[chadbang]

Blue.

 

[ReasonablyLucid]

Black

 

[gsferrari]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snake Actually, it HAS happened before. Just no one bothers to remember. This is why tsunamis are feared. IIRC one hit Japan long ago with similar results

Never happened in India before...

Quote:

Now, let's look at India for example. "We don't have the money", yet they DO have the money for a nuclear weapons program and ongoing hostilities against Pakistan??

Priority is to protect India from an existing threat like Pakistan - not from a natural disaster that India has never had to face before...sorry - you are just arguing blindly...

Quote:

This is just government bulls@!# because perceived power is more important to these governments than protecting their people. This is the point I am trying to make about the region's historical patterns.

Again - this has never happened to India before.

Let me tell you something else - the infrastructure in India will not allow for the scale of evacuation required in the event of something like this happening again - never mind how many hours or weeks of warning we have.

We just have to face these disasters and live with it...natural selection I guess...

India doesnt arm itself for stupid reasons - USA is mounting pressure on all these countries because USA seems to attack and invade on a whim...I can guarantee that should USA decide to spend some time in India - they wont be too pleased with the results of any aggressive action. Not only USA - Pakistan, China...India isnt exactly sitting in a calm and serene valley.

 

[Snake]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gsferrari Never happened in India before... .... Priority is to protect India from an existing threat like Pakistan - not from a natural disaster that India has never had to face before...sorry - you are just arguing blindly... .... Again - this has never happened to India before.

Not a tsunami. But EVERY year the Ganges floods, and EVERY year some number of people die from the flooding. EVERY year. So India's history with water caused disasters are very, very real.

So where are the warning systems, to warn of any possible flood issues, which may have been very useful in this situation????

....

 

[dffman2001]

I'm sure that every year; many, many more people die from malnutrition and disease that goes unnoticed. Perhaps this money that is coming from somewhere should go to these people rather than trying to predict natural disasters that occur relatively infrequently. Undoubtedly millions have died prematurely between each of these highly publicised natural disasters.

 

[gsferrari]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snake Not a tsunami. But EVERY year the Ganges floods, and EVERY year some number of people die from the flooding. EVERY year. So India's history with water caused disasters are very, very real. So where are the warning systems, to warn of any possible flood issues, which may have been very useful in this situation???? ....

Wait a minute...you want a FLOOD warning system that works in rivers to warn people about a Tsunami thats on its way through the ocean? Dont you think this is a bit absurd?

Besides - I am not sure how feasible it is to track a potential tsunami...they are virtually undetectable in deep water and there have been several reports of shipping/merchant and passenger vessels in the ocean that were unscathed...they didnt even notice anything through the entire ordeal...it is only when it hits the coast that it rears its ugly head.

I wish they had a warning system - perhaps an educated hydrogeologist would have been able to predict such an occurence...shared resources etc.

I agree that they do need a warning system...realistically I dont think it will happen...

 

[PinkFloyd]

Terrible what has happened to all those poor souls....... you can't "control" nature and these things happen but pumping up fumes from billions of car exhausts 24/7 on a global scale certainly isn't helping mother nature.

My heart goes out to all those people who lost their lives

 

[bln]

"Water-caused disasters?" What a joke. I don't see any similarity between a flood warning system and what's happened here, one of the largest natural disasters of recent history. Let's stop blaming it on the victims for lack of foresight.

 

[Edwood]

Quote:

Originally Posted by eyeteeth Why? If it's of no real use to people in the affected area, who cares? It's just another self serving, headfi masterbatory exercise. Lets all wring our hands and feel better about ourselves. Or lets just get back to the usual substantive headfi business of posting threads about what colours socks we are wearing.

I was referring to the political arguments that were starting to pop up in this thread.

Quote:

Now, let's look at India for example. "We don't have the money", yet they DO have the money for a nuclear weapons program and ongoing hostilities against Pakistan?? This is just government bulls@!# because perceived power is more important to these governments than protecting their people. This is the point I am trying to make about the region's historical patterns.

My intent was not to start a thread as a forum for political and socio-economic debates, it was informational only. And also to see how other Head-fiers affected by this disaster are doing.

And what's with the instant bitterness and attack? Have you been banned from Outside too long?

If threads were to be solely about action rather than discussion, there would only be a handful here.

Oh, and my socks are white.

-Ed

 

[eyeteeth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Edwood I was referring to the political arguments that were starting to pop up in this thread.

Sorry Ed I didn't mean to appear to single you out. I wasn't. I was making a general population statement.


Um...that India quote isn't from me. It's a quote from Snake.
Heh I also was banned from outside though so...
Totally worth it BTW.

 

[Snake]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bln "Water-caused disasters?" What a joke. I don't see any similarity between a flood warning system and what's happened here, one of the largest natural disasters of recent history. Let's stop blaming it on the victims for lack of foresight.

Sorry. True. But then again it's called Civil Warning System, which many countries have, but this area was lacking. I'm just trying to place it in historical perspective (that disaster study interest again)

(deep sigh) What can we do? Help pick up the pieces. But I'm just saying that with a touch more care, which should have been shown considering the historically known problems of the area, there would be a lot less pieces to pick up.

I guess its a sadness over the loss but a bitterness over the fact that it could have not been as bad.

I am not trying to insult or blame here, nor do I wish to inflame anyone. I guess I'm just angry over the fact that I knew that something like this could happen because in history similar circumstances have happened previously in the area but nothing was done to help in the future. And now we have tremendous suffering (by square area this will be probably the largest event of this century but by loss of life it seems to be the Ganges-Bramaputra river delta storm wave of 1970, with an estimated 500,000 dead)

So pardon me everyone.

Don't mean to seem mean

 

[Jahn]

well the reported dead is up to 80,000 now and counting. it's pretty damn bad even if it doesn't reach that insane number of 500,000. in fact, 80,000 is insane.

 

[Bunnyears]

I think guru has made a very valid point. If the infrastructure isn't there for an evacuation, what can you do? If you warn people of what is coming, then you can land up creating panic. If you don't warn them, then you are acting with callousness, India is a developing country, and that means that it does not yet have the mechanisms to protect its citizens that the USA, or Britain or France have in place. One of the most telling things that I heard on tv was about hurricane Andrew, which hit S.Florida about 10 years back. Apparently, this was one of the largest storms to hit land in this century, and the only reason there was not more death and destruction was because the US infrastructure is so good. there are more than 50,000 dead now, and there will be more because it is only a matter of time before the drinking water is completely corrupted. There are not enough survivors to bury the dead, so all of the diseases that run rampant in such situations are just waiting to happen. These things in the days afterward didn't happen after hurricane Andrew. They will happen in Sri Lanka and Sumatra, and are probably already happening in areas of S India and Africa.

Another thing that we will have to remember, especially 3lusiv3, is that the majority of the victims are women and children. As depraved as you may think (or know) phuket to have been, there were thousands of children killed there. It will be years before the area can be rebuilt.

This was a natural disaster on a scale that human minds cannot completely comprehend. The very least that we can do is to send a contribution, no matter how small to the International Red Cross, or some other relief organization that is going to help with the cleanup. Arguing about India's political priorities is silly. It helps no one. The truth is that India and Sri lanka get tidal waves every few centuries or so. The central United states gets similar earthquakes periodically as well. I am sure that most readers here have never heard of the New Madrid earthquake, or realize that almost all of Yellowstone National Park is a huge caldera of a dormant volcano, not an extinct volcano, a dormant volcano. How we will react if that erupts, and it will be at least 8 or 9 on the richter scale, or we will react to another mid-continent quake is not known. Scientists have warned about this, and we have nothing in place to react to the threats.

 

[KR...]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jahn well the reported dead is up to 80,000 now and counting. it's pretty damn bad even if it doesn't reach that insane number of 500,000. in fact, 80,000 is insane.

I am reading 55,000 not 80,000 but that still an insane number.

I am pretty disgusted by the bickering among members in this of all threads, geez what happen to you guys, your request for the new outside forum got rejected or something?

 

[RYCeT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KR... I am reading 55,000 not 80,000 but that still an insane number. I am pretty disgusted by the bickering among members in this of all threads, geez what happen to you guys, your request for the new outside forum got rejected or something?

I expect it will be more than that. There will be more victims in Indonesia alone. Aceh province has been torn up by civil wars and it is one of the impoverished province in Indonesia. Whatever financial aid goes for this disaster, I don't think it will go 100%, there's always corruption. Banda Aceh, eventhough it's called as the province capital, it's only a small city infrastructure in US standard.