Biggest earthquake in 40 years hits Southeast Asia - Part 2

[Kuciwalker]

Bill Gates has already donated nearly or over $30 billion to various causes in his life. If I were him I wouldn't feel guilty not donating to this.

[Dis]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker
Bill Gates has already donated nearly or over $30 billion to various causes in his life. If I were him I wouldn't feel guilty not donating to this.

yes but most of the stuff he's donated for are stupid things (money wasted in Africa because of corrupt goverments)

this is important.

[Kuciwalker]

Uh, no, AFAIK most of the money has gone to educational programs in the US

[Arrian]

Didn't he give a bundle for AIDS research, too?

-Arrian

[Arrian]

****ing depressing:

By SHIMALI SENANAYAKE, Associated Press Writer

GALLE, Sri Lanka - She survived the tsunami, only to suffer the brutality of her rescuer.


On a pilgrimage to a temple, the 18-year-old and her family stopped for a picnic by the beach. That's when the tsunami struck.


Flailing in the water, the teenager heard a voice. "He told me to grab his hand, that he will save me," she said.


She and the stranger were swept into a muddy river. When they reached a bank, he pushed her into a bed of brambles and raped her.


"I screamed and told him not to hurt me," the shy teenager told The Associated Press. "He put his hands around my neck and told me that even if he kills me right there, no one will know."


Since the Dec. 26 tsunami, authorities have received many reports of sexual abuse — including attacks on children — at refugee camps and elsewhere. But there was no one to help the 18-year-old — the waves killed her father, mother and seven other relatives.


Earlier that day, the family and neighbors had left for the Kataragama temple, venerated by Buddhists and Hindus, to celebrate her father's 65th birthday.


Their bus, which carried 32 passengers, stopped at a beach. The girl was wading at the shore with two nieces when the waves crashed around them. Fourteen of the travelers died.


At the teenager's home in a village near the southern town of Galle, her only surviving sister displayed photographs of their parents, brothers, sisters and their families at weddings and birthday celebrations.


She allowed the AP to interview her younger sister on condition the teenager and the family would not be named and no photographs would be taken. They fear being ostracized by the village because of the attack.


After the rape, the teenager said, "I felt lifeless." Soaked with mud, her body itched all over from the thorns.


Dazed, she saw two figures approaching.


"He told me not to breath a word," she said. "He spoke to the men and left me with them. I didn't say anything and was terrified because they, too, were men."


The teenager was loaded into a truck with corpses and the injured. She recognized her brother's body and fainted.


At Karapitiya hospital, doctors and nurses were kind, she said. Dr. D. Wasantha said the teenager didn't mention the rape until a day after being admitted, and was initially treated for respiratory problems from inhaling water.


"She was very reluctant to talk and we didn't want to probe too much as she was already very upset and kept saying not to tell anyone," Wasantha said.


After learning of the rape, the doctor gave the young woman pills to prevent pregnancy.


"I don't want to talk to the police. They ask a lot of questions I don't understand and don't know how to respond," the teenager said, toying with the corner of her brown T-shirt.

The teenager lived a sheltered life before the tsunami, but she did go to college for a time, studying the Sinhalese language, political science and economics. She dropped out a year ago to take care of the family household.

"I want to be a journalist," she said when asked about the future. Her eyes lit up and she smiled faintly, but that faded when her aunt said they hoped some man would marry the teenager.

Her sister soon dampened any idea of a quick marriage: She said gossip already was swirling around the village, where rape brings stigma and shame to the victim rather than the rapist.

[Az]

Uh, no, AFAIK most of the money has gone to educational programs in the US

30 bil is nothing but a drop in the bucket, then.

[Patroklos]

The Abraham Lincoln Battlegroup and Bohomme Richard Expeditionary Strike Group is a very big aid package, worth several billion. That is a lot of transport capacity and thousands of aid workers added to the region.

[Chemical Ollie]

Anyone know if Lonestar is on that battle group?

[Urban Ranger]

So far this city has collected more than 600 million donations. That's more than USD10 per person.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker
Bill Gates has already donated nearly or over $30 billion to various causes in his life. If I were him I wouldn't feel guilty not donating to this.

30 billion is probably more than his total net worth.

[Berzerker]

I wonder if these people who are either directly or indirectly claiming God did this to punish sinners would feel the same way if their kids had been killed.

[Jack_www]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger


30 billion is probably more than his total net worth.

Well I heard on the news before that bill gates plans to give allmost all his money away before he dies. And I though that we was worth $60 billion.

[Jack_www]

Originally posted by Berzerker
I wonder if these people who are either directly or indirectly claiming God did this to punish sinners would feel the same way if their kids had been killed.

I never heard anything like this. The only think that I heard is that some people trying to say that God does not exist because things like this happen in the world all the time, but that is about it.

[Hueij]

Originally posted by Chemical Ollie
Anyone know if Lonestar is on that battle group?

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?threadid=127789

He is out there at sea, doing the real dirty but necessary work

[Berzerker]

never heard anything like this. The only think that I heard is that some people trying to say that God does not exist because things like this happen in the world all the time, but that is about it.

Pay more attention then, it was the "theologians" who first came out with the announcement that God's wrath befell these people. The reaction you cite was in response to these people.