Given that charity among Islamic peoples are actually quite good, how come the Persian Gulf oil states haven't stepped in with massive financial aid for Indonesia? 
After all, Indonesia is one of the most important members of OPEC....
Posted on 12/28/2004 3:58:04 AM PST by kattracks
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia - The death toll from epic tidal waves that rocked 11 countries rose to 40,000 people on Tuesday after Sri Lanka and Indonesia significantly increased their confirmed deaths. Medical supplies, food aid and water purification systems poured into the region, part of what the U.N. said would be the biggest relief effort the world has ever seen. Millions remained homeless.Rescuers struggled to reach remote locations where thousands more were likely killed by the deadliest tsunami in 120 years. Bodies, many of them children, filled beaches and choked hospital morgues, raising fears of disease across the region.
Sri Lanka on Tuesday raised its death toll past 18,700. In Indonesia, the country closest to Sunday's 9.0 magnitude quake that sent walls of water crashing into coastlines thousands of miles away, the count rose to 15,000, a number the vice president said could rise further.
"Thousands of victims cannot be reached in some isolated and remote areas," said Purnomo Sidik, the national disaster director.
Some 4,400 died in India; 1,000 perished in Thailand. The Red Cross said malaria and cholera could add to the toll.
Desperate residents on Indonesia's Sumatra Island — 100 miles from the quake's epicenter — looted stores Tuesday. "There is no help, it is each person for themselves here," district official Tengku Zulkarnain told el-Shinta radio station.
The disaster could be the costliest in history, with "many billions of dollars" of damage, said U.N. Undersecretary Jan Egeland, who is in charge of emergency relief coordination. Hundreds of thousands lost all they owned, he said.
In Galle, Sri Lanka, officials used a loudspeaker atop a fire engine to tell residents to place bodies on the road for collection. Muslim families used cooking utensils and even their bare hands to dig graves. Hindus in India, abandoning their tradition of burning bodies, held mass burials.
Soldiers and volunteers in Indonesia combed through destroyed houses to try to find survivors — or bodies. The toll in Thailand included at least 700 foreign tourists.
Stories of survival emerged amid the devastation.
A blond-haired 2-year-old found sitting alone on a road in Thailand and taken to a hospital was reunited with his uncle, who saw the boy's picture on the hospital's Web site.
"When I saw Hannes on the Internet, I booked an air ticket to come here in less than five hours," said a man who identified himself only as Jim. Hannes Bergstroem's mother died in the tsunami; his father was in another hospital, the Swedish paper Aftonbladet reported.
In Malaysia, a 20-day-old baby was found floating on a mattress soon after the waves hit Sunday. She and her family were reunited.
The geographic scope of the disaster was unparalleled. Relief organizations used to dealing with a centralized crisis had to distribute resources over 11 countries on two continents.
Helicopters in India rushed medicine to stricken areas. In Sri Lanka, the Health Ministry dispatched 300 physicians to the disaster zone by helicopter.
Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar said the United States was sending helicopters. An airborne surgical hospital from Finland arrived, and a German aircraft was en route with a water purification plant.
On top of all this, there could be an aftershock of sufficient magnitude to create more Tsunamis.
And the Sri Lankan powers that be refused help from Israeli's?
In his all powerful and absolute control of human destiny, the Lord is sending us a message we had better heed. As the "secular" people of our country and the rest of the world try to become living Gods and replace religion with nothing of faith, the Lord sends us a terrible message that clearly demonstrates the mortality of man!!! Time to listen up and get real!!!
The U.S. should send no aid whatsoever to the Muslim countries nor to India. Let the rich Muslim countries take care of their own - that will leave less money for terrorist activities. Let India's workforce that has taken American jobs step up to the plate.
Perhaps slick willie's buddies, the RIADY's can step in and save their country of Indonesia.
Somehow.....It's all George Bushs fault.....
I think you're right.
It used to be (in the 90s) that Sri Lanka was the largest leper colony in the world. I wonder how this will affect the region with disease being pushed by the disaster.
On previous posts I mentioned donating to "World Harvest", and I should have said "World Vision", in case anyone cares.
Given that charity among Islamic peoples are actually quite good, how come the Persian Gulf oil states haven't stepped in with massive financial aid for Indonesia? After all, Indonesia is one of the most important members of OPEC....
The "message" is the Indo-Australian plate continues to move north into the Eurasian and associated subplates.
Really. I would have never guessed. So what?
Confirmed Death Toll in Asian Quake and Tsunamis Exceeds 55,000
"the Lord sends us a terrible message that clearly demonstrates the mortality of man!!!"
Sad that you would use a tragedy like this to scold people when it should bring us together. Very selfish on your part.
Most of the people that died believed in God.
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