chaos: Well, I can imagine that the death toll can rise that high. Still, it's so hard to believe.Originally Posted by Doors
chaos: Well, I can imagine that the death toll can rise that high. Still, it's so hard to believe.
A moment of silence will be held at Eyes on Final Fantasy Forums within the next two hours for all those affected by this tragedy around the world.
Never before in recorded history has a tsunami claimed more than just over 30,000 lives (Japan, 1883), yet over 45,000 are feared dead in Indonesia alone. The death toll is expected to rise above 100,000 and could possibly double beyond this amount as illness, disease and plague begin to spread through the waters.
Bow before the mighty Javoo!
R.I.P. Victims.
Yeah, saying that it sucks would be a critical understatement.
According to Wikipedia, there has been a death as far away as South Africa, as well as an estimated 1,200 displaced in Madagascar.
Tourists from at least 27 different countries of all corners of the world have been confirmed dead.
On a more minor note, just to emphasize the power of this earthquake and the subsequent tsunamis: Tsunami energy that passed into the Pacific Ocean caused wave fluctuations of 2.6 meters at Manzanillo, Colima, due to focusing of tsunami energy from the Pacific plate rise and local terrain. That's a 2.6m wave fluctuation in Mexico.
Bow before the mighty Javoo!
100,000 deaths is hard to take, especially in such an unexpected fashion. I will be making a donation of some kind.
I just made my donation via Amazon.com
I hope Amazon.com and Apple.com(the sites I listed) will do the same. It be a shame if they only act as a vendor towards donations simply to "look good" in a sign of tragedy...like so many celebrities did on that stupid 9/11 telethon.
I would like to personally thank the EoFF staff for the moment of silence. It really makes me happy to know that there is still real charity and caring in the world.
I would also like to make a special note. The Doctors Without Borders website has been getting so much traffic that the server actually crashed! To me that's a VERY good sign!
I got a little money for Xmas and I think perhaps someone who's actually in need could make better use of it than I.
What makes me happiest is that this is a foreign tragedy and yet there's a decent effort from the US to help. Now if we can just keep doing this sort of thing.....
I'm probably going to donate to Action Against Hunger and, if it doesn't bankrupt me, Doctors Without Borders, the latter of which my parents both donate heavily towards, and a cousin of my mother's works with on a regular basis. Both of these are organizations that I respect and agree with 100%, and I invite you to check out their websites.
Regardless of whether you are religious or not, whether there is a God or not, this event deserves our most sincere and compassionate prayers and thoughts. I can only begin to imagine what it must be like right now, with so much widespread panic, chaos, death and destruction and this is AFTER the fact.
We, as the people of the world, must use this as a rallying point, a moment to make our stand and try to somehow, someway find some good and hope in a seemingly hopeless situation. The worst thing we can possibly do is stand pat and allow this event to completely cripple the lives of so many people and families. Make donations, of money, of goods, of your time, as much as you feel you can in an effort to respond to this, and perhaps we can stem any further tide which seems to be engulfing the region more and more with every single day.
The death toll is staggering, with tallies now well over 100,00 and as others have noted, there is a great chance the number will climb above 200,000 with the spread of illness and disease as time passes on. Yet, amidst all of this, a single thought struck me which I found very profound. This disaster struck everyone, it didn't discriminate, both those who lived in grand water front estates as well as those barely surviving in fishing shacks were struck down with the only common bond being that they were all human, as we all are. Hopefully, even in such horrific and trying times, some perspective may emerge that one cannot be judged on how much they own or what their social status is, but rather that they indeed lived, and lived to their fullest potential.
There is a growing sentiment in much of the world, especially the Western World, that we are immune to such disaster, that we will escape unharmed from the wrath of nature, of human evil, and the like, but we must get these thoughts out of our head. We are all, first and foremost, people, and regardless of where we live, we all matter in some regard. In the last two decades, millions of people have been killed either through famine, through oppression, through genocide, through natural causes or as a result of illness from these causes and it seems that they routinely get swept under the proverbial rug since they do not directly impact our own lives. How many of these lives could be saved with even a little more help and compassion, a tiny bit more aid and outreach from the rest of the world? Perhaps not even a one, but that does not mean we should stop trying to help those less fortunate than us.
If nothing more, we must really, truly begin to realize how lucky many of us do have it and be ever so thankful for the lives we are able to live and continue living. I know I have been guilty on more than one occasion for thinking way too selfishly and forgetting to reach out to other people and try to help improve their lives as well as my own. It is something I work on routinely and continue to try to improve on with each passing day.
Now, I by no stretch of the imagination mean to say that we must donate all we have and more to others and leave nothing for ourselves, as that would be fool-hardy at best, but rather if we can try to temper our own needs and every once in a while, attempt to give our time and something else we may possess in abundance to others who are struggling, who are less fortunate, then we'll greatly enrich not only our own lives but the world as a whole. Don't be discouraged or beat yourself up if you feel like you're not doing enough, do as much as you can sincerely do and that in and of itself will make a world of difference. More than ever, we must be a world united by a common compassion, and perhaps we can begin to pick up the pieces from this tragedy and find some way to help those who have suffered so greatly from it. Yet, even in the future, should this situation ever find some resolution, we must not allow ourselves to fall back into completely focsuing on ourselves, but must always strive to help.
I thank EoFF very much for having the wisdom, empathy and compassion to have this moment of silence, as it speaks volumes, ironically, to all those associated.
Take care all, together we can make a difference.
It's sad, and we can't even blame anyone for it. The death toll rises by a few thousands every day. It's horrible...to see such big numbers printed on the front of the newspaper and know that each of that 40,000 was someone once living...
Malaysia was hit by the tsunami, but Indonesia shielded most of it, and that's probably why I'm not dead. Maybe. On second thought, maybe not. Indonesia shielded M'sia and took the brunt of the waves, so only the tip of Malaysia was hit.
Well, no one really knew. There isn't any tsunami detector thingy in the Indian Ocean, although there is one in the Pacific. nik0tine said so too:
[q=nik0tine]I have disagree with you, D. The Pacific ocean has a "Tsunami warning system" set up. The Indian ocean does not.[/q]
But apparently a few countries did know something was going to happen, and they 'couldn't get through to the proper authorities', as it said on CNN. That's just wrong.
[q=Chris]I'm leaving for the Philippines next week so I'm a little nervous... although I doubt there's anything to be afraid of.[/q]
My best friend was moving to the Phillipines on the day the disaster struck. But I seriously doubt there will be anything wrong...Phillipines wasn't hit that badly-in fact, was it even hit?? Thailand, yes, but I'm not sure about the Phillipines.
You seem down on them. But this time there won't be any international relief funds; they're not accepting any (yet). They said that they have enough resources, and then some to give as aid, too.
Newspapers.
Confusion, chaos and misery.It makes me feel guilty to celebrate NY's.
Last edited by Resha; 12-30-2004 at 10:43 AM.
The problem now is the disease. On the news it said that 5 million people were in urgent need of food, water and medical supplies.
Another thing that I heard is the 45 million dollars the US has given to the affected areas is the equivalent to what they spend in 5 hours fighting the war in Iraq.
Hope that Portugal will contribute with smth too! The deads are over 87.000
Where's that 87 billion now? 87 billion could go a long way if we weren't using it to blow people up. Dman, I need to donate.Another thing that I heard is the 45 million dollars the US has given to the affected areas is the equivalent to what they spend in 5 hours fighting the war in Iraq.
I would rather we blow up the TERRORIST than the terrorist blow up us.
To be quite honest, I'm glad there's no person to blame for this. I'm not a big fan of finger pointing, nor do I believe that punishing people makes the world a better place. That's just my personal opinion, but I wanted to offer it in case someone hadn't considered that angle.
Wanting to enjoy what time you have left to you is no crime. I think we should learn from this that life really CAN change drastically in the blink of an eye, so find what goodness you can. If you still feel bad, you could try saying a toast with any company you might have. Keep the event and the people in your thoughts, but don't be forever crushed. If you want to help those in need, there are ways.
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