Call me cynical, but the additional $20,000,000 the US kicked in after Egelund's comments looks like a response to his criticism, so maybe Egelund should speak up again. By leading the way with financial aid towards those nations--predominantly Muslim--most affected by the tsunami, the US could actually win some "hearts & minds" in the international Muslim community.

Also, we often hear the US referred to as the world's sole superpower and the president described as the leader of the free world. That require the US to lead the response to a global natural disaster.

~Adam

What I was hoping the analogy of current in a wire would illustrate is that the velocity of the wave and the velocity of the medium are distinct.

I've been trying to work on an answer to your post (transverse wave, lontitudinal wave, wave velocity, etc.), but what has me stumped is why wave velocity for a tsunami is on the order of 500 mph. This link looks as if it ought to have lots of answers to questions about tsunamis, though I haven't looked it over:

Welcome to Tsunami!

Senseless drive-by linking. Do not click if your browser can't suppress pop-ups. Lots of articles.

The Times of India

The U.S. has for years been the world's leader when it comes to providing relief. Last year alone, the U.S. provided 40% of the world's relief aid. Our kicking in extra money had nothing to do with this UN idiot.

The Muslims, at least the extremist ones, don't care one bit about aid, and our helping them isn't going to change their twisted opinions of us. Look at Israel. Muslims already have refused Israel's offer of help. That makes a lot of sense, doesn't it?

The U.S. will help regardless, as it should, for no other reason that it's the right thing to do.

Well, I don't have any blonde nephews, nieces or family members--natural blondes, that is--but the sight of ANY children lying dead on tarpaulins or beaches or streets or wherever really breaks my heart. Those images are wrenching. Children, women, men--HUMAN BEINGS--no matter what their color, these people are our fellow human beings who have had the ill fate to suffer one of the worst tragedies to befall mankind in recent times.

I would think that Christians above all, especially in this time of Christ's birth, would feel sorrow, love and charity towards the dead and the suffering, no matter what their color(s).

[ December 29, 2004, 10:43 PM: Message edited by: fantomas ]

For those interested, video mirrors are being collected here:

http://jlgolson.blogspot.com/2004/12/tsuna...nami-video.html

Indeed I do, but I believe that you, too, have missed my entire point. I can't believe people here are that incapable of understanding what I meant. Today, while with some members of my family, we just happened to be watching the network news, who reported on this same Swedish boy being reunited with his father. My mother immediately exclaimed, "Oh my God! That boy looks just like NNNNN!" She started crying. Why? Not because that boy was any more deserving of her sympathy, but because it reminded her of her only grandson. It hit closer to home for her as she naturally thought bad thoughts about her grandson.

Images are very powerful in their ability to affect the human mind and heart. Images that bring familiarity to us are even more potent. It makes something distant or detached feel closer to home. This is natural, and to think people here can't understand that or would even dare to criticize me or anyone else for feeling that way is despicable. Worse, such people are the ones being heartless, not me.

[ December 30, 2004, 12:43 AM: Message edited by: MIB ]

What matters now is the relief efforts, not castigating people for how they respond emotionally to this catastrophe.

This idea that America isn't doing enough to help is just a form of back-door Bush-bashing, and its unimaginably absurd and petty, especially given the context. I wonder if there's some sort of grand prize, like 70 virgins or a special edition of The Communist Manifesto or something, for the leftist who figures out a way to blame this earthquake/tsunami specifically on President Bush and/or Halliburton.

At any rate, yeah, I mean, how dare the United States not immediately grasp the entire extent of this tragedy from the minute it happened and right on the spot pledge exactly the maximum amount of money that would be required to make everything fine. Whatever. The US will never do enough to appease those who hate us, and the idea that radical Muslims will have some sort of moral and emotional epiphany and lead a chorus of "God Bless America" if we just send enough relief money is the height of absurdity.

[ December 30, 2004, 10:10 AM: Message edited by: William1865 ]

"A tragedy of biblical proportions" and the king offers up $35 million.

We send $35 million every three hours in Iraq.

$35 million for the "tragedy of biblical proportions" and $40 million for the king's coronation.

Oh, the "compassionate" conservatives.

Elvis is sending $35 million for tsunami relief and is being coronated in Iraq? Wow.

How discouraging that a discussion about this tragic event has to be moved to the Politics and Religion forum. Jeez must everything turn into a liberal/conservative, red state/blue state shoutdown? Maybe we could keep the other thread for people that want to discuss the tragedy without getting all political.

[ December 30, 2004, 11:34 AM: Message edited by: George_vikingfan ]

Good God Almighty. 116,000 people have died, thousands are injured, even more are missing (and, most likely, dead), and millions of people are homeless. Arguing about whether or not the $35 million pledged by the US (so far) is stingy doesn't really get any of us on this board anywhere. As much as I dislike Bush, and as much as I wish he had not waited until yesterday to actually say something public about this terrible catastrophe, wailing on him or wailing on those who criticize him accomplishes nothing. The last time I checked on CNN, only 16% of the hundred or so thousand people who responded said they had given money in support of the relief efforts. If anything, we as individual citizens need to donate money, blood, whatever we can to help the victims.

CNN List of Aid Agencies

Let's cease this petty and senseless bickering.

[ December 30, 2004, 11:43 AM: Message edited by: kalabro ]

I heard on the one of the entertainment shows last night that "it is still undetermined if Oprah Winfrey will do an eposode of her show about Nate's (Berkus) tale of survival".

In related news, it is also still undetermined if the Pope is Catholic or if bears shit in the woods.

[ December 30, 2004, 12:52 PM: Message edited by: George_vikingfan ]

I agree. I make a simple comment on how I was more deeply and immediately affected by an image, and I get castigated that I was basing my sympathies on someone's looks.

Razor comes in and has to look a gift horse in the mouth by being so asininely insensitive to the U.S.'s contributions. Only he would bitch about us helping others. Always looking to make it political he is. Sick. And sad.

Indeed. If I admit here that I just sent $10,000, would Raze complain that it wasn't enough?

Bush is a pretty conservative, born-again Christian, right? Is it possible that what happened with the tsunamis feeds a biblical, anti-Muslim, apocalytic world view?

Reclaiming ancient holy lands in the Middle East, calling the effort a "crusade", now a natural disaster "of 'biblical' proportions"?

Of course Bush didn't cause the tsunamis. But I wonder in what perspective he puts it, and what impact that perspective has on his reaction to it. That concerns me.

How is that comment helpful? If you did send $10,000, no one here would complain. If you haven't, then is that comment designed to goad someone else (I suppose Razorback in this case) into another futile argument?

I'm curious and I really don't know the answer to this....and I'm not attempting to start shit....

How are the rich Arab countries responding to this catastrophe?

Anybody know?

Thanks!

NJ

Nathan, I couldn't find a link detailing what every country is spending but here is a story with some highlights. tsumani relief

I did find some amounts on the BBC website for contributions by some Arab countries. Keep in mind that the US & UK both have raised the amount they will contribute as the enormity of the situation has become known so too these amounts may change.

Saudi Arabia $10 million
Qatar $10 million
Kuwait $2 million

The United Arab Emirates have already sent rescue teams as well as doctors. In addition the city of Dubai is being used by several international organizations as a staging point for operations.
Keep in mind also that these are government figures and do not include contributions by individual citizens. One of the 5 pillars of the Islamic religion is "Zakaah" which means charity.
Moslems give a percentage of their yearly savings to those less fortunate. Indonesia, as a Moslem country, would be the likely recipient.

Wanna bet? I'd be criticized for "being rich" and not sending "more."

CTV News reported tonight the story of an Australian woman caught in the tsunami forced into making "Sophie's Choice" between her two children. Fortunately, the older child survived in the end. (edited to add: video-interview of story is available on right side of web page).

Although there have been some reports to the contrary, generally I've been hearing that the terrible tragedy has caused Sri Lankans to put aside their political differences. The country has had a long and bloody history of conflict between the Tamil minority and the Sinhalese majority, and the Tamil region was especially hard-hit by the tsunami.

The UN estimates that the combined donations of the World Bank, various governments and private contributions has reached about $500 million, with Britain being the most generous country to date. Of course, the immense scope of the disaster means that much more will be needed, over the long term as well. It's good to see the world responding quickly to this, but sadly, other on-going humanitarian disasters (such as Darfur) will likely drop off the radar screen and receive less help, despite the dire need.

[ December 31, 2004, 12:03 AM: Message edited by: Marc ]

I've read other stories of "Sophie's Choices." A Sri Lankan man forced to choose between rescuing his aging mother or his aging father. He saved the mother, but the father perished.

I've watched CNN (late night they've been showing the CNN International coverage) and reading the local papers, and I must say that it has brought tears to my eyes every single day.

So many stories of parents who have lost their children, children who have lost their parents. Babies ripped from their mothers arms by the force of the water; parents looking on helplessly as their kids are dragged out to sea. Children orphaned, and mute with grief.

The catastophe has had a strong effect in Canada, and Toronto esp., where, according to the papers, we have the largest Tamil/Sri Lankan population outside of Sri Lanka. Many local Tamils are wary of the Sri Lankan gov't and are taking up their own relief collections as many have friends and relatives who have perished.

I'm proud that Canada finally stepped up to the plate. Our initial pledge of $1 million, was upgraded to $4 million, and then yesterday was increased to $40 million, one of the highest amounts of any nation so far. Relief organizations in Canada (Red Cross, etc.) have collected several millions of dollars in the past week.

It's also encouraging to see major corporations making significant donations. All the major Canadian banks, some major U.S. banks and pharmaceuticals... I even heard of a local restaurant and travel agency that was donating tips/commissions to relief aid.

So much was made over the "stinginess" issue, but the US did pony up more cash after the initial comment, so who knows if it was a motivator to do more or simply a premature statement. The UN guy (not bothering to go back to find his name) never mentioned the US, he simply criticized all wealthy nations. In our typical US-centric way, though, we assumed since he was from the UN he must have been talking trash about us and got all up in arms over it. Germany's initial pledge was $1 million. Canada's was $1 million. The Netherlands' was either $1 million or $2 million (forget which). France's initial pledge was a meager $100,000. Such pledges were all shamefully stingy of Europea, particularly for those countries whose colonial pasts in the region should make them a bit more responsive to the plight of those affected. The US's initial pledge was many many many times greater than any other country's, so the US should not have felt the sting of the UN guy's comments as much as we let on. Could we have pledged more at first? Sure, but the US is doing what it can to provide helpful and targeted aid and not just turn this into an auction house where nations bid on some sort of claim of moral superiority. In the end, the US will provide more aid than anyone else as it usually does.

What I fault the Bush administration for doing is creating the appearance that they were sitting on the issue rather than marshalling a rapid global response. They'd never win over the hardened anti-Americans, but they should have moved quickly to possibly win back some of the hearts and minds of our allies in the area and outside the immediate damage zone. Aside from the self-serving nature of such a strategy, it would have been the morally right thing to do.

I heard on CNN this morning that the US has increased it's relief aid 10 fold to 350 million.

It's hard, if not impossible, to know how to react when this administration has never before seen in its lifetime a disaster on this scale. In fact, I don't think anyone here has been alive for such a disaster as this. I don't think anyone should be blamed for anything right now. There is no need to whine about money given, reaction time, or anything else, because we cannot possibly know just how to react or what to give when we never before have seen such a tragedy. We can only hope to learn from this, if this is necessary, in case it ever happens again, God forbid.

Personally, I think God is pissed and this is just the beginning.

NJ

CNN: U.S. ups tsunami aid from $35 million to $350 million.

As countries ring in the New Year around the world, some have cancelled large celebrations, some have turned them into a 'telethon' to raise money for tsunami relief, some have publicly displayed a remembrance for the victims and certainly all paid homage with a moment of silence.

In the United States, a minute of silence was recognized at 8:15.......almost 3 hours before the 'countdown'. That's it. Watching the Dick Clark/Regis thing, I haven't seen a word said about the situation (although I haven't seen every second), it definitely has not turned into any sort of 'telethon' type thing that happened in countries like Australia and Germany. In France, they draped black cloths along the Champs De Elysses where the celebration takes place and was much more subdued. I believe in London and Sydney, the last part of the countdown was the moment of silence with the bells tolling from Big Ben.

People were upset in the U.S. when after 9/11 people were celebrating and cheering. Of course we're not celebrating in Times Square for what happened, but it's a similar feeling of these people do not care at all. I wish they'd show more compassiono for what is happening. And of course it doesn't help that before Colin Powell is leaving for Asia that he is starting the countdown in Times Square. I wonder if that had any affect on his travel plans. You gotta have your priorities!

Well, if He isn't, I sure don't want to see when He is! eek!

The son of Roberto Clemente to send aid to tsunami victims.

Int'l aid now up to $2 billion, including an increased pledge by Japan from $35 million to $500 million.

Did anyone else hear about the abhorent behavior of some tourists in Thailand? This just made my skin crawl!


Anyway my bar holds weekly (Wednesday nights) 50/50 raffles to benefit various charities. For example last month we raised money for Gods Love We Deliver. This month we will be donating all the money to Save the Children.

[ January 01, 2005, 09:34 AM: Message edited by: George_vikingfan ]

In case anyone is interested, the sports world is also finding ways to contribute to the relief effort.

Some photos:

The seabed exposed and swimmers stranded as the tsunami gathers force at Hat Rai Lay, Thailand.

Satellite view of the tsunami striking Kalutara, Sri Lanka.

Sequence showing the inundation of the Chedi Hotel in Phuket, Thailand.

An amazing collection of photos of the tragedy from the Washington Post, including a gallery of before-and-after satellite images of the devastation on Sumatra, Indonesia. (Set your browser to full-screen mode.) This heart-rending picture of grief from Galle, Sri Lanka says it all...


Some first-person accounts:

I wasn't submerged in water. The problem is not being submerged in water - it's the sheer force of the destruction. I was very close to the ocean... only water hit us. But if I had been 500 feet inside the coastline I would have been hit by flying debris, by 250 cars, by brick walls, by reinforcement bars. I would not have drowned, I would have been beaten to death. - BBC News, 1/1/05

"The tide was supposed to be falling, but it was rising," the (Mombasa, Kenya) harbor master recalled. "I went to the water, and we saw it moving really fast. It was like seeing the sun setting in the east. The tide was crazy. The water wasn't following the rules." - NY Times, 12/31/04


How you can help: Rainbow World Fund

[ January 02, 2005, 10:07 AM: Message edited by: redsoxbreath ]

That ESPN article missed on the Premiere League teams in Europe are all contributing to the relief, a total of $1,000,000 Euros.

I wonder what the percentages are for contributing.

[ January 03, 2005, 11:03 AM: Message edited by: MIB ]

I have heard that many animals possess a sixth sense when impending danger looms. Apparently there was one small island where all the villagers climbed to the top of a hill shortly before the Tsumani hit. They noticed how birds and other wildlife were acting strangely. They also noticed the odd occurence of the ocean receeding briefly before the Tsunami came.

Dogs are actually partnered with epileptic patients because of their uncanny ability to detect oncoming seizures before the person even knows it is coming.

Prime Minister Paul Martin announced today that Canadian aid will increase from $40 million to 'at least' $80 million.

CNN: dog saves boy from drowning

Death toll now up to 155,000.

[ January 02, 2005, 08:48 PM: Message edited by: canmark ]

I have finshed crying.... again..... I saw an image of two parents in India who found their dead child's body washed up on shore.

This was shortly after reading a story about parents who refuse to believe their children are dead. They walk to the beach every morning. The sea took their child and the sea will return their child... someday... They refuse to believe their children are dead. and walk hopeful to the ocean everyday.... stay a few hours ... and walk back ...

What is worse? Not finding their child on the beach? Or finding your child's lifeless body returned by the sea? How can anyone bear it?


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[ January 02, 2005, 10:48 PM: Message edited by: m1 ]

Not to be insensitive, but does anyone else find it, well I don't even know the word, to see American news have absolutely no problem showing dead bodies (sometimes in masses) in the tsunami disaster, yet you hardly see even INJURIES, let alone dead bodies when it comes to the situation in Iraq (both U.S. Troops and Iraqis)??


The Indian girl that they have shown on CNN several times looking for her parents/family is one strong kid. It sounds like there is a very large number of kids that are missing parents right now.

Oh my GOD, you hit the nail right on the head!! I feel that it's so disrespectful to the victims and their families to show those images, regardless of the journalistic impact they might have. Showing a person lying in state at a memorial or funeral is one thing, but showing bodies in situ like that is just wrong as far as I'm concerned, for anyone of any country or ethnicity.

The worst example I saw was a satellite before and after photo that not only showed the devastation in a certain village, but what came clear after looking at the picture were the huge numbers of dead bodies in the streets - at first I thought they were clay or dirt mounds, and then realized the horrible truth.

Bush has now announced the creation of a (presumably private) national fund-raising effort spearheaded by his father and Bill Clinton. The MSNBC coverage is here: Ex-presidents to lead tsunami charity drive

The article discusses some of the criticism of the administration's efforts, which quite frankly was pretty predictable. This country is so politicized, and the world so politicized against the US, that criticism was a given. I think the really interesting part is the administration's reaction to the criticism - rather than merely dismissing it, they are once again using the crisis as an opportunity to push Bush as a President. Even this morning on Today we have Bill Frist talking about how we're all responding to Bush's "leadership" on the relief effort.

But the reality is, Bush is not showing any leadership. In fact, except for a brief period after 9/11, Bush has not shown any real leadership at all. He and his administration have been political partisans from the get-go, with few if any attempts at real bipartisanship.

Many conservatives complained about Clinton's "performances" when it came to public rituals/mourning, etc. And Lord knows every action that man did was most likely politically calculated, but in the end he did the right thing. We probably haven't had truly decent men, those who did the right thing merely because it is right, since the Ford/Carter days. But where the Bushies continually foul up is in not understanding the importance of those "Presidential" moments - and I don't mean standing on an aircraft carrier pretending to be a pilot.

Sure, Bush could have done nothing from DC that he couldn't do from Crawford, but the point is the American people like to see their President in action - appearing to do things even if he isn't accomplishing that much. That is the point on which I think Bush really failed, and now he will always look like he's playing catch-up.

As much as I enjoy Bush-bashing, I can tell you that the Liberal Canadian gov't has taken just as many hits. Prime Minister Paul Martin was on holiday in Morocco at the time (why isn't he spending Christmas in his own country?!), and he has taken heat from Conservative critics for being slow and lacking in his leadership. Even the mayor of Toronto has been criticized for not doing enough--as a significant proportion of the population of Toronto is Asian or South Asian. Why this tragedy has to be so politicized is beyond me. Thank goodness the people who are actually doing the work (and donating the money) are not concerned about politcal gains and losses.

Bush and... Sandra Bullock?!?... step up relief efforts, so reports Yahoo...

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[ January 11, 2005, 06:41 PM: Message edited by: m1 ]

Geez, you can tell Bush was briefed in the last couple days that this is a big political deal. It took him almost a week to order flags be at half staff, several days to give an appropriate amount of money. And at the beginning, not a word was being said, the White House was boasting how the U.S. is the #1 donating country and that we rely on private funds vs. government, our Secretary of State was waiting to start the countdown in Times Square before heading to Asia, etc. Talk about a change of approach in the last week.

International Olympic Committee to donate $1 million.

A magnitude 9.0 earthquake occurs deep under the ocean off Sri Lanka and somehow, in some way, Bush is too blame. You're sick, just sick.

Give me a freakin break! There is no way you can criticize Bush for anything regarding this. I know you find this hard to believe, but this is a tragedy of unprecedented proportions in our lifetime. As such, there is no playbook to follow, even your asinine one to which you apparently hold the president.

And why should the flags even be flown at half-staff? It is highly unusual, but not impermissible, to have this done when it doesn't involve an American occasion (meaning, death of a U.S. official; Memorial Day; etc.). There was no reason to have it done sooner than it was, your stupid comments to the contrary.

Considering this happened during the evening hours of Christmas Day (our time), what's an elected official supposed to do, especially considering it wasn't even known yet the scope of the tragedy (except, of course, to you, who seemed to know the instant it occurred)?

Many countries have contributed, but who has given a lot of aid, aid that will increase even more? Who put 1500+ Marines on the beaches to assist with recovery and distribution of aid? Who sent an aircraft carrier with aircraft, choppers, and more? Who sent a hospital ship having over 1000 hospital beds and surgical facilities? The U.S., of course, and no one can even come close. To politicize this as you have done is pathetic. You should be ashamed of yourself!

[ January 03, 2005, 03:09 PM: Message edited by: MIB ]