Asian Disaster: 8.4 quake + tsunami [Archive]

Yog

Dec 27th, 2004, 09:00:22 AM

Latest number is 28,000. And keeps on increasing. Its a catastrophe of biblical proportions. Have you seen the footage? I have not seen anything quite like it. Many tourists were caught in the tsunami too, because places like Phuket and Thailand are popular vacation spots. Hundreds of charter tourists are unaccounted for and its a total chaos. As of now, no one really knows how huge this is. 5 Norwegians are confirmed dead, and there are more who cant be found.. childrens who cant find their parents and people who disappeared without a trace.

jjwr

Dec 27th, 2004, 09:24:01 AM

28k? Wow...

It sounds morbid but where did you see the footage? You don't typically see something like this happening but in today's date of camera's everhwere I would imagine there is some good footage of the big waves.

I read one guys account of going to the beach and all of a sudden the tide went way out 200meters and they couldn't figure out what was going on then he saw boats racing back to shore and knew it was bad and started running.

Yog

Dec 27th, 2004, 09:46:08 AM

Its all plastered over CNN, theire running this story 24/7 right now. There are video as the wave crashes ashore and floods the streets. There are also footage of people getting caught by the powerful streams, and theire clinging to debris or wood and whatever they can cling on to for their dear lives. Buses and houses just float through the streets..

I would imagine, there are some news sites with video clips if you dont have CNN at home.

Jedi Master Carr

Dec 27th, 2004, 10:35:33 AM

There was a tsunami way back in the early 20th century that killed over a 100k but that was a long time ago, I think that hit mainland china. I would have to look that up. Still this is the worst disaster or recent memory. It is truly sad.

Yog

Dec 28th, 2004, 05:02:40 AM

On the isles Andaman og Nikobar, 5 villages were swept to the ocean. 30,000 are reported missing. This is in addition to the 26,000 confirmed dead according to the official number being quoted in the media..

Where will this end?

Jedi Master Carr

Dec 28th, 2004, 10:45:28 AM

The death toll is close to 40k now. Really the numbers are going to go very high. Indoeasia thinks that there is 21-25k dead in their own nation and they only counted like 7k so far. I am sure there are more dead in Sri Lanka who knows the true numbers might not know for weeks. This is truly a horrible story and it is worse than any of the hurricanes we have seen this year.

Jedi Master Carr

Dec 28th, 2004, 11:56:48 AM

Up to 55,000 now

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20041228/ts_afp/asiaquake_041228145820&e=2

Is there no end in sight?

Lilaena De'Ville

Dec 28th, 2004, 12:06:40 PM

Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar said the United States was sending helicopters, and an airborne surgical hospital from Finland arrived. A German aircraft was en route with a water purification plant. “A great deal is coming in and they are having a few problems at the moment coordinating it.”

UNICEF officials said that about 175 tons of rice arrived in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, late Monday and six tons of medical supplies were expected to arrive by Thursday. But most basic supplies were scarce.

Meantime, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Tuesday the United States “will do more” to help the victims and said in an interview on NBC“s “Today” show that “clearly, the United States will be a major contributor to this international effort. And, yes, it will run into the billions of dollars.”

He also said he regretted a statement by Egeland, the U.N. official overseeing the relief effort, suggesting America was being "stingy".

Initially, the U.S. government pledged $15 million and dispatched disaster specialists to help the Asian nations devastated by the catastrophe.

As the relief effort gained momentum, emergency workers reaching areas isolated since the waves hit were seeing their worst nightmares realized. from an MSN article. I think it's ridiculous for anyone to call the US stingy.

Jedi Master Carr

Dec 28th, 2004, 09:56:49 PM

Well he called richer countries stingy he never said the U.S by name. His comments were misquoted he says today. I say he is right. The U.S isn't even in the top in richest nations. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Berhain, and Quatar are all richer than the U.S and they haven't sent a dime.

jjwr

Dec 29th, 2004, 05:34:03 AM

Exactly, get the other countries on the horn as well, considering how much of the US Budget goes to help everyone else oversea's and not our country I don't think the UN or anyone has any reason to complain.

The Count this morning is up to 67,000, this could approach 100,000 by the time they get to all the remote area's.

JMK

Dec 29th, 2004, 09:12:34 AM

Over 80,000 now. This is getting just stupid.

Dutchy

Dec 29th, 2004, 02:56:44 PM

I seriously wonder how so many died. Probably because they hit something while drawn away by the water. Otherwise I can't image so many would die. Sure not because of drowning, assuming the vast majority could swim.

CMJ

Dec 29th, 2004, 03:09:14 PM

Originally posted by Dutchy
I seriously wonder how so many died. Probably because they hit something while drawn away by the water. Otherwise I can't image so many would die. Sure not because of drowning, assuming the vast majority could swim.

Dutchy, do you realize how heavy water is? The cubic yard of water weighs about a ton, so it's basically like getting hit by a 20-50 ft high brick wall travelling over a hundred miles an hour. I'm sure many(most) people were knocked unconcious.

Lilaena De'Ville

Dec 29th, 2004, 03:52:16 PM

If you read some of the survivor stories... one woman was literally pushed through two concrete walls when the wave went through where they were at.

Think about how it feels when you do a belly flop - and then multiply it by 100. That's probably how it felt, slamming into them.

Dutchy

Dec 29th, 2004, 05:13:42 PM

Originally posted by CMJ
Dutchy, do you realize how heavy water is? The cubic yard of water weighs about a ton, so it's basically like getting hit by a 20-50 ft high brick wall travelling over a hundred miles an hour. I'm sure many(most) people were knocked unconcious.

Okay, makes sense. Though I have yet to see footage of water actually hitting that hard. On the other hand: no cameraman probably survived that. :\

Yog

Dec 29th, 2004, 05:16:51 PM

I read stories about people who were pulled anything from 500 meters to kilometers by the powerful watercurrents hitting cars, buildings, trees and roadsigns before they had a chance to recover. Many survivors lost limbs, broken bones or deep wounds after being hit like 50 times by sharp or solid objects. I would imagine after such a rough treatment people lose consciousness from exhaustion, bloodloss or plainly by getting knocked out.

Also, if you get stuck into some debris, you could be pulled under water for extended amount of time and drown. Even if you dont get stuck, you might be pulled under water just by the powerful currents.

Try imagine the forces required to move entire houses, or smash a wooden building into planks. A typical bus weighs like 5 tons, and I have seen footage of buses moving like a rubber duck pushed around by a kid in a bathtub.

And like Deville and CMJ point out, because of the speed and mass, a gigantic wave can be like concrete wall. No joke being hit by one.

Figrin D'an

Dec 29th, 2004, 06:04:23 PM

I've been reading that the quake that cause this was so powerful that the Earth's rotation may have been sped up by a fraction of a second, and that it's axial tilt may have wobbled by about an inch.

Dutchy

Dec 29th, 2004, 06:08:43 PM

Okay, I'm convinced about the impact of the water. Thanks for explaining. :)

Dutchy

Dec 29th, 2004, 06:09:06 PM

Originally posted by Figrin D'an
I've been reading that the quake that cause this was so powerful that the Earth's rotation may have been sped up by a fraction of a second, and that it's axial tilt may have wobbled by about an inch.

Permanently?

Figrin D'an

Dec 29th, 2004, 06:21:12 PM

Originally posted by Dutchy
Permanently?

Yes. There was such a large amount of mass that shift towards the center of the Earth when the techtonic plates moved that it changed the dynamics of the planet's movement.

It's not enough to cause a noticable difference in climates/ecosystems. At worst, the compenstation factor that is used in the absolute calendar will have to been adjusted by a few microseconds.

Yog

Dec 29th, 2004, 08:48:45 PM

Thats fascinating. A similar effect could be achieved if everyone in China jumped at once. It would alter earths orbital path slightly.

JediBoricua

Dec 30th, 2004, 12:17:02 AM

Living in an island, this terrifies me. Although my house is far from the shore, I work less than 100 meters from the beach. My girlfriend lives three blocks off the beach, literally.

Here are some satellite pictures of the waves, before and after. It's pretty amazing.

http://www.digitalglobe.com/sample_imagery.shtml

Rognan Dar

Dec 30th, 2004, 11:01:22 AM

And the numbers just keep going up. Around 114,000 now...

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041230/ap_on_re_as/tsunami&cid=514&ncid=514

JMK

Dec 30th, 2004, 01:53:04 PM

On a slightly positive/off-topic statistic, there have been barely any animal corpses found as a result of the tsunami. I guess they all sensed it and headed for the hills.

Like I said, slightly positive.:\

Yog

Dec 30th, 2004, 02:44:02 PM

The confirmed death toll is 125K now. Tens of thousands are still missing. From the reports I have seen, there is no indication of it slowing down any time soon. There are entire cities turned into ghost ruins only reachable by chopper, with little to no life signs observed.

This before & after <a href=http://gfx.dagbladet.no/pub/artikkel/4/41/418/418896/tof899_breddefront.jpg>satellite image</a> give an example how large landmasses are entirely submerged by water.

The wherabouts and status of 1400 Norwegians is uncertain, and out of these 400 are registered as missing. Our neigbours the Swedes are even worse off, they have 4000 people missing.

In Indonesia alone 80,000 deaths are currently registered, and this is still expected to increase dramatically. A flight between Banda Aceh and this washed out city displayed no signs of life:
<img src=http://gfx.dagbladet.no/pub/artikkel/4/41/418/418887/sp68d517_artklart.jpg>

What the situation is further south on Sumatras westcoast, no one even knows..

JMK

Dec 30th, 2004, 04:23:04 PM

I just heard that Jet Li was there with his girlfriend and he is missing...

Aegis Du' Caat

Dec 30th, 2004, 04:29:26 PM

Jet Li is fine, outside of a broken foot.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6762602/

Lilaena De'Ville

Dec 30th, 2004, 05:17:50 PM

That Hungarian (?) supermodel who was on the cover of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition this year suffered a broken pelvis and clung in a tree for 8 hours after the tsunami. Her photographer boyfriend is 'missing.'

It's still so unbelievable the sheer scope of this disaster. The waves affected 12 countries, but so many additional countries have lost citizens - Norway, Sweden, USA, Germany, etc etc ... I can't even wrap my mind around the number of people dead. It seems too unreal.

Jedi Master Carr

Dec 30th, 2004, 05:21:18 PM

Yeah it is just so hard to imagine. It is going to be one of the largest disasters ever.

Lilaena De'Ville

Dec 30th, 2004, 07:43:33 PM

The U.S. death toll was officially raised from 12 to 14, with seven dead in Thailand and seven in Sri Lanka. Some 600 Americans who were listed as missing have been found, Boucher said, but several thousand had not been located four days after the disaster struck.

In Sri Lanka, Americans have been showing up at U.S. consular offices wearing bathing suits, with no money and no clothes, said State Department spokesman Richard Boucher.

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/story.jsp?floc=FF-APO-1104&idq=/ff/story/0001/20041230/1946050005.htm&sc=1104 It's also reported that there are 'confused and hungry crocodiles' roaming around on some of the Indian islands affected. ^_^; as if things weren't bad enough.

Dutchy

Dec 30th, 2004, 07:59:16 PM

Originally posted by Lilaena De'Ville
That Hungarian (?) supermodel who was on the cover of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition this year suffered a broken pelvis and clung in a tree for 8 hours after the tsunami. Her photographer boyfriend is 'missing.'

It's still so unbelievable the sheer scope of this disaster. The waves affected 12 countries, but so many additional countries have lost citizens - Norway, Sweden, USA, Germany, etc etc ...

Yup, 60 people officially missing from my country, and those do not include people travelling via other countries. Only those who travelled directly to the area.

jjwr

Jan 19th, 2005, 12:35:30 PM

Death count his risen up to 212,000!

Dutchy

Jan 19th, 2005, 12:44:20 PM

I wonder why the whole world seems to care about Asia all of a sudden. Is it the sheer insanely high number of dead? It's not like there aren't numberous people dying else where in the world.

James Prent

Jan 19th, 2005, 03:08:45 PM

Yeah, if you think about the number of people in Africa who die every day from the AIDS virus - this is really not that big a deal.

I mean, they're both big deals, obviously...

Jedi Master Carr

Jan 19th, 2005, 05:51:47 PM

Well it is the amount of dead at once. We haven't seen a disaster like this really in decades.

Gav Mortis

Jan 20th, 2005, 02:32:02 AM

Originally posted by Dutchy
I wonder why the whole world seems to care about Asia all of a sudden. Is it the sheer insanely high number of dead? It's not like there aren't numberous people dying else where in the world.

That's such a clumsy, ham-handed remark to make when in the midst of such tradgedy. People are trying to help and do the right thing and we should feel good about that and not look at it so negatively. This is a sudden crisis and the people in those parts of Asia need aid fast. The world is responding accordingly.

I cannot believe I've just seen someone saying "I wonder why the whole world seems to care about Asia all of a sudden" in a topic entitled Asian Disaster: 8.4 quake + tsunami. Sorry for singling you out here, Dutchy, but it needed to be done.

Callomas Savoc

Jan 20th, 2005, 06:07:15 AM

Originally posted by Gav Mortis
That's such a clumsy, ham-handed remark to make when in the midst of such tradgedy. People are trying to help and do the right thing and we should feel good about that and not look at it so negatively. This is a sudden crisis and the people in those parts of Asia need aid fast. The world is responding accordingly.

I cannot believe I've just seen someone saying "I wonder why the whole world seems to care about Asia all of a sudden" in a topic entitled Asian Disaster: 8.4 quake + tsunami. Sorry for singling you out here, Dutchy, but it needed to be done.

I think that every time Dutchy posts from now on, I'm going to reply with Walter Sobchek lines from The Big Lebowski, re: Nihilism, because it is suprisingly relevant to just about anything he says in the first place.

Cheyanne Rakai

Jan 20th, 2005, 07:57:09 AM

Death count up to 225,000 I heard today. That is so bad...

Dutchy

Jan 20th, 2005, 11:37:29 AM

Originally posted by Gav Mortis
The world is responding accordingly.

I'm not saying they're not.

I'm wondering why they're not helping elsewhere equally.

General Dan

Jan 20th, 2005, 11:41:23 AM

Originally posted by Dutchy
I'm not saying they're not.

I'm wondering why they're not helping elsewhere equally.

Probably because this is an acute crisis of unprecedented magnitude, as opposed to something that is more of a slow burn. Why weren't you asking about this before the tsunami anyways?

Dutchy

Jan 20th, 2005, 11:47:55 AM

Originally posted by Dan the Man
Probably because this is an acute crisis of unprecedented magnitude, as opposed to something that is more of a slow burn. Why weren't you asking about this before the tsunami anyways?

Because I didn't wonder.

Jedi Master Carr

Jan 20th, 2005, 05:46:03 PM

Admitely the world doesn't respond as well to some disasters it is usually war and and disease. The situation in Rwanda a few years back comes to mind. Thousdands died in that and people didn't seem to care or at least do anything. I figure it had to do with the fact it was a civil war which makes it way more messy and harder to get supplies in.

Callomas Savoc

Jan 20th, 2005, 07:22:08 PM

Originally posted by Jedi Master Carr
Admitely the world doesn't respond as well to some disasters it is usually war and and disease. The situation in Rwanda a few years back comes to mind. Thousdands died in that and people didn't seem to care or at least do anything. I figure it had to do with the fact it was a civil war which makes it way more messy and harder to get supplies in.

Well that, and those humanitarian juggernaughts at the United Nations refused to acknowledge the situation as "genocide" until the corpses were waist deep. But at least we were multilateral back then, eh? ;)

Jedi Master Carr

Jan 20th, 2005, 08:15:06 PM

Well that was the Secretary General which did nothing for months. So it was the U.S, Britian, Germany, Russia, etc that ignored the situation. I remember that in the General Assembly several resoultions got passed. But of course the General Assembly is a powerless body that pretty much gets ignored.

Telan Desaria

Jan 21st, 2005, 07:32:43 PM

My suggestions have always been contraverstial, so why stop now.

All of a sudden a quarter of a million people die in lands most Americans have never heard of and there is billions of dollars to be given away. Why is it that there are a half million Vietnam veterans on the streets dying and starving, some mad from shell shock, but no one can raise funds to help them??? These men who have fought for their country cannot find food or shelter or medical aide but everyone is willing to run to the aide of people they have no common ground with??????????

Is there not something wrong with this?

JMK

Jan 27th, 2005, 08:36:43 AM

Exxon strikes again?

http://www.pureenergysystems.com/news/2005/01/25/6900062_Exxon_Tripped_Indonesian_Tsunami/index.html

Yog

Jan 27th, 2005, 10:14:49 AM

The possibility that man may have contributed to triggering the worst natural disaster in modern times by oil drilling the epicenter.. I find that very disturbing. If that turns to be the primary provoking cause, its another example how human manipulations of nature may have serious consequences.

jjwr

Jan 28th, 2005, 05:58:55 AM

Until something truly major happens on a global scale it won't make a difference, people are too concerned about how much money they can make and not what effect they are having on the planet. Fossil Fuels are way too valuable to stop drilling over something as silly as the planet. What we need is a clean powersource for cars, homes, etc so we can get rid of this stupid oil dependancy and take the planet out of the hands of these guys.