America Will Lead Global Relief Effort

LarreeMP3 · Joined: 12 Apr 2002 Posts: 1935

Quote:
It is good to read about the $ 35 million U.S. cash assistance.

Add a zero to that total, Mike. We (the evil U.S.A.) have now pledged $350,000,000 to the relief effort. This does not include individual contributions from U.S. (and world) citizens.

Do you want to get into a pissing contest over this? You are a misinformed bozo sometimes, Mike. Happy forkin' New Year!

MIKE BURN

Have a good and foremost HEALTHY new year, Larree!

Hours after my post Bush tenfolded the cash aid.

To put it in the right European and world perspective:

Bush asked congress immediately for $ 7.1. BILLION after 4 hurricane deaths were reported in Florida last September.

Overall cash aid for Florida summed up then to $ 16 BILLION.

Compared to what happened in the Indian Ocean, Florida had an accident in a suburbian swimming-pool.

There was no help so far from U.S. side (i.e. Airplanes) to transport injured people, nor was any American seen on the ground until 1 week after the desaster. Yesterday I saw some TV pictures where a single U.S. helicopter with a CNN reporter (Mike Chino?) was put in scenery dropping some packs of food and water in Indonesia. The pictures we saw from C-130 transporters.... well, those were Australian C-130's.

I'm sure there will be more to come and it is good that way, but there was not much. You can't deny that. All with incredible delay, while the people there can't wait because they already ran out of any basic needs for survival. Bush himself, needed 3 days to react. You can't deny that.

So at least me personally, I blame Bush for delay, while he was doing holidays and performing great new years eve speeches.

The "Tourist" countries meanwhile helped themselves and brought injured incl. as much dead as possible home.

Help workers from all over the world incl. China are on the ground, Germans are setting up giant hospitals on the ground in Indonesia, while today the first American ship reached the coast of Sumatra.

MIKE BURN

Good news, but late news!!!

However, good that is.

Quote:
One week on: Tsunami aid arriving

Sunday, January 2, 2005 Posted: 6:41 AM EST (1141 GMT)

About a dozen U.S. Seahawk helicopters ferried supplies to Banda Aceh and other parts of Sumatra's devastated northwest coast as the military undertook one of the biggest disaster-relief missions in decades.

Meanwhile, about 200 U.S. Marines will deploy Sunday to Colombo, Sri Lanka, to help organize a relief effort, said Jeffrey Lunstead, the U.S. ambassador to the country.

MIKE BURN

Quote:
(BBC/London) Last Updated: Sunday, 2 January, 2005, 10:39 GMT

In Indonesia, aid is finally being distributed, but only in small quantities, says the BBC's Jonathan Head in Aceh.

US military helicopters have visited remote areas to distribute aid.

The aid operation in Aceh remains without a visible strong leadership.

In this sensitive region - scene of a long-running conflict between Jakarta and separatist rebels - the government is unwilling to allow the US military unfettered access, says our correspondent, and there are few UN personnel on the ground.

LarreeMP3 · Joined: 12 Apr 2002 Posts: 1935

Israeli relief aid has been turned down by at least one county hit by the tsunami. Forking morons.

This is absolutely pathetic. What the fork is wrong with these idiots? I guess it's more important to these non-forks to keep the hate alive than it is to take care of their people.

Edited by: LarreeMP3 at: 1/2/05 18:28

MIKE BURN

What you said Larree.... morons.

All these people, ALL and everywhere, should stop at least for months with their usual asgenda and put that all aside.

EVERY help is needed and I applaude to Israel that they did sent the help-workers/doctors/specialists.

I just spent some hours with Werner, our bass player who lost sister and brother-in law in Thailand, while his wife and his two daughters visited the daughter of his lost ones in the hospital.

News just rushed in, that the number of missing Germans, which have to be feared all dead, did rise from 1,500 to 3,200.

So many people, so many share similiar and unbelievable personal destinies.

How do you explain to a 10 year old that the parents will never return and that it may be of advantage to change the school, to avoid questions over questions from classmates?

In India alone, over 180,000 children lost their parents (usually more than one child per family).............

It is thought around 20,000 Swedes had travelled to Thailand this holiday season, to escape the harsh winter of northern Europe.

Authorities are fearing this tragedy may well become the worst natural disaster in the nation's history.

With a population of only 9 million, Sweden's expected loss of life proportionately matches that of Indonesia, and is exceeded only by Sri Lanka.

Seismic Anamoly · Joined: 22 Aug 2002 Posts: 3039

Quote:
I just spent some hours with Werner, our bass player who lost sister and brother-in law in Thailand, while his wife and his two daughters visited the daughter of his lost ones in the hospital.

Jesus Christ.....

Please......tell him we all send our sincerest sympathies.....from the Heart.

Cybernetic Organism68 · Joined: 17 Dec 2004 Posts: 384

Yeah, my sympathies, too.

This whole thing has been terrible.

MIKE BURN

Thank you guys!

I forwarded your words to Werner.

Well, while the destiny of many, many thousands of local people in the affected regions and tourists from various countries in the world still remains unclear (not much hope anymore) the aid at least gets stronger every day.

U.S. Soldiers have landed in Sri Lanka today and a U.S. helicopter carrier is underway as well.

Helicopters from the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln are flying non-stop to hard reachable areas of Sumatra.

Very good and foremost urgent and very helpful contributions!

Help workers from various countries did setup drinking water cleaning devices and I don't know what.

The German Marine hospital ship 'Berlin' is expected to arrive tomorrow on the coast of Sumatra, with OP-rooms and intensive medical care incl. dozens of doctors and specialists.

The 'Berlin' also carries "Sea-King" Helicopters.

The German Luftwaffe is flying twice a day with two 'flying hospitals' (customized Airbus, so called MedEvac) and brought yesterday and today not only German, but also Swedish, Dutch and British tourists, which were severely injured, to Cologne into German hopistals and more intense medical care.

(MedEvac "Flying Hospital", with 50 beds/intensive medical care and 50 doctors on board)

Scandinavian C-130 transporters delivered trucks and bulldozers/cleaning equipment and of course food and supplies as well.

Meanwhile Norway boosted it's aid pledge to $ 180 million and Germany will now contribute $ 675 million!