Can We Make A Difference To Asias Crisis ?
 

I have been watching the crisis in Asia unfold from the beggining to present on international Tv. I watched people swept away and crushed, I saw babies dead in their mothers arms. The despair on peoples faces tell a story of cataclismic proportions and here we sit.

What can make a real difference ? What will we remember in years to come ?

I think I will look back at this day and remember when I pledged some money to people who face oblivion over the next few days and weeks. Is there a way that we can muster something from us here that we can show they are in our thoughts?

Appart from spending the morning on the forums

The guys from work have been busy down at red cross collecting donations and organising payments.

The red cross is an absolute nightmare at the moment with amount of support being offered.

A small donation to help the kids out whom no longer have parents or homes is well worth the effort.

Infact, after viewing the news stories last night, i got up halfway through my meal and made a donation as the sight of those kids moved me so much.

Anyone interest here is a link

https://www.redcross.org.au/Donation...iDonations.asp

Cheers

Gary

Thanks man I just put in 100 bucks. Felt good to do.Any one who wishes to follow suit ,I donated via ST George bank website for the red cross
The red cross website was inundated

http://www.stgeorge.com.au/media_cen....asp?orc=media

There are also a few banks that are being used as collection agencies up this way (Newcastle), and local radio stations are doing a similar thing.

the more we can all help the better...even if it is just the cost of a packet of cigarettes. All to a worth cause :)

i've donated $100 this morning also. every bit makes a huge difference - for $100 you can buy 3 music cd's, yet donating it to this cause you can provide help shelter food or water to people who really need it right now.

We're trying to get money together at work for donation.

Look, it may only help a little but that's more than nothing!

Nothing is what these guys have got to look forward too.Youve done well.

i know money collected from a recent eseries cruise may be going to the cause.
they need everything they can get IMO :)

Likewise...

The scale of this is beyond my comprehension, I just can't register the full impact of that many casualties. My father was telling me that there were around 110,000 killed from the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bombs, before counting those that were injured and those who died from radiation afterwards. That's the kind of level of this tragedy, and it is staggering.

It really puts things into perspective and is a huge reality check, and goes to show how grateful we should be just simply to be alive, let alone living in a great country with such a positive lifestyle.

I can only hope that all of us on here, as well as around the world, dig deep and at least try and provide some help for this. It's a small step but makes a world of difference for those who need it.

We organised a collection at work yesterday for them, i cant really think of a better cause at the moment. They will definately benefit from the odd gold coin/change that anyone can collect and throw their way, we would only blow it on Macca's or something anyway!

My daughter and I decided to chuck some $'s in we gave $100au to worldvision yesterday, after things have settled down a bit we'll prolly look at sponsoring a little kid somewhere. Hopefully we can make a difference to these poors peeps :(

I just hope our money gets there or well spent.

I agree. Better to make the donation and download the music via BitTorrent for free LOL.

i've donated a sizable amount - but what i'm concerned about is that there are people in parts of the world that live in these type of conditions day in day out and they don't get the same global recognition.

When was the last time you donated to help people in a 3rd world country?

i know its affected me both ways. i'm now going to monthly donate to care australia to help not only here, but in 3rd world countries.

Being a nurse, when I saw all the people that are suffering over there my first thought was "I could be helping over there.". However with the diseases that are going to be the next major killer and I can't have Hep B shots, I'd probably be more of a hinderance.

www.ebay.com.au is another place that you can donate at.

I wish I knew someone in the medical profession that was over there or going over, that way I'd know that my money was buying things that were needed urgently.

I will donate however, I'm just not sure to which charity there are so many of them. :(

I cant even come to terms with how massive it is.
When i read that 3,000 were dead i thought damn, from a wave, then saw 12,000 and thought SH!T. Then 33,000 and I couldnt believe it, then came 60,000 and now it's well over 100,000.
They are cremating bodies asap to try and stop spreading diseases, the weather is rotting bodies rather fast apparently.
Cremation would have to be the go though.

100,000 bodies @ atleast 2metres per grave site would need a 200 kilometre grave yard. I'm not being morbid, just that thinking of it like that makes me realise how many people have died here.

Not to mention all those that would have been swept out to sea

RIP

I see the Kiwi's are trying to do there bit, but unfortunatly the harrier carrying supplies has broken down on an Indian tarmac not sure when the flight will resume but hopefully It'll get those deserved of aid.
Top stuff to all those donating out there, Yum yum wil be doing his best to add to the collection.
Peace to all involved.

Yes, ive already donated and will donate more when i get the next paycheck.

Was actually thinking tonight as i watched NYE on Ch. 9, here we are watching $xxx million go up in smoke while they have nothing. I'm all for a celebration, but its a bit rude to go do that IMHO. Im sure the vast majority of people would have preferred the NYE fireworks $$$ go to the people who need it most - woud be an achievement for us as a nation and a great start to the new year, instead of burning it all up.

Anyway, rant off now.

So very true bro, i never watch the fireworks, i mean, millions were spent to get them up all over Australian capital cities for about 15-30 mins of pleasure, but seriously, imo if youve seen one NYE fireworks show youve seen them all.

i wouldve like to see them give the money to a worthy cause, as that wouldve made celebrating the new year quite special to me.

as for donating, ill be sure to give a nice donation once ive started working again (im unemployed and not on any government funds, lucky i have a loving mother to help me out, in which ill return two fold to her.)

Out of curiosity, does anyone know how much of the donation actually will make it to the victims??

The lot hopefully '67.

Ian too true mate.You have to wonder though about the good ol USA government who explode bombs in Iraq every minute worth 1/2 million dollars and are the last to offer a realistic hand. I dont blame the people just their greedy government. I do think that children can be fed if unneccesary invasions like these dont sap the worlds' wealth.

One other thing bothering me is that Amercan satlites have footage of the tsunami as it hit in the first instance. Why didn't they see it coming across the ocean in its 3 hour travel ? If they had footage via satelite why did that government not warn the people of the region that a 3o foot high wave was coming?

Sorry guys ,but I have skewed off a little .I believe I have made a valid point
if forum moderators want to sensor this post I will understand.

What I don't get is why pay millions to bomb buildings when you can pay contractors to do the same damage.
sorry been an early mornin for me.

Depending on the charity

If you make a phone donation, you can ask how much is taken in admin and what reaches the end.

I know that the Commonwealth Bank charges red cross a Merchant Fee for credit card payments you make, but in this case, they are going to make a donation of that MSF back to the cause.

Thats a positive in my books

That's why I don't know which charity to donate to, I want ALL of my money to get there. I might do a search for Doctors or nurses going over and give them the money, they know what's needed when they get there and spend it accordingly. Losing your family is bad enough, but having to suffer an illness afterwards is just beyond words.

I saw that there were two Doctors that survived and stayed on spending their own money on essentials that were needed. In my books that rocks, they didn't just say we're safe and we're outta here. Hopefully there are other people over there doing the same thing.

If anyone knows someone that's going over please PM me so I can get some money over there ASAP.

The Maddestman and I are also going to sponser an orphan, hopefully others will do the same. I couldn't imagine losing all my family in a matter of seconds and then having nothing. Hopefully we can help at least one child, try and lead a semi normal life.

Don't even get me started on G. Dubbya Boosh! :mad: :mad: :mad:

Also just to ad to the "how much makes it there", I think I've read on a few Bigger Aid Agencies sites that Admin costs should be less than 10% of any donation.
We just gotta hope the remainder gets to the front line where its much needed quickly by the sounds.

Luvinmyeb heres a site that might help http://www.charitynavigator.org/
I chose initially to donate to Worldvision because they seemed to be acting quicker but I'd say Red Cross, Care Aus, Oxfam etc are all well established names.
Another group was www.doctorswithoutborders.org
http://www.careaustralia.org.au
http://www.unicef.com.au
http://www.oxfam.org.au
http://www.redcross.org.au
http://www.worldvision.com.au

Probably because there's not a satellite over the area at all given times. Also tidal waves aren't that big in the ocean, they only start to get big as they near land.

The earthquake was picked up on seismographs, however they had no contact numbers for authorities in the affected areas. Might be a bit of a crock (how hard is it to call an Embassy?), but still.

And thirdly, who's saying all the satellites were American? Sure not everyone agrees with their global policy, but that's no excuse to assume everything is their fault.

Thanks for that -AL-, I'll take a look at them. :)

Perhaps it was because it was considered to be so far away from the US that they offered such a small amount to start with? Don't get me wrong, I'm not defending the US governments actions in ANY way, just trying to get an understanding myself of why the most powerful and richest country in the world was so stingy in the face of such a huge catastrophe.

Only thing I can think of is the insular attitude that seems to be so common over there, that the world outside of it's borders doesn't matter, or maybe doesn't even actually exist...

Sorry, I'll get off my soapbox now. :cool:

Probably didnt want to spend money on people they're worried they might have to kill in a few years time?

You're kidding right? Their economy is snafu right now.

Perhaps their economy has been stronger then it currently is, but they're still doing a lot better then a lot of other countries, and I personally don't think there is an excuse for them to not dig deep and do all they can - financially and otherwise - to help.

Well at least we know that the Aussies are digging deep and helping out.

I have to agree with The Maddestman, when it comes to Americans or the majority of the ones that I've spoken to, there is NOTHING outside of their country.

Australia always seems to be the first out of the US and UK to dig deep when it comes to situations such as these and that makes me damn proud to be an Aussie! :cool:

GWB finally pulled his finger out and increased Americas
contribution TENFOLD (now 450 million)

But considering their country is TEN times larger then ours
I still feel they are holding back a bit :rolleyes:

We have some money aside for the New houses bathroom reno...
I think in the recent light of things... the reno can wait a lil longer and
a portion of those funds could be utilised better elsewhere ;)

The reports I have seen had stated that the satelites were American owned. But what I had heard today is that they also have satelite footage of when it started.The water raised from the seabed like a mushroom shape not like a 1000 kilometre sea bed fault line. It even looks like an underwater atomic bomb.By the sounds of it , it was either a volcanic explosion or possibly a bomb.An earthquake causing the tectonic plates to move/slide by 10 metres would tend to force the water up in a straighter line and not in a circular uprising.Also worth noting is because of this underwater event it has been established that the earth has shifted 2 degrees out at its north and south poles!!!! I am not blaming them but its about time they pulled their finger out.

I would suspect that all the images from these satellites are recorded and there's no one watching it in real time.

Can anyone else see the irony in that, they spend millions on satellites, record activity on it, yet set it aside to watch later. Now that's money well spent. :rolleyes:

Well I'd rather hit the rewind button after something happens than get bored shitless watching a whole lot of nothing for days on end :p

They're supposed to be warning systems, maybe they only watch anything that's happening around the U.S. :rolleyes:

I'd hardly say spy satellites are warning systems, there's no way to possibly view every inch of the earth's surface at once, nor to have countless experts watching for anything that is possibly going wrong.

Much better suited to finding Osama and checking for nuclear missles being shipped into Cuba.

Intrepid Travel to match dontions through their site dollar for dollar!!!
 

Intrepid Travel are taking donations and are matching them dollar for dollar !!!!!!!!!!! They are going to split the money with MSF (doctors without borders) and PLAN, both reputable organisations.

Please consider donating here so that they will also chip in their bit.


http://www.intrepidtravel.com/appeal...973301af086192


I have made this thread a sticky as I think it is wonderfull that people are opening their hearts to those affected by this disaster.

We are all here because we enjoy cars, and many of us are lucky enough to spend a sizeable amount of money to persue our hobby. Something like this makes us realise how lucky we are to live in a part of the world where our biggest dilemma is what mod to do to our toy next. Its great to hear this softer size to our little community.

Keep up the good work guys! Today I am proud to be part of the fordforums.com.au community.

Catastrophe's Warning Signs Went Unheeded
 

Los Angeles Times - January 1 2005
By Barbara Demick, Times Staff Writer

When an earthquake hits, shock waves travel through the Earth and within minutes begin jiggling sensitive equipment at some 350 monitoring stations around the world. Those stations, in turn, relay data by satellite to computers at the U.S. Geological Survey's National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colo.

Don Blakeman, a USGS geophysicist, was about to have Christmas dinner when his pager went off — a computer-generated warning that a major quake had just occurred. A colleague, Julie Martinez, also was paged and began analyzing data on her home computer as Blakeman drove to the office.

As data from more and more stations began to arrive, Blakeman revised the estimate of the temblor's magnitude to 8.5 — a threefold increase in size. He triggered a computer program that notified the White House, State Department and major relief agencies of a massive quake.

The information also went automatically to the tsunami warning center in Hawaii, where director Charles McCreery, 54, had abandoned plans to assemble his young daughters' pink bicycles and joined his colleagues watching the computer readouts.

McCreery saw that the quake was much larger than previously thought and therefore more likely to cause a tsunami. He decided to send out a second bulletin:

NO DESTRUCTIVE TSUNAMI THREAT EXISTS FOR THE PACIFIC BASIN BASED ON HISTORICAL EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMI DATA.

THERE IS THE POSSIBILITY OF A TSUNAMI NEAR THE EPICENTER.

Roughly an hour had passed since the quake. Unseen by experts, the wave already had traveled halfway across the Indian Ocean and claimed tens of thousands of lives.

Information was sent to the Whitehouse...

That's great stuff, I was just looking at the Doctors without Borders site, but I didn't see any links to that. Sounds like that will be the charity I'll be donating to. :)

Heheh , this thread has made it into the sticky section. This is good.Guys at the end of the day I started this thread to possibly help others and raise awareness for those in need.If we can muster some more support for the victims that would be wonderful.
I have no intention of bringing further negative ideas on anyone. At the end of the day my emotion got the better of me after seeing the deluge.
I still however believe that this disaster was caused by a combined earthquake and volcanic underwater eruption/ explosion.

The company Mrs Kooky works for donated $1 million to Red Cross and $100k to Unicef, then set up a site for employees to make donations and the company would then match those dollar for dollar. We donated through that site. They are also working with organisations to donate water, medical, and electrical supplies.

Other than making donations, theres little else we can do really

Just to see the magnitude of the tsunami go here.. WARNING*** disturbing videos of tsunami

http://www.waveofdestruction.org/videos/

Some pictures and video on that site that almost defy belief. And the scary part is, it's real, not some hollywood movie! I'm speechless after looking around that site.