Earthquakes and tsunami

[Pan]

I was personally affected by the atrocities on 9/11/01, and this tsunami dwarfs that by many factors of ten. Yesterday, I was watching footage from an overflight of the western coast of Aceh in a small plane. Cities of 30,000 completely levelled, with no signs of survivors except a few people camped out on hillsides. The enormity of this disaster is truly unimaginable, though some of that footage helps give it some immediacy.

[Chef Metcalf]

After many years living in SE Asia I am deeply saddened by the recent events that have devastated this area.

I have made a personal donation and will be donating a % of sales for January to a non-profit organization(Red Cross Canada/Tsunami Relief Fund).

As the egullet community includes many owners of restaurants and food related businesses, perhaps others could follow suit (with the non-profit of their choice) and help towards the recovery of this region.

I would appreciate any feedback that you may want to offer and hope that other egullet business owners will think about designing their own donation programs.

Frances Metcalf

[chezcherie]

our family just made a contribution to doctors without borders for use in this disaster of unimaginable proportions. i really appreciate the discussion here, which helped make a choice as to where our $$ could be best used.

prayers go out to all affected by this mounting crisis.

[Pan]

I've decided to divide my contribution between Medecins Sans Frontieres and Oxfam, unless anyone has a better idea. My contribution will be well in excess of what I've spent for any meal for myself and will represent a real bite into my bank account. But with all the suffering people are enduring, it doesn't seem like that much to ask of myself.

[trillium]

I think those are both really good organizations to give to. I happened to choose MSF and Mercy Corps. Mercy Corps is here in Pdx and I heard them on the morning news talking about the sanitation packs they were putting together to take. My co-worker, who is a Brit, chose to go with Intl Red Cross, because he's more familiar with it. I think any of these discussed in the thread, including the Indian based ones mongo mentioned are trustworthy places to send money. The important thing is to pick one you like and send as much as you can.

regards,

trillium

[SamanthaF]

I'd urge the UKer's to make their donations to Doctors without Borders as the donation is made in US dollars making the £ go further.

It's also good to see that pim's blog has made the BBC.Blogtastic

[zeitoun]

Yesterday, I was watching footage from an overflight of the western coast of Aceh in a small plane. Cities of 30,000 completely levelled, with no signs of survivors except a few people camped out on hillsides. The enormity of this disaster is truly unimaginable, though some of that footage helps give it some immediacy.

←

I, like many others today, have seen for the first time the images of the coast of Aceh. It is beyond comprehension. The level of destruction reminded me of the images I had seen in history books of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, entire cities completely leveled except for one or two mosques still standing. It is chilling.

I am happy to see that there is a worldwide relief effort in place that keeps on growing day after day.

Our donations will help immediately but let's not forget that such a generous effort will be needed not only today but also in the months and even years to come.

I hope that once this tragedy is suddenly moved away from the public eye (as is often the case with the western media), this generous effort will not subside. Even today and one year after the quake that devastated the city of Bam, Iran, there is a significant majority of people there who still live precariously in tents...

[mongo_jones]

It's also good to see that pim's blog has made the BBC.Blogtastic

←

this is the second site i've come across this comment on and i finally realized that the reference is not to pim's food blog but the tsunami relief blog. with everything else that is going on this may not be a point worth making, but that isn't exactly pim or anyone else's blog. it was set up by 4 people very early this week and various other bloggers have signed on since in various capacitites.

this blog has really illustrated for me everything that i like and dislike about the blogworld. to begin with the blog was an amazing self-effacing effort (to date, peter "zigzackly" griffin's own websites do not even mention his connection to the blog--i know because i was one of the early people he contacted to spread the word)--however since more people came on board i've been seeing more and more posts all over the net with possessive pronouns involved. one of the later contributors posted a self-congratulatory message on the blog last night about the publicity the blog was getting--after some outrage was expressed by readers this was edited. the blog itself has gone from being a clearinghouse for relief information to an almost un-navigable mess--with some people cluttering it with completely redundant "news" posts that one can get at any news websites. posts about the economic effect of the tsunami are at best irrelevant at this point, and at worst a little offensive--but this i fear is part of a more general blogger malaise ("must post constantly", "must link and be linked to").

anyway. "only connect", e.m forster said, and it is great to see so many people are getting involved and participating in lessening the sorrows of people far less fortunate--i hope this won't be restricted to just this disaster or its immediate aftermath--millions of people will need aid and attention focused on their plight for quite some time.

[jschyun]

What's a bit sad are the articles talking about some individual westerner or other who was killed, or is missing, which breeze over the tens of thousands of other deaths.  I know people need symbols to make a story seem relevant to their lives, but man that really rubs me the wrong way.

←

Oh my God, I was just thinking exactly the same thing. Among other stories, I read this piece on Jet Li escaping with his daughter and thought, that's great, but what about everyone else?

I just read on msnbc that strangely enough, they cannot find any dead animals. Apparently the animals knew it was coming. Meanwhile, the toll on human population from disease and lack of food/water alone may soon top 50,000. that is on top of the 100K+ people already lost. Jesus.

[docsconz]

Thanks for those posting here to help me decide where to best apply my donations for the relief effort.

[Marlene]

We donated tonight through the Canadian Red Cross.

Canadian Red Cross. You can donate online and specify your donation go to the earthquake disaster.

[CiriloE]

We donated tonight through the Canadian Red Cross.

Canadian Red Cross.  You can donate online and specify your donation go to the earthquake disaster.

←

Our community donated to Catholic Online - https://www.catholic.org/ycvf/donate.php

Cirilo

[mongo_jones]

all, i'd like to apologize again to pim and anyone else who was offended by my post about the tsunami-blog a few hours ago. i stand by the content of what i said but realize that there is no way it can sound anything other than petty or trivial given the timing.

in addition to pim's efforts, however, i would also like to recognize the work put in by peter griffin, dina mehta and rohit gupta, who not only set the blog up but continue to manage it, and all the other volunteers associated with it. credit for this isn't very important to them but they should get some.

Edited December 31, 2004 by mongo_jones (log)

[pim]

all, i'd like to apologize again to pim and anyone else who was offended by my post about the tsunami-blog a few hours ago. i stand by the content of what i said but realize that there is no way it can sound anything other than petty or trivial given the timing.

in addition to pim's efforts, however, i would also like to recognize the work put in by peter griffin, dina mehta and rohit gupta, who not only set the blog up but continue to manage it, and all the other volunteers associated with it. credit for this isn't very important to them but they should get some.

←

Now I guess I see where this is coming from. Thanks Carolyn and Sam for pointing to the Tsunami Help blog. And yes, Mongo is right, it's really not my blog. I am just a tiny help in the huge efforts of everyone on that site, and started by peter, dina, and rohit.

No offense taken. No apology necessary.

[jhlurie]

Well, now that we've avoided a local disaster here, we can return to discussion of the larger one!

But seriously, if this isn't a subject which has most of us on the edge a bit, I'm not sure what would. It's natural, and I'm glad to see we are dealing with it maturely.

Here's something interesting on the BBC site, a way to see the destructive force with less bandwidth than video. Flip through the five pictures on this page. Photo 1, you have a town. Photo 2, no town. Photo 3, a ferocious receding tide. Photos 4 and 5, a completely new coast line.

Also, as usually happens after big quakes, there have been aftershocks to scare the bejesus out of those left.

[Pan]

[...]

Our donations will help immediately but let's not forget that such a generous effort will be needed not only today but also in the months and even years to come.

I hope that once this tragedy is suddenly moved away from the public eye (as is often the case with the western media), this generous effort will not subside.  Even today and one year after the quake that devastated the city of Bam, Iran, there is a significant majority of people there who still live precariously in tents...

←

I'm glad you pointed that out. It's a problem when pledges of support are made and not followed through on, and I read today in the New York Times that that happened in regard to relief for Bam. There isn't always a big constituency for "foreign aid," except right after disasters, it seems. You are absolutely right that it is not only immediate aid that will be needed, but funds for reconstruction and so forth.

[Jaymes]

That's one advantage internet giving has....you plug in your credit card number, and you get charged. It's not so easy to put it off, and then forget about it.

I think it's great. Our first impulse seems to be generosity, and first impulses are so often the correct ones.

Edited December 31, 2004 by Jaymes (log)

[patti]

I'm having a hard time figuring out which charity is the right choice. I don't know which will have the most impact. I've found plenty of links to the available lists, I'm just feeling indecisive.

I'm also overwhelmed by how bad it is and will continue to be. While I want to watch news reports to stay up to date on what's happening, I find myself having to turn away from the television screen for some of it. I don't have a personal connection, except the human one, and the maternal one, when I hear or see people mentioning that they've lost one, some, or all of their children, or a child who can't find their parents.

[Bux]

This is an event of great magnitude. It's understandable that the Society would relax its rules about offtopic discussion. Surely there are always topics of greater importance than good food and certainly of greater importance that a discussion of expensive restaurants. Generally speaking, this is not the place to discuss those topics, but this disaster touches us all in such a way that it cannot be denied a place within our forums, if only to help people get in touch with others and to decide how and when to contribute. For the latter, we've posted a list of a wide range of charities in the hope that members might find one suitable to their needs. Other suggestions have been made earlier in this thread. However, the subject really isn't one that comfortably fits on this site when it comes to deeper discussions that drift from the essential need to reach out and help those in need. In fact, there are those all over the world who are also suffering, in pain, starving and in mortal danger. We won't solve the world's problems in this thread and we run into the danger of losing the original purpose of this thread by delving into the politics of one country or another as a recent post has done. We have no problem with members holding political views, nor do we dispute their rights to express them. It's just that this is not the place for that. It defeats the eGullet Society's mission and it defeats the purpose of allowing this thread to develop. We've removed the post that raises the ugly head of politics and we're closing this thread.

Should any member have important information or links, please contact me by PM. Thank you all for your concern for the victims of this horrible event.

From trillium:

Here is another good local (to Sri Lanka) org that isn't listed on your announcement page or in the thread.

http://www.sarvodaya.org/

It has a 45 year track record in the region and you can make secure donations online.