Tsunamis

[tala]

I\'m sat here in the comfort of my own home with my loved ones around me, worrying about the weather to get out fishing.
Then I watch sky news and see the death toll rising every minute in places like Sri Lanaka, it\'s now almost 30k. What an utter waste of life :exclam: .
Just seen new footage of one of the main waves that hit land, it just kept going and going taking everything in its path with it with a force you just could not imagine.
The sea can be a unforgiving bitch, she does not discriminate she just wipes everything out in her way.
My heart goes out to all that have been affected by this disaster.
It makes me realise how fortunate we are to live in this little safe island of ours.
As a footnote lads and lasses please give the sea the respect she deserves, dont take any chances when your out and about fishing, be safe, be happy.

 

[alan]

terrible news,its always the poor that get kicked in the teeth.It could have been the same day last year when the Earthquake in Bam Iran killed thousands,that was either the 25th or 26th of Dec,unreal !

 

[gag1]

Devastating news, my heart goes out to those people.

george.

 

[BriH]

Really not Good at all ,no matter how you look at it , but Why did the Countries involved not have an early warning system like the ones in Washington- Hawai- and the likes ,that could have saved 000s of lives if they had been told it was on its way - its not as if the Countries that were Deluged didnt have the Technology.

Still really sad to see Dads picking their Bairns out of the many dead.

[Edited on 28/12/2004 by BriH]

 

[Marc]

It was only last year the countries involved decided they did not need an early warning system as they could not justify the ammount it would cost to the risks tsunamis posed !.

55,000 lives lost and the death toll still rising.

The pictures we see on TV will only be the surface of it aswell.

 

[Norman]

It certainl puts your ride over the ferry wake into perspective marc .............. sure am pleased you didn`t get on your diving hol yet mate. !

 

[Marc]

Norman, It looked like this on Sunday, God knows what\'s left of it now.

[img=300x200]http://nesa.cibs.org.uk/sunisland1.jpeg[/img] [img=300x200]http://nesa.cibs.org.uk/sunisland2.jpeg[/img]
[img=300 x 200]http://nesa.cibs.org.uk/sunisland3.jpeg[/img]














[Edited on 28/12/2004 by Marc]

 

[john.frain]

been into Thomas Cook today to cancel our holiday to the Maldives young lass in there was saying that all 1100 islands have been affected unbelievable what mother nature can throw at us puts everything into perspective and how lucky we are to live in the country........

makes you wonder why people complain about the weather we get...!

 

[Marc]

Without wanting to sound to selfish with the recent devastation in SE Asia,

I was in Thomas Cook myself today to enquire what would happen with our holiday as we were going in 5 weeks to The Maldives.
The Foreign Office have only advised people not to travel up to the 31st of December but seeing the reports on TV and getting e mails from a friend who has just returned (escaped) from the Maldives yesterday!! We decided it would be best not to go. Because we have paid in full Thompson’s wanted to charge us 50% of the cost of the holiday.

Luckily enough we managed to change the destination but they still charged us £120.

I hope this doesn’t come across as unsympathetic to the people of SE Asia, I don’t mean to be, I just think Thompson’s are taking the piss a little.

 

[mark]

And If they\'d kept 50% bet they wouldn\'t havce paid a penny of it out to those affected.

Its tracey\'s 40th in feb and I was gonna book a suprise week in the maldives as a pressie for her.

Still might, I\'d sooner be there spending money with the locals who need it right now than anywhere else

 

[Marc]

I thought about that aswell Mark, I was still going to go, I know it wouldn\'t have been the same holiday we\'d dreamed of but would mebeys help out a little.

But Paul the lad who has just returned has said it is devastated and will take years to rebuild. Even basic (to us) power, fresh water, food and sanitation has been affected the locals are understandibly pretty pissed off, even with their own goverment and they arn\'t expecting it to return to anything near normal for months and thats on the islands that wern\'t affected to badly.

There are still people floating about in boats and life rafts around the islands as they are that remote no one can get to them as the rescue and evacuations are busy else where

Poor bastards.

[Edited on 28/12/2004 by Marc]

 

[TC]

Not watched any news over the Christmas period.....far too depressing.

Put the TV on last night and seen the program about the disaster.

Both me and my wife sat in total silence from start to finish.....just couldn\'t believe what we were seeing happen. Such a vast area, so many lives.......

 

[mark]

had to turn it over when it was on earlier. 60000 and rising. but the bit that got me was the couple who went searching through a pile of bodies and were filmed carrying their dead children out of the pile

There just aren\'t the words for that one

 

[TC]

I know it\'s \"news\" and all that.......but to broadcast, let alone film a scene like you\'ve described is, to my mind, wrong. These people have absolutley nothing left, at least the camera crew could\'ve left them with a little dignity in their grief.

 

[Ell]

. Just a thought. A short sharp donation blitz!





[Edited on 29/12/2004 by Ell]

 

[gag1]

Hello Tony mate. Agree fully with you. Said the same thing to the missus as we watched it. Surely the media can get the point across without resorting to showing grief-stricken people/corpses. The Daughter phoned last night and asked us if we had seen a copy of the Sun newspaper for that day, (tuesday), she siad all the girls where she works had been crying after seeing the pictures in the paper.its always the same though, why anyone would want to see those pictures is beyond me. Ell - thats a great idea mate, I for one would contribute.

cheers.
george

 

[gag1]

Aye Marc, wherever there is a chance to make money out of disaster, somebody will do it. Travel Agents should be compelled to donate any such monies to the disaster funds.

cheers.
george.

 

[alan]

Depending on how badly damaged these resorts/towns are or how quickly they can rebuild and clean up its probably doing more harm than good by cancelling holidays etc,these people depend on holiday makers/industry,its understandable if you are going in the next few weeks or months I would have done the same.Some areas seem to be alot worse off than others.Just seen the news this morning and they say its unlikely it would ever happen again in that region,on that scale anyway.Saying that the waves were hitting Somalia which is 3000 miles away !

[Edited on 29/12/2004 by alan.f]

 

[mark]

The problem with the big holiday companies is that not a lot of what you pay for your hols will make it down to the local people. I bet Thomas Cook/Thomsons etc are already haggling behind the scenes for a reduction in costs due to deterioration in quality, a reduction that will drop nicely in the pockets of their shareholders, rather than pass it on. Thomsons are on record as doing this in previous disasters in the far east. Me Cynical, never.

I\'m certainly up for making a donation. I\'m gonna do a bit of \'netting in a mo, might be nice to find somewhere small and adopt an island or something, and send whatever direct. Just my personall preference, which might be a complete impossibility under the circumstances, but a nice thought I suppose.

All the big holiday centres will be getting lots of attention, but there a hundreds if not thousands of small islands, that will probably see little if any help in the forseeable future

 

[Marc]

For some reason or another, mainly politics the Island Chiefs are refusing help from outsiders as it it not from their goverment.

From Minivan News
10:32 am: *Island chiefs refusing to accept aid from Male\' that does not come from government sources*

10:30 am: *Private relief work is continuing despite government ban on private relief work - but government refusing cooperate with private helpers*

Politics and religion eh, I would have thought they would have been grateful of help from anywhere.