canadian, Australian, and Polish as well. In addition a lot of people of occupied terrority fought along. Don't forget that all western nations, also have a lot of innocent blood on their hands through colonization, or taking someone elses country, badly picked wars over bad executed non-sensical theories or religion. So I would be very careful about saying things like "always", "every time, and every country."
No one is always on the right side of the line.
Even Switzerland, staying a neutral, can also be a bad thing.

Dec-29-2004 20:18

Did not mean to exclude any nation no matter how great or small. Every little bit helps just because 1 country can give or do more than another, does not make either one any better. The point is that ALL countries put aside any differences at times like this & reach out a helping hand. I think it is wonder ful that the Dutchmen have stepped forward too. It infuriates me that America has always went out of thier way to help the needy & less fortunate. Only to be berated & misconstrued. I just wish foriegners could see the good in the American spirit.

Dec-29-2004 20:30

Anyone heard from Delvin?

Dec-29-2004 20:33

Oops, sorry, missed your post there, Delvin. Glad you are okay. Prayers and thoughts with all involved in this tradegy.

Dec-30-2004 01:21

I wanted to read all of what you were saying but, it's just TOO LONG.

I express concern and thank everyone for giving their prayers. The Philippines is fine but, I'm not sure about those living near the shore.

Dec-30-2004 06:33

As foreigner I don't think the Americans are misconstrued, but I do think that each American action is judged for it's merit, sometimes good, but also sometimes bad. Well unless you are a stupid uninformed foreigner. Terrorism is still rampant, not by Iraqi's, but by European born moslims. My country is still in upheavel, after Novembers terrorist attack over here.

The bottom line, in a disaster like this. Everybody comes together to help others. And leaves you to wonder, why don't we do this ALL the time. We think about Bangladesh for instance now, however the past years Bangladesh has suffered one catastrophy killing 1000s each year, over the past year. Even during my travels, I have seen kids and adults with swolen bellies from hunger even in the very same countries that are hit now.
For some reason the world doesn't come together, until there is a disaster of world scale. The world before WWII was a different place, then after. When people realized "a disaster like this can never happen again", the result of was decolonization, less power of the church in society, the principle of the UN, NATO. Also the majority of of human rights laws, were created shortly after WWII. Before that there was not much more then the Geneva Convention, regulating armed conflict instituted after WWI.

The power of that brings hope. The fact that we have not seen a WW since the last, is unique for history.

Now the world is coming together again on a massive scale, to help others. But even for a lot of us here in the west, it is an education. Some people would not even know in which country the island of Sumatra was, or point out a country as big as India on the map. Only good things can come out of that.

I hope, and I pray, once the first weeks are over. And this disasters disappears off our news. That we will continue to pray, and help even when the initial aid is no longer required, but aid to rebuild their economy is required.