Posted on 12/27/2004 6:04:21 AM PST by IAF ThunderPilot
The death toll from Sunday's natural disaster in Southeast Asia has reached 23,000, of them 12,000 in Sri Lanka, 6,000 in India, 4,700 in Indonesia and over 800 in Thailand.
In a press conference held Monday afternoon at the Foreign Ministry, Deputy Director General Nissim Ben-Sheetrit said that so far 450 Israelis in the region have been contacted. Ministry officials said earlier that over 500 were still unaccounted for.
According to Ben-Sheetrit, "I cannot say with certainty that there are no Israeli fatalities. We are examining this possibility and I hope there would not be any. Currently, between 7 and 14 Israelis are known to have been injured".
Israeli Foreign Ministry officials and doctors flew to Southeast Asia on Monday to search for missing Israeli tourists and provide assistance to countries struck by a massive earthquake and tidal waves.
Israeli army doctors are to offer medical assistance in Thailand and Sri Lanka, and army teams will look for missing Israelis in southern India.
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom told Israel Radio Monday that there were a limited number of Israeli casualties and possibly fatalities in the tsunamis that struck the region.
According to Shalom, the number of Israeli tourists injured in the quake appeared to be lower than what had been initially believed.
Four Israeli tourists were reported as missing on Monday morning, acting Israeli Consul in Bangkok, Shlomi Kaufman, told Army Radio. According to Kaufman, "We received reports from people who said they had witnessed that something happened to those four".
Ten Israelis are hospitalized in hospitals in and around the southern Thai island of Phuket. All sustained light to moderate injuries.
In addition, it appears there are no foreign casualties on the islands of Andaman in the Indian Ocean. Dozens of Israelis are known to be on that island.
The Foreign Ministry situation room in Jerusalem: 02 5303155.
Shalom said Israel would assist its citizens in every way possible and also offered Israel's assistance to the nations struck by the natural disaster. The Ministry is focusing on getting Israelis onto buses in Bangkok, from where they will be flown to Israel.
Israel's national carrier, EL AL, said it would not charge extra fees or cancellation fees to people wishing to push back planned flights to Thailand, and added it would expedite the return flights of Israelis from Bangkok.
Israelis have so far not appeared on a list of foreign nationals killed in the disaster published by the Thailand Police. Most Israelis are reported to have made their way to Ko Phangang, far from the afflicted areas, for a series of full moon parties that started on Christmas Eve.
Foreign Ministry Director-General Ron Prosor said that Israel would dispatch $100,000 worth of medicine and food to Thailand and India, Israel Radio reported. In addition, a Foreign Ministry delegation including three top doctors from the Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem and an officer from the Home Front Command departed for the area to provide emergency assistance.
The death toll from the most powerful earthquake in four decades climbed steadily throughout Sunday as authorities counted bodies washed up on beaches and left hanging like ragdolls from trees. Foreign tourists were among the dead and the thousands of others who were reported missing. Tens of thousands fled the coasts for higher ground, fearing aftershocks and further flood surges.
On Monday afternoon, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz asked the Israel Defense Forces to ready a medical relief team for immediate dispatch to Thailand.
The IDF is also preparing to send humanitarian aid to the region, primarily Sri Lanka. The Defense Ministry said Monday that the teams would be sent as soon as their coordination with the ministry were completed.
Mofaz offered aid of two kinds - a search and rescue team from the Home Front Command, as well as consignments of food and medicines.
I googled 'greatest disasters' and checked out a few links.
Spanish flu, 1918 - 1919... 20 - 40 million dead.
Yangtze River flood, 1931... 3 - 5 million dead.
So yeah, this tsunami event is horrifying as events unfold; but in the historical scheme of things, not even close.
Thanks.
THANKS.
MUCH.
Probably not.
But plenty loose with the haughty accusations.
HOW ABOUT
INSTEAD OF TO you individuals
to WORLD VISION as aid for victims or to FR.
THIS STRIKES TO THE HEART of reality.
My undestanding of God is that, as His Scripture says, ?MERCY? TRIUMPHS OVER JUDGMENT.
--THAT those who [truly] SEEK HIM SHALL FIND HIM.
--THAT those who "CALL UPON THE NAME OF THE LORD SHALL BE SAVED."
God has made much provision for finding safety in Him. He does insist that No man comes to the Father but through Jesus, His Only Begotten Son by whom was all created that was made.
And, I don't believe anyone should risk neglecting to walk as close to God hand in hand with Jesus as possible.
It may, in some cases where God feels the heart attitude warrants it--it may be the case that God will offer those who were truly seeking Him but had not yet found Him--the chance of a Salvation-through-Christ experience at their moment of death--if the so choose. This is not per se anything I'd want to bank on in the slightest. And, there's only hints to point in that direction. Nothing to build a doctrine on.
I just know that God desires Biblical 'excuses' to save people, not Biblical excuses to damn them.
And, I know HE HAS FAR MORE COMPASSION FOR THE POOR AND HURTING THAN ALL THE COMPASSION OF ALL MANKIND PUT TOGETHER.
He alone feels and knows every lost hair; every pain; every loss; every death.
And somehow, He balances it all out and is more than fair for each individual. Of that, I have no doubt.
I don't know. Saw the 12/23 sign up date. Haven't looked at other posts.
Why lecture me with facts I already know?
I have indeed run him off it seems.
Kindly examine his sign up date (12/23/04) and his few hit/run posts to-date, particularly the totally irrelevant, unfair and inappropriate slam at Jerry Falwell on such a thread as this.
Glad to have been of service. I believe this thread, still on topic, is once again "Troll-Free".
Sorry. Would never want to hinder such worthy work.
Always like to see your posts. Thanks.
Blessings where you are.
The point of my post was to point out the absurdity of assigning blame to anybody in a tragedy like this. I never imagined it would set such a huge brush fire. Excuse me.
You can help out , please do :
http://www.redcross.org/ (Red Cross United States)
http://www.icrc.org/eng (International Red Cross)
http://www.redcross.or.th/english/home/index.php4
(Thai Red Cross)
http://www.careusa.org/ (Care USA)
http://www.catholicrelief.org/
(CRS very good one for India)
http://www.directrelief.org/sections/our_work/asia_earthquake.html
(Direct Relief International )
http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/humanitarian_assistance/disaster_assistance/help/index.html
(USAID United States State Dept )
no not really...
find the dead, mourn them, get back on your feet....
Warning systems only evolve through the actual experience of disasters. According to a piece I translated for an NHK publication about disaster reporting in Japan, the Japanese tsunami reporting system has evolved through two major diasters:
In 1983, the Sea of Japan Chubu earthquake claimed 104 lives, of which 100 were the result of the tsunami that followed the offshore quake. At the time, it took 19 minutes to issue a tsunami warning, by which time it was too late.
Again, in 1993, the Hokkaido Nanseki-oki earthquake caused a 20 meter (65 ft.) tsunami that took a toll of 230 lives. By this time, NHK and the Meteorological Agency had cut the time between the quake and the warning to 7 minutes, but the tsunami struck the island of Okushiri, which was closest to the epicenter, 5 minutes after the quake.
At present, they have reduced the time to 3 minutes.
Tsunamis travel 500 km/h (310 mph) in the open ocean, and in shallower costal areas at 165 km/h (100 mph), meaning this is the speed they are traveling when they hit.
(Information taken from Disaster Reporting and the Public Nature of Broadcasting published by NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute; 2004.)
Obviously, with time frames like this, preventive measures are difficult. It requires not only an excellent reporting system, but an effective mechanism for immediate evacuation and an educated public. Considering the time differentials involved, this is next to impossible in most areas.
The answer was no, not even close...
Hiroshima Atomic bomb | 20,000 tons of TNT |
Hydrogen bomb tested 1952 | 10,000,000 tons of TNT |
Mt. St. Helens blast 1980 | 10,000,000 tons of TNT |
9.0 Richter Earthquake | 1,000,000,000 tons of TNT |
earth.ast.smith.edu/courses/ast220/PPT/group06.ppt
At any rate....we will be enjoying your posts in the future. Just remember, they are all archived, and any Freeper can recall them at any time for a review. Enjoy! Thanks!
Thanks. Consider me warned and chastized. A word to the wise, as they say. Meanwhile, I'll consider your message my welcome on board.
Gleaned from Japanese news sources today regarding the tsunami:
Seismic waves from the quake traveled circled the earth three times. They were strong enough to jolt the earth's rotation.
The Japanese government has pledged $30 million in aid for areas afffected by the disaster. Japan along with Australia will help put in place tsunami warning systems in the area.
Malachi 1:11..."For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the LORD of hosts."
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