Biggest earthquake in 40 years hits Southeast Asia - Part 2

[Rasbelin]

Aww, Waldo. The WTC guy. Waldo is the nickname used by many Finns for him. Hmmm. I wonder what kind of an edit would be good for that.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Dissident
I wonder about pics like that. could be photoshop.

Quite. That's an edited image. Look underneath the crowd - that's not a beach.

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
Quite. That's an edited image. Look underneath the crowd - that's not a beach.

Not only that, but look at their faces--those people aren't terrified, they're happy and seem to be smiling.

[lightblue]

Originally posted by Rasbelin
The newest per country death tolls by BBC News (updated some 30 min ago):



However do remember that death tolls may rise, as not all bodies have been accounted for yet. Or then we may hopefully see a drop like after WTC (any remember how the estimates were far too high for quite some time).

Only difference is that these are registered dead, not counting the missing, whereas 9/11 the higher fatality counts bandied about in the beginning were speculation and did count the missing, not jsut the bodies they did have. I severely doubt the toll is going to go down in this case.

[Last Conformist]

Am I the only who doesn't know anyone who was there?

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Well, I just got back from Thailand...

We were lucky. We had planned to go to Phuket but dithered, then couldn't get a room; we changed plans entirely and headed north, to Chiang Mai. The big one hit shortly after we would have landed, had our original plans held (instead we were in the air, having just departed Sukothai).

Thailand was, of course, not as badly affected as other nearby countries, and is (I believe) the wealthiest of all the countries hit; so, not surprisingly, they handled the disaster very well. Still, I was mightily impressed. The mood in Thailand was somber but accepting -- as befits a Buddhist nation, I suppose -- even after in was clear that a member of the revered royal family was among the victims. New Year's Eve fireworks displays were cancelled nationwide, and the money donated to the relief effort. We went to Bangkok after Chiang Mai, and everyone there was solicitous to a fault, asking us if we'd been down in Phuket or Phi Phi -- legendary Thai hospitality extended even to this, in spite of the loss of life being overwhelmingly locals, not tourists.

We're overwhelmed with affection for the Thai people, and with sadness over the tragedy. Now that we're back, we'll be opening the checkbook, selecting an appropriate charity, and giving what we can.

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Last Conformist
Am I the only who doesn't know anyone who was there?

[Gangerolf]

Originally posted by Rasbelin

Out of all the pictures I've seen online, this is the one that really speaks best for itself. People were unaware of the present danger and were having a usual day, until the wave came. Notice how the people in the front are apparently sitting on a bench.

The most cruel pics so far were a set of pics on a Norwegian website, which were quite Rotten.com material.

That pic is actually not from the disaster, but from a river festival thingy in Qiantang, China. Sloppy research by the website (Aftenposten.no? It was in the printed version too)

http://www.vg.no/pub/vgart.hbs?artid=260651

[Chemical Ollie]

The number of missing Swedes has decreased from 3559 to 2915 since yesterday. Tha last evacuation flights are going home today. Those who stay are either people who want to stay, or those who are to badly injured to fly.

The confirmed number of dead has decreased from 59 to 52, as some children where registred twice due to divorced parents. But this number will increase a lot.

It will take months for the forensic experts to complete the identification of the corpses. They need more fridges to keep the bodies from decomposing in the hot climate.

[Zoid]

I saw some actual footage on the wave on swedish television today. A swedish couple brought their video camera to document their babys first trip abroad. Some trip...

And 2915 missing is quite hard to grasp. Even if only half of the are dead it´s still the biggest catastrophe death toll in swedish history. Way bigger then Estonia ship wreck.

Btw this is my first post in a loong time. It apparently takes a catastrophe to bring me back ;-)

"Welcome back, Kamrat X (Kamrat X)
You last visited: 13-10-2003 23:50.
The time now is 21:05"

[pchang]

It amazes me that so many Swedes were vacationing in the area. I had no idea South Asia was so popular with Swedes.

[Chemical Ollie]

Thailand has become very popular in the last decade, due to the food, beaches and hospitality. And the fact that it's quite well developed. Christmas holiday is the peak season, so the law of Murphy was involved here. In the summer, it's quite warm here but raining there, and the rest of the year, most people work.

[Zoid]

Various benefits on swedish television has managed to scrape together over 330 million kronor (approx 50 million $)!!!

[Pekka]

Well, there's still hope for some Swedes to be found and recovered, so big in numbers they still are.. yeah it's very popular place especially for Swedes.

But it's understandable, it's a cheap place, good food, paradise beaches (well not anymore).. my friends sister always went there for few months with her friends, big bunch of them. This year was a year off for them, otherwise they would have been in Thailand, in those bungalows by the beach. They've been always praising the place, with cheap prices and all the good fun in there, and still reasonably undiscovered, well full of tourists already but not like all places, you can find getaways still....

Looks like the world is scraping up the goods to help this disaster, let's hope it continues and that the local people taking the biggest hit gets it too.. reports from everyone has come that the locals have been outstandingly helpful meanwhile taking the biggest hit and damages bar none. They make crap money and many lost their livelyhoods, families and everything, and they still stood up and helped everyone, tourists too, and are still helping them with their own personal money they can't afford at all, even without this disaster. They'll be set back for years on personal level too. Many have offered their phones so we can call home or where ever we need to. They say that few phone calls can cost so much it's not really the same when we loan a phoen to someone... it means their monthly salaries and more. They've given clothes off of their backs, food and care, while their own loved ones have vanished. Unconditional help and care, no matter the cost. If similar would happen in here, we could afford help on personal level much better, the impact on them is much bigger, even life changing (for the worse), but they haven't asked anything. So I hope after the national help is sorted out, these people get back too, because they've been the backbone of help, and their actions has saved numerous of lives.

[Dis]

Originally posted by Last Conformist
Am I the only who doesn't know anyone who was there?

no one I know has ever left the United States (excpet for myself of course).

But my family isn't what you would call wealthy.

Only Europeans with too much money died. They should pay higher taxes.

I'm sorry, that was a pathetic troll. Rich people are people too. I know.