South East Asian Disaster

[Sir Ewok]

Had a phone call from Babs this morning to let me know they were all ok, which came as a great relief.

For those that have not seen the news, there was an earthquake (8.9 Richter) in the ocean between India and malaysia. there are over 3,800 reported dead, a lot of them holiday makers. Just heard death toll now over 4,000 and rising. Up to a hundred divers are missing from the phuket area alone.

Anybody who has friends/relitives on the coastal areas of Thialand/malaysia/india the Foreign Office Emegency line is 020 7008 0000

Babs's son-in-law has flown down to Phuket to set up a comms centre to relay information to the Embassy at Bangkok.

Hope everybody is safe and well, if you have peeps out there.....

[Sir Ewok]

There are 120 reported dead in Thailand and many more missing. This disaster has also hit Sri Lanka and many other areas in the Indian Ocean.

[Grav]

Glad your family is safe and well, Ewok.

Here is the BBC 's latest on this natural disaster

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4125481.stm

[Sir Ewok]

Thanx for the link, it's currently on the 24 hour news channel about every 15 mins. Some peeps were extremely lucky to escape.

[Trikerbiker]

Glad to hear your lot are all OK Ewok. My wife's niece and her hubby were on a boat on the way over to Phuket when it hit! Luckily they are OK too, they must've been at the other side of the island from the Tsnuami.

My thoughts today when hearing about the scale of the problems in India and Sri Lanka particularly and seeing people carrying others on their backs was 'Why the fuck hasn't Tony Blair sent in the troops?' It looked to me like organised manpower would have been the biggest immediate help, and after all, India was 'British' up until relatively recently.

FFS the troops can be mobilised quickly enough to go off and support Dubyas egotistical invasions of foreign countries, and I'll bet the squaddies wouldn't have objected to be thrust into an emergency humanitarian role.

[krammer]

a 30 ft high wall of water travelling at 300 miles an hour, can you imagine the noise something that huge must have made ?

[Grav]

Doesn't quite work like that, Krammer. Out in the open ocean a Tsunami can travel at up to 300 miles an hour, but will only be a couple of feet tall. It's when it reaches land that it gains height, but also slows down quite a bit too to perhaps 40 miles an hour at the most. The energy contained in the wave remains fairly constant, before it dissipates over long distances of open water and it is this energy what drives them so far in land.

http://www.geophys.washington.edu/tsunami/general/physics/transform.html

[Sir Ewok]

As much as I dislike Tony B. Liar and his crew, you've got to give them a chance. No doubt within the next few days a load of troops and such will be sent over to help with rescue and survival missions.

[defarter]

My neighbour has just heard from his son who is on holiday in Phuket with his girl friend they are both ok, they were staying by the beach but decided to spend Christmas day and Boxing day at a hotel further inland with a group of friends.
Got to be one of the best decisions they are ever going to make.

[Sir Ewok]

Just watching the footage of the Tsunami hitting Phuket. It's horrifying! My thoughts are with peeps of all nations who have lost loved ones.

[Trikerbiker]

I just found out this evening on the local news that my wifes cousin and her husband are also in Phuket, and are also OK - How wierd is that, her niece and her cousin (who have never even met each other) both caught up in the same incident?

[GarrysPhrogg]

A friend of ours son is out there with his granparents, I haven't seen my friend yet and do hope his son and parents are OK.

Garry and I just booked our Holiday in Phuket for mid February, all paid for etc :S Im just pleased and feel lucky that we weren't already there, anyway Im off to travel agent this morning to see what we should do now.

[Friar Tuck]

My Borther's wife is Sri Lankan, and they were going to spend Christmas over there and were going to buy some land with a view to building a hotel. They decided at the last minute to spend it with friends in Yorkshire!

They were bloody lucky! I haven't heard from them yet, as they obviously have family on the wife's side out there! and I haven't been able to get brother Chris on his mobile yet!

[Mrs Reject]

I really hope your relative and everyone else's out there are ok and missed it all. There was quite a furore at work because some of our nurses are from the Phillipines but luckily all their folks turned out to be ok!
We can't believe what a terrible tragedy it is, thousands upon thousands dead - it's hard to take in!!! :(

[cxdemon]

Well looks like the government has pulled its head outta its arse, and decided to help, they now reckon millions are homeless, brings home how helpless people really are against mother nature tho.
:eek: Also brings home how lucky we are in this part of the world.best wishes to those who have relatives and friends out there and have not heard anything yet :(

[krammer]

america has pledged an initial $7.7 million. christ, they spend more than that every hour on their poxy burgers!

[Grav]

Also brings home how lucky we are in this part of the world.

We are?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3553368.stm
:o :o

[technoboiler]

AT 6am the estimated mortallity rate was 25,000

Got to be one of the worst disasters in history.

[Sir Ewok]

Got to be one of the worst disasters in history.
Unfortunately not, has been a lot worse than this even excluding wars and man made disasters. Estimate now stands at 40,000.

Yes we are lucky, geographically speaking, to be living in the UK as we only get minor earthquakes, tidal waves, hail, snow etc.

[Dougie]

Latest estimate I saw was 50000+,and they reckon it's going to double.

[Friar Tuck]

Spoke to the Sister in law last night and all her family are ok, as they live in Colombo and the wave didn't go as far round as Colombo.

Looks like the toll has risen to 68,000 but can't confirm that!

[Sir Ewok]

Looks like my last comment was a bit premature and Technoboiler may well be right. EU and US have commited funds (though that don't mean they'll get them) and Red Cross and other Relief Organisations are getting set up and sending stuff already.

[Bosun]

plucked up courage and spoke to my EX
all her family ok as had all gone up to her brothers in Bangkok PHEW

[technoboiler]

America is giving 35,000,000 so far
Last count was over 60,000 dead and many more will die because of secondary diseases ie chollera
Fresh drinking water and shelters desperately needed.
I cannot imagine the horrendous sights these ppl are living through.