I’d just like to reiterate what RightWingDuck said, and give you the link to the Command Post which has a ton of links for places to donate to to help victims of the tsunami. I know this isn’t the best time of year for giving (too much credit card debt), but still try to donate what you can. I’d like to add the Salvation Army to the Command Post list whom I’ll be making a donation to.
I was actually in Phuket about 24 hours before the tsunami came…and was actually thinking about staying longer. It is insane that we were actually thinking about staying for a few more days…we stayed in Club Andaman on Patong Beach, one of the main areas hit…about 250 feet from the shore…
The devastation is horrendous…while I was there I took about 1500 pictures, so I have some “before” shots that can be compared to the “after” shots found online and in the newspapers…it truly is sad…
Am I the only insensitive bastard that noticed the two areas hardest hit by the tsunami (Ache, Sumatra and the Tamil coast of Sri Lanka) were both terrorist sanctuaries?
I’m think Rumsfeld was behind it…
Yankee, you ARE observant… Hmm… Help ’em anyways, though, It’s gunna get you to heaven.
I thought I got to heaven if I blew up in a busload of Muslims? I’m confused…
seriously. Yankee. there were A LOT of innocent people killed. not something to rejoice in.
World Vision is a good one, they’re focused more on helping children, but kids need help, too! I just got an email that their site is being swamped with visitors and people donating, so it’s running a little slow. Be patient, my friends! 😉
P.S. Where was Aquaman through all of this? Isn’t this the kind of thing he’s supposed to prevent?
Aquaman was supposed to help stop the tsunami, but he got a paper cut and bailed out at the last minute, the jerk.
On a serious note, I made a post about this on Chaos Central (not my blog, but I post more on it than I do on my own), in addition to contributing and praying and all the other stuff I’ve been doing. Getting the word out’s a good thing, I figure.
sarahk,
This tsunami isn’t something I’m doing the happy dance over, but I’m not going to lose sleep because of this, either.
As I first mentioned here (about the possible reduction in terrorism) and then here (about media sensationalism), this is a very bad situation, but it is also overhyped in teh grand scheme of things, and I’m curious as to why.
One year ago to the very day an earthquake killed tens of thousands in Iran, and there wasn’t the global show of support we see now. Bangladesh lost far more people in their ’91 cyclone, and China’s deaths dwarfed this number in their ’76 earthquake, without the outpouring of support or international attention.
More infuriatingly, the world stood complacently by when 800,000 were murdered in Rwanda and still sits complacently through the ongoing genocide in Darfur that has seen 100,000 killed so far.
Where were all the bloggers then, the massive donations on Amazon, the endless Op-eds and front page stories screaming for a reaction? Where was all the media attention? As for Darfur, where is it still?
I, for one, am not impressed that people are willing to pile on the bandwagon for this relatively easy fix situation while they ignore far deeper and far more complicated situations that should have been addressed months and years ago.
Quite frankly, I’m disgusted at the shallowness of people right now, and I’m not buying the hype.
Sorry for the snarkiness folks, it isn’t directed at anyone here, but I’m exasperated…
yankee, alot of tourists were killed, you’re probably confusing it with ‘terrorists’.
and…no tsunamis caused this much damage. The entire planet has changed. The rotation, the geography of the islands in the area, and there even wasn’t a warning system.
You’re right Yankee, there are lots of situations people should help with and we should be annoyed about the lack of outrage at the massacres in Darfur and elsewhere – but that’s the world for you. I have a family friend in Sri Lanka who was due back stateside Jan 14. No word yet on his safety. Please pray for everyone involved.
I figure anything we can do to help Thailand is well worth it. After all, they sent troops to Iraq to help us there. As far as the rest of the countries, we should help them as soon as we’ve met the Thai’s needs…
For those interested, this link to the Centcom coalition page has a summary of the Thai contributions to the GWOT. http://www.centcom.mil/Operations/Coalition/Coalition_pages/thailand.htm
Santa, If you read the first link I provided above, it will tell you exactly which “tourist” groups may have been hit.
This is not the worst tsunami in history, either, just the worst the dingleberries in the MSM know to report. I took geology and oceanography in college while you were abusing elves and breeding mutant reindeer. Trust me on this, okay?
Eliza, I didn’t say I haven’t prayed for these folks.
Consider the prayer for your friend as “done.”
yankee,
name another tsunami that killed over 66,000 people..maybe it’s over 80,000 now.
And the mutant reindeers are cute, jackass 🙂
Well, the whole thing is CERTAINLY bad, but I gotta go with the C. Yankee on this one. I’ve been wondering who in hell is/should/oughta be doing something about the genocide in Africa, while the whole MSM party has their panties collectively bunched about this one, big time. Prayers for the lives lost are appropriate (& hopefully forthcoming by all), contributions as well, but a single act of God is not on a level with human genocide. I may sound like a hardass, but that is NOT my intent. May God look kindly on the lost, & take them to His fold.
santa, I never said diddley about people, I said damage. There have been many tsunamis that had far more power than this one (think about the mile-high tsunami caused by the Yucatan asteroid strike that wiped out the dinosaurs), but most of these occurred before recorded history. Your concept of “time” is much shorter than mine, grasshopper.
And by the way, the mutant reindeer? Please stop. The one with the glowing red nose was cute, but the one with the glowing red hemorrhoids was just disgusting…
You know, I was about to get back to my normal, cheerful self and was even thinking about donating soem cash to Amazon, and then I saw this from Little Green Footballs. You’ll see it in about 3 seconds
Let them eat pork.
maybe you’re right yankee,
the world doesn’t care about genocide…I only had a problem with you saying the tsumani will decrease the flow of terrorism…if something like this happened in America you know the liberals and muslims would say god was punishing us for the Iraq war. I don’t want to be as evil as the other side…