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Earthquakes and tsunami


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One of our Forum Hosts is currently vacationing in the Thailand area, we're hoping to hear from him soon and hope he is OK.

We also hope all our Southeast Asian eGulleteers are safe and sound.

Jason Perlow, Co-Founder eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters

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Just an extraordinary calamity! I don't know what to say, other than to join in sending best wishes to the survivors and condolences to anyone who's experienced loss in this tremendous natural disaster.

Michael aka "Pan"

 

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One of our Forum Hosts is currently vacationing in the Thailand area, we're hoping to hear from him soon and hope he is OK.

We also hope all our Southeast Asian eGulleteers are safe and sound.

Another frequent contributor and e-Gullet cooking school teacher was planning a holiday in the south of Thailand, with Krabi as the starting point. Anyone know if she's OK, or if she is even there at this time (I don't think she mentioned exactly when she was going)?

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We watch a lot of CCTV -- Central China Television. They've carried footage shot from helicopters that show people desperately trying to cling to buildings, trees, buses, but being swept away, their heads bobbing like melons in the rushing, raging torrent.

It's heart-wrenching, to say the least.

I, too, offer my condolences to those of you in the affected regions, and will watch to see if our eGullet folks in the area have made it through.

And as for me, I'll be counting my blessings today.

Edited by Jaymes (log)

I don't understand why rappers have to hunch over while they stomp around the stage hollering.  It hurts my back to watch them. On the other hand, I've been thinking that perhaps I should start a rap group here at the Old Folks' Home.  Most of us already walk like that.

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those interested in contributing to the relief effort may be interested in this page:

http://tsunamihelp.blogspot.com/

i'm sure this is true in south-east asia as well but in india quite apart from the massive and tragic loss of life (7000+ on the south-eastern coast) there is the looming tragedy and crisis of the survivors. many of those who died were poor fishermen, often the sole/primary earner in their families. if we would all contribute the cost of our next fancy meal/food purchae to the relief funds (not just for the poor indian victims) it would make a major difference. keep in mind $1=rs. 43.

edit: i inadvertently overstated the current death-toll in india, which is now above the 7000 mark; more than 12,000 are dead in sri lanka, with 8 million people rendered homeless there alone!

Edited by mongo_jones (log)
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Thanks, Mongo. I was just going to post a request for information on where to contribute in a way that would best help the survivors. I'll still ask that question: Which relief organizations (whether local or international) are most efficient, least corrupt, and spend least on publicity and so forth? And does anyone have any idea how I could make sure a contribution actually got into Aceh and helped the people there, for example? (Please, only positive recommendations; we don't want to get into arguments about problematic organizations.)

Michael aka "Pan"

 

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DH donated yesterday very early as soon as he heard of it at the fire station, to a dedicated fund for the Indian Red Cross. I do not know if it's the best way to help, but we've had many friends from here that went to Florida in the wake of that disaster. We were talking about the speed with which Red Cross responds, so we reckoned it'd be the fastest we were able to help.

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from madras: My mother and mother-in-law had gone to the temple early in the morning and they were inside the temple when the waves hit the shores. They got caught in the crowds that was trying to 'flee'. They managed to reach home and to safety. Both mammas seemed a tad shellshocked. They took turns reporting their version of the 'tsunami'. They didnt see the waves. It lasted only somewhere between 15-30 minutes. My mother-in-law seemed particularly shaken by the fact that the boys playing cricket on marina beach were swept away. Playing cricket in the morning, probably shooed away by their mothers busy preparing sunday lunch, none of them would have imagined that they'd never return home. Cars were overturned. Even as the waves ebbed away and the residents left for the inner city to the safer homes of relatives/friends, the masses poured into the beach to 'watch' the rescue activities. Naturally, this led to traffic jams and made it a little difficult for the mammas to get home. As it was a Sunday, most fishermen were not at sea. Their wives however were setting up their little sunday market stalls. Many of them were washed away. They are most probably all without a home. Many who werent swept away into the ocean succumbed to cardiac arrests because of the shock. Even children. People there are not familiar with 'tsunamis'. There are 'rumours' about aftershocks and further incidents. There is also angry shushing and labelling the warnings as scare tactics. It is going to be a nightmare accounting for the dead/missing. The bodies need to be identified soon. The lowest temperature in Madras in late December will rarely go below 25/28 degrees. Celcius. And Madras is the northern most coastal city of the southeast India's peninsular curve. I cannot imagine how bad it must be in the southern parts of the state and in SriLanka.

Even with the damage done, I hope it will all revert to status O.K. soon.

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i hope, given the content, egullet will continue to countenance this off-topic thread.

pan, i'm not sure about specific relief agencies in south-east asia. organizations like oxfam are very reliable but your money may not go specifically towards this tragedy or a particular affected region, but into their general relief fund. some don't like this but it does ensure that victims of tragedies in places that don't resonate globally don't get left out.

for those looking to help in india specifically, and the survivors of this particular tragedy, you might consider the ndtv relief fund (linked to in the blog i posted a link to). ndtv is the cnn of india and the money will not be misused--i have a lot of friends who are senior in that organization so i feel very confident saying this. you could also contribute to the prime minister's relief fund. regardless of where contributions go they are all tax-deductible.

just imagine how much money egullet's membership alone could raise if we all said, "i will take the most expensive meal-day in my week, substitute it with a day of simple food and contribute the rest of the money". whether you're one of the folks who dines regularly at starred establishments or someone for whom a meal at the cheesecake factory is what we're talking about as a special occasion it will be a lot of money for the poor victims of this disaster. and if you feel conflicted about giving "handouts" consider that this is not some systemic man-made failure, but an act of planet that we're responding to. yes, there's lots of things we could help with but if you're not actually contributing to anything else don't use that as an alibi.

sorry for coming on too strong.

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Mongo -- I, for one, see no reason whatsoever for your need to apologize.

I've got house guests coming in for the week and I am going to recommend we all forego one of our planned outings and donate.

I have a few friends who are travelling in Indonesia and hope to hear from them soon...

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just a quick note: those who visit the relief-blog i posted a link to may see information on the "hindu relief fund". this is not a fund to benefit only hindus but a fund set up by the hindu, one of india's oldest newspapers and perhaps the best. the hindu is based in the south and so they're on the spot.

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I have several friends in Vizag (Vishakapatnam) in Andhra Pradesh, on the southeast coast of India. I had been confused about the geography of the region until this morning—seeing a map I realized, with my heart in my throat, that a tsunami had hit that area. One of my friends there is eight months pregnant.

Vizag went fairly unscathed. My friends felt the quake at 5:30 AM, came outside for a half an hour, then went back to bed. The tsunami did not damage Vizag badly, and my American friend who lives there came back from his traveling to find his apartment undisturbed and the beach road unsubmerged.

I also have a friend whose wife is Sri Lankan. I'm pretty sure her family lives on high ground, but I will not be surprised if she suffers losses, as the family is quite large.

I will make a contribution to the fund, Mongo. I'm pretty well broke following Christmas, but I suppose everything will help. I am literally dizzy thinking about the devastation. It's akin to vertigo. I find myself holding onto the arms of my desk chair to stablize.

All those children and babies. :sad::sad::sad:

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Oh, my. I am sincerely sorry, but very glad your mamas made it home okay.

I heard all this third-hand, narrated by my husband, many hours after the incident. I understand that the mothers took turns over the phone to give him bits and pieces of the event in fragmented sentences. I have never known my husband to exaggerate, but he did mention that they were all 'choked up'. Storms and cyclones dont faze these folks(and the madras residents, they are lucky..the southern most part of the state gets ravaged by the elements quite ruthlessly..again and again). I cannot imagine the mothers breaking down and they were only witnesses quite far removed by distance and impact. This one really hit them hard in the gut mostly because of the surprise factor and the magnitude of the tragedy, I imagine. The impact on those who were affected directly and severely is something that pains me even to contemplate.

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Mongo -- I, for one, see no reason whatsoever for your need to apologize. [...]

I agree, and the information you've given is most appreciated. Thank you for the reports, FaustianBargain, and I hope all of your loved ones are OK.

Michael aka "Pan"

 

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I was watching the News Hour on the US Public Broadcasting System a few minutes ago, and the people they had on said that things are likely to get a lot worse. An official from CARE (their US president, I think) said that epidemics of cholera or other diarrhea-causing illnesses are likely because of water contamination, poor sanitation, and large numbers of dead bodies washing ashore; that those epidemics could easily kill more people than the number who died in the initial disaster; and that they need money now.

Michael aka "Pan"

 

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