People buy poppies and things these days just to look as if they care. Its a 'fitting in' thing :)
I dont think we need to stop to remember its always there including this Tsunami. I dont think we can forget it :)
Printable View
People buy poppies and things these days just to look as if they care. Its a 'fitting in' thing :)
I dont think we need to stop to remember its always there including this Tsunami. I dont think we can forget it :)
Yeah, I agree. If the world wars hadn't have happened, the world would be totally unrecogniseable when you compare it with the world we live in now.
Maybe it would be better, maybe worse we just can't tell. Certainly members of varying cultures and religions would have differing views about this.
So in a very real sense the fact that I am here at all is directly resultant of those events and inextricably linked to them. Its the Quantum Weather Butterfly/tornado in China analogy. We 'remember' the past because we exist.
Might sound a bit anthropic but thats just the way things are.
There are almost no remaining survivors of WW1, last year there were about 10 at the cenotaph, all over 100 years old. Its increasingly unlikely that there will be any this year alive or well enough to attend. Might sound mercenary, but you don't see us commemorating Trafalgar or the Boer war. Let it lie.
Nobody gets killed (comparatively in terms of numbers) in wars these days. In WW2 millions of men died. These days even 1 or 2 soldiers being killed by the enemy hits the news headlines, 60 years ago nobody would have batted an eyelid on hearing that.
Did you see the size if the Tsunami that just hit? Very small, maybe 30' high tops. Ive surfed bigger waves on the north shore. Obviously the damage to life and property was caused by mutiple waves and flooding and not the impact ofthe wave itself unless you were standing right on the beach or somewhere in close proximity.
I read a while ago that the height of a Tsunami produced by shifts in land mass is directly proportional to the amount the land mass has shifted. So what you get is what they call a "small Tsunami"
Do a google search "alaska and Lituya Bay Tsunami" or "Lituya Bay Tsunami". What happened there is pretty mind boggling. Im not sure on the exact height of that Tsunami. Most articles ive read say 1700' to 1800'. That's insane. :eek2:
Its not really the height its the quantity and speed of the water :(
Add to that the fact that water is in fact very heavy and you have a very dangerous situation
I can confirm this actually happened because I studied Geology at higher education level but it was 100 feet not 1700. The 1700 feet refers to the height of the SPLASH not the wave. This tsunami was different to the Asian one however because it was caused by a landslide falling into the water. This created much bigger waves because the disturbance occurred on the surface of the water. Normal tsunami's occur from an earthquake from UNDER the sea so the waves will never be as large.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dilenger4
The reason the asian tsunami was so bad is because it hit a 3rd world country consisting of small islands. If this had hit China, US, Japan it would not been nearly as bad because most of their buildings on the beach are brick, not wood and have emergency protocols in place for such eventualities
The reason the Alaskan tusnami only killed two people was because:
a) it was in a lagoon so it only had one direction to go
b) the area was forest mountains so the wave was broken up pretty rapidly
Most experts have agreed that if this wave had hit Asia the devastation would have been worse because the Asian Tsunami was 50 feet high. It caused more damage because it hit countries that were not prepared for it.
:(
I wonder how many criminals chose this disaster as a convenient way of 'disappearing'. Or how many murders were comitted during the melee? Perfect opportunity to settle some old scores eh?
Whack a few of your enemies and dump them in the sea when nobody's looking. Who's going to notice a few bulletholes or stab wounds among all the head wounds and decapitations?
I tried but I hit your EX. The shipping was expensive too :afrog:
They suspect a lot of kids have been kidnapped for slavery which is still common in AsiaQuote:
Originally Posted by wossname
Many scams started going around just hours after the incident. One company is under investigation here in the UK for not clearly marking that they arent a charity and making a leaflet that looks like they are :)
Yeah i kinda thought that. I mean 1700 would be a little unreal. Still though 100'Quote:
Posted by Valleysboy1978
The 1700 feet refers to the height of the SPLASH not the wave.
is pretty big.
Terrifing I do agree. (EDIT: I DISAGREED..oops)
The poor people to have gone through that -- loosing their houses, families, lives...now they live with famine, disease, and nothing to help themselves.
Two things have sprouted from this back at home. Corrupt charities and real charities and the either the forced guilt or the true empathy pushes us to donate money.
You know alot of people disagree fully with the fact Canada contributes so much to foreign aid -- we give a ton of our small budget to foreign aid. Alot of people disagree with helping countries period financially like most all the civilized nations do.
Well I say, in a situation like this its good the world is so quick to want to help -- I'm glad so much money has poured out and I'm apualed that some people have tried to collect illegal and keep the money. Personally I can't see how we didn't warn them and how this stuff should be costing money -- why is the help going soooo slow.
On the other hand -- distaters on a smaller scale happen everday and in most of those cases we should not feel the need to lend a hand. We do have our problems to -- although Canada poverty line is $10,000...thats the LEAST you can make a year even on welfare; our problems may not exactly be so bad.
In the andaman & nicobar islands, there were certain tribes who have been been wiped out from the earth. there were only a few hundred people of their kind and none have survived. :mike:
I live in New Delhi and these days I see all kind of people esp. Politicians (small and bidding types) asking for aid material to send. The have small shabby counters and all they do is sit around and chat. Makes me sick. :sick:
I agree, but this is because small-scale disasters can usuall be dealt with by the resident government and/or the UN. However this disaster has probably destroyed the resident governments and the collective governments simply do not have the funds or services in place to recover from this. That is why people are helping, because we know they need our help.Quote:
Originally Posted by Halsafar
:thumb:
Common in the US, too. I read a report about a decade ago (Time magazine) that named Miami as being one of the largest importer of girls in the world. Heard another report about that in the last year. Slavery is alive and well.Quote:
Originally Posted by Valleysboy1978
Apparently this is the largest documented natural distaster.
Doesn't surprise me :(Quote:
Originally Posted by Halsafar