Asian Tsunamis

[FourLaneBlue]

As referred to in AESF's post above, there really are some sick people about.

BRIT HELD OVER SICK HOAX ON THE TSUNAMI GRIEVING

Emails sicko says 'sorry'

Robbery, rape and kidnap

Edited January 4, 2005 by FourLaneBlue

[thenodrog]

Now call me an old cynic if you like but just rem that I've lived a little longer than most on here. Anyway I read those links with a wry smile on my face! Obviously nothing to do with the Asian tragedy but I had already guessed that the sicko would blame his criminal cruelty on losing some ageing relative or other!

Its always one of three nowadays

1. Some relative dying. (Like that doesn't happen to everybody)?

2. Drinking heavily / drug abuse.

3. Being abused as a child

Well so what? Maybe if he actually worked rather than qualifying as a 'carer' he would not find the time to make such mischief. Hanging him by his thumbs for a day or two may just make him rem the error of his ways next time he tries to operate a keyboard eh?

Edited January 4, 2005 by thenodrog

[Flopsy]

I for one will not crucify any country for the amount of money they pledge if they help in another way. How much is the logistics to get the aid to those in need going to cost? The cost for sticking military equipment (including ships/planes/personel) to the disaster area, sorting out Air Traffic Control, removing aircraft from runways which hit cows. The actuall money put forward by these countries' governments - US and UK for example might not be the most cash - but you'll probably find that they are the most help. The thing that will save the most lives is to get the aid to the people who need it, not stacked in piles at airstrips across the regions. The UK is also paying for all this country's aid agencies flights to get the aid over there.

Oh and should Tony have come back from his holidays? In my opinion, no. The relief effort was being run effectively from the DFID offices (believe it or not they were) and the Deputy Prime Minister kept blair informed, plus what exactly could he do? Be all sincere? Make a statement be seen to be handson, that would have just been seen as an attempt to make political gain. a lose lose situation.

[American]

As for animals, not to detract from their precognitive abilities, but in one of the eye-witness accounts in the Times yesterday it distinctly mentions animal carcasses in the aftermath.

Read an article about it today, anyone who is interested, PM me your email address, I can't post the link, as it is a pay site, but I can email the link and the article can be viewed for free for a week.

What it said is that there were early warning signals and escapes by pretty much every animal except for the dogs. For some reason almost no dogs even acted weird in the minutes before, and some had to be driven to higher ground.. At one zoo, the only animal that died was a boar.

[The Blunderer]

As for animals, not to detract from their precognitive abilities, but in one of the eye-witness accounts in the Times yesterday it distinctly mentions animal carcasses in the aftermath.

Read an article about it today, anyone who is interested, PM me your email address, I can't post the link, as it is a pay site, but I can email the link and the article can be viewed for free for a week.

What it said is that there were early warning signals and escapes by pretty much every animal except for the dogs. For some reason almost no dogs even acted weird in the minutes before, and some had to be driven to higher ground.. At one zoo, the only animal that died was a boar.

A friend who nearly drowned there in her hotel room (Thailand) told me there was also strange insect activity, and that crabs had been scurrying across the beaches. Apparantly when the tide shot out just prior to the tidal wave, fish were flapping on the sand, stranded where the sea was supposed to be.

[bellamy11]

Act of sporting generocity

Brilliant gesture from a man who has gone well up in my estimation.

[Roaming Rover]

$10mil, is that all, with all the money he's got

I agree Bellamy, and also Dwight Yorke who called on every Premiership footballer to donate a weeks wage.

I did read somewhere that Cliff Richard and Boy George are planning a record and hope to raise £2mil from the sales. It also said that Ronan Keating may take part if a studio can be found near to his holiday home in Switzerland. Surely he can take half a day from his holiday to fly to a studio to record? Then again it would probably sell more without him

I have gathered some clothes which could be put to much better use by people who really need them, and donated a few pounds, which I intend to increase.

I think it is fantastic that when something like this happens everyone pulls together, although I'd obviously rather not have to find out.

But I don't agree with this I donated X amount, everyone else should as well. One person may donate £5000 but be a multi millionaire, where as someone donates £10 but struggles on a small wage or pension, or they may have given hours of their time to help in Oxfam shops etc.

I agree with Flopsy, how many troops etc has the UK and American sent over, aid doesn't just have to be about money.

[American40]

I agree with Flopsy, how many troops etc has the UK and American sent over, aid doesn't just have to be about money.

Australia is doing quite a bit in this area, also.

[colin]

just to pour petrol on the fire

[Flopsy]

agree.

[Tris]

just to pour petrol on the fire

I didn't want to post in this thread. Some things don't need acres of comment.

But that article is a disgrace.

Typical, absolutely typical Guardian crap. And in fact, worse than the companies they are mocking by even printing this sort of article to suit their own anti-corporate agenda.

I'm only surprised they didn't round the article off with an annexe detailing their own contribution to the crisis. Or maybe I'm not, this sort of guff is perhaps their best effort to the crisis.

More likely the article was ill researched and only written with one aim, which has absolutely nothing to do with helping people who need help.

For what it's worth, the company I work for has pulled out all the stops to help. Perhaps the Guardian didn't want to mention us because the level of help didn't suit their article.

Beyond the financial contribution which was already into 7 figures by the new year, our in-market companies are taking leading roles in helping with logistics and distribution. Vital in the affected areas, but not helpful to the Guardian in that pathetic article.

Beyond it's direct donations, the company will also match (ie double) any contribution made by any employee to any recognised charity since the disaster happened.

What the hell does the Guardian want.

No doubt about that - to use this crisis to peddle it's own line. ABSOLUTELY PATHETIC.

[pg]

I suppose you probably won't want to read this article then either Tris

George Monbiot

A work mate of mine started complaining about how Citylink (tollway consortium in Melbourne) only gave away $50,000 to tsanami charities... and then proceeded to publicise it to the whole community.

Whereas he feels they should be ashamed for being so stingy.

But personally, I was suprised the private companies are giving anything away at all.

Private companies exist to protect the interests of their shareholders.

And it doesn't matter if they kill people (e.g. James Hardie), poison the planet (Exxon) , or profit from war (Halliburton)... as long as shareholders are looked after and mums' and dads' investments in managed funds are looking okay, nothing else really matters.

What do people want instead? Government regulated industries? Enforced charity obligations?

Sounds like a lefty-wishy-washy-bleeding-heart socialist dictatorship to me!!

[Paul]

and how many people in this country will protest at what they perceive as corporate meanness? I'm sorry to raise this again but it smacks of more moaning about Them or They. If you don't like the society we live in or the way in which it exploits less developed nations do something about it.

This might involve, to pick some easy ones:

carefully limiting your purchases in any major retailer

not using fuel derived from BP

boycotting all Nestle products - Kit Kat anyone?

ensuring you only drink fair trade tea and coffee

not replacing your cheap Vodafone phone every 11 months (the average lifecycle of a UK mobile)

Abbey National is Spanish owned so lets all have a go at Spain

avoiding Procter & Gambol products - third world animal testing to avoid EU regulations

not wearing Nike - human rights issues in Asia

I agree The Guardian article is a cheap shot. I've listened to a lot of debate about the UK reaction to the disaster. Seems to me a lot of people are using the sitaution to gain "political" capital in any shape or form one can imagine. The Tory party in particular have been outrageous in their active criticism of the government. People love to bang on about this issue while at the same time actively supporting these companies by purchasing their products on a daily basis. MacDonalds anyone?

[Shaddy]

boycotting all Nestle products - Kit Kat anyone?

I could never boycott Kit Kat.

[thenodrog]

The entire story is now being milked for all its worth now by the press and media searching for every angle possible on 'human stories'. It seems to me that it i all designed to put us onto some sort of a guilt trip as if we are somehow to blame simply because we are a 'rich' nation who go there for our holidays!

Its an ongoing disaster of huge proportions and no mistake but this morning on breakfast tv the main item was a story about some chap in India whose tourist trinket making business had been ruined ffs. He was surrounded by debris of all sorts yet was trying to get his staff back to work asap. Fine sentiments I'm sure but surely they would be much better employed on other more pressing tasks?

Interestingly he was estimating / speculating how much it would cost to rebuild / refurbish damaged hotels etc. Hmmm So I guess there is no chance of a similar or even more powerful earthquake at some point in the future is there? Surely any rebuilding programmes must take account of that and put buildings further back on higher ground to prevent any repeat disasters? Or am I just being overly cautious? Putting holiday apartments in idyllic places right on the beach must surely now not be a selling point or are tourists that stupid that in a few years we will all have forgotten about it?......... Nah forget it I suspect that I already know the answer to that one. Bit like skin cancer and the "it'll never happen to me or my kids so sod it" attitude.

[Manchester Blue]

and how many people in this country will protest at what they perceive as corporate meanness? I'm sorry to raise this again but it smacks of more moaning about Them or They. If you don't like the society we live in or the way in which it exploits less developed nations do something about it.

Seems like more and more people are doing just that Paul as this article below confirms.

The growth in ethical consumerism in the UK is soaring and is now worth £24.7 billion a year, according to the annual Co-operative Bank Ethical Purchasing Index (EPI) published on 29 December 2004.

The EPI, a barometer of ethical spending in the UK, shows that in 2003 UK consumers spent an additional £3.5bn in line with their values, an increase of 16 per cent on the previous year.

The overall market share of ethical consumerism has increased by almost 40 per cent in five years.

An extra £1bn was spent on ethical products and services in 2003. Most significantly, sales of Forest Stewardship timber increased by £225 million to £869 million and sales of energy efficient household appliances increased by £273 million to £1.1 billion. Sales of Fair Trade goods, such as tea, coffee and bananas, increased by £26 million to £85 million - growth of over 40%.

The total value of boycotts rose to £3.2bn, an increase of £600 million on the previous year. Within this, there has been a significant increase over the past 12 months in the boycotts of certain US brands, particularly those associated with poor environmental performance or unacceptable labour practices. The value to these brands, in terms of lost sales, more than doubled to £1.8bn in 2003.

Barry Clavin, Sustainable Policies Manager, said:"The EPI shows that in some areas ethical goods are continuing to successfully compete side by side with non-ethical products in terms of market share. In particular, sales of free-range eggs command forty per cent market share, whilst sales of energy efficient household appliances now have, for the first time, topped fifty per cent market share. It is noteworthy that both these markets have benefited from supplier, retailer and/or government intervention."

[Ewood Spark]

Interestingly he was estimating / speculating how much it would cost to rebuild / refurbish damaged hotels etc. Hmmm So I guess there is no chance of a similar or even more powerful earthquake at some point in the future is there? Surely any rebuilding programmes must take account of that and put buildings further back on higher ground to prevent any repeat disasters? Or am I just being overly cautious? Putting holiday apartments in idyllic places right on the beach must surely now not be a selling point or are tourists that stupid that in a few years we will all have forgotten about it

I read somwhere that these tectonic plate slippages tend to happen in pairs over an interval of a couple of decades.

[philipl]

Don't forget the Richter 8.1 earthquake which happened in the Antarctic Ocean 500 miles south of McQuarrie Island two days before the Sumatran quake.

The first one was in such deep water, it didn't create a Tsunami.

[Flopsy]

as far as i can tell (I had to slip on my tweed jacket with leather elbow patches) the sumatra earthquake was so powerful because the earth shifted in a vertical motion, either up or down - this would cause the waves we saw - a sideways motion although causing waves would have been nowhere near as bad. I think

Anyway - its interesting how all the Nazi/shark channels (551+ on Sky) are showing that Horizon documentary called Meg aTusnamis - makes this one look like a small ripple.

[92er]

It sounds as though Hotels in some areas will be re-built further back than they were originally.

[jim mk2]

Thoroughly enjoyed the Guardian article. Fair comment in my opinion.

[Sydney Rovers]

Here’s another view of Corporations donating money from the Corporations shouldn’t do this all the time point of view.

Also this quote might be what cynics (or maybe realists), think the real reason for some of these donations;

"Where their businesses are dependent on those sorts of markets there could possibly be a benefit for shareholders in them making donations to relief,"

I would think that the majority of shareholders would prefer that money would be donated to a worthy cause, rather than into the pockets of directors and CEOs.

[ally]

Tsunami Appeal!

Well done to all that gave before the match before charlton. Sure that will help a little for all that has happened.

[Eddie]

How many people were at that game 20-25k? I think thats rather sad. Not even 1 pound per person

[Modi]

How many people were at that game 20-25k? I think thats rather sad. Not even 1 pound per person

Grow up.

Did it occur to you that some people may have made a donation in another place? Or multiple donations? I don't know what France is like, but the weekend of the Charlton match, counting just one bucket per place I came came across at least 6 different places I was asked for another donation.