Sad Picture that will probably make you cry - Indonesian Earthquake

AP ^ | 5-28-06 | AP

[tallhappy]

An Indonesian man washes his child's body outside a hospital after strong earthquake in Bantul Yogyakarta, central Java, Indonesia, Saturday, May 27, 2006. A powerful earthquake flattened buildings in central Indonesia early Saturday, killing at least 2,900 people and injuring thousands more in the country's worst disaster since the 2004 tsunami.(AP Photo/Bayu Adi)

[tallhappy]

So sad. Yet touching in the horrible sadness.

He reminds me of my boy, maybe that's why it touches me so much. He looks like an angel sleeping. And the tenderness of the probably grandfather daubing away the dirt.

I can't imagine....

[JBGUSA]

There has been a horrible human tragedy over the weekend. Over 6,000 people have been killed as a result of a combination earthquake and torrential rains in Indonesia. Many Muslims are suffering or dead.

Now, the beautiful dream. The United Nations will take a holiday from Israel and America bashing in order to cooperate with the relief efforts. Kofi Annan’s son will cough up money he innocently and mistakingly impounded for the benefit of the survivors. Because many of the victims are presumably Muslim, the Arab countries of Saudi Arabia will divert their “charitable” collections from finding ways to plunge planes into buildings and slaughter infidels into to funding relief for the victims.

While as usual the Western countries will help, the nations of the world will send their unemployed people to help, and the leaders of these countries will empty their Swiss bank accounts and open their hearts. This includes moneys that have been given to victim nations such as Sri Lanka and Indonesia for disaster preparedness, that has been stored for safekeeping in numbered accounts in Lucerne, Geneva, and Luxemburg. Maybe Indonesia will even welcome humanitarian help from Israel.

One thing, momentarily, is marring this dream. Below is a list of the donors to date (Link). What's wrong with this picture? Who's missing from the donor table?

May 28, 2006

A Look at Relief Efforts in Indonesia

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 12:41 p.m. ET

A look at some of the international aid efforts to Indonesia after a 6.3-magnitude earthquake left thousands dead or homeless:

INTERNATIONAL RED CROSS: Appealed for $9.8 million in aid

UNITED STATES: Pledged $2.5 million

EUROPEAN UNION: Pledged $3.8 million

AUSTRALIA: Pledged at least $2.7 million

SOUTH KOREA: Sent 19 doctors and rescuers, $100,000 in medical gear

MALAYSIA: Sent more than 300 disaster relief experts, doctors, paramedics; sent a ton of food, blankets, and supplies

CHINA: Offered $2 million cash, rescue personnel and materials

JAPAN: Government sending relief goods and financial aid; sent seven doctors and nurses. Japanese Red Cross pledged $896,000

SINGAPORE: Sending 78 medical, disaster and rescue workers, search dogs; pledged $50,000 in supplies

NEW ZEALAND: Pledged at least $316,500

INDONESIAN RED CROSS and INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF RED CROSS AND RED CRESCENT SOCIETIES: Mobilized more than 400 volunteers and staff

U.N. WORLD FOOD PROGRAM: Sent plane with medicine and medical personnel, eight truckloads of fortified noodles and biscuits

U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA): Emergency grant of $50,000

UNICEF: Prepared to send tents, hygiene kits, health kits, school supplies

ITALY: Government sending 27 tons of tents, blankets, cooking kits, plastic sheeting, generators, pumps and water purification equipment. Italian Bishops Conference of the Catholic Church donating $2.5 million

SWITZERLAND: Sending two experts, pledged $100,000 to Indonesian Red Cross

BRITAIN: Pledged $5.6 million to be channeled through United Nations, $1.85 million through Red Cross

BELGIUM: Pledged $832,000

[Cindy]

Note: The following text is a quote:
---

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/05/20060527-2.html

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
May 27, 2006

President's Statement on Indonesian Earthquake



On behalf of the American people, Laura and I send our deepest sympathies to the families and friends of those who lost their lives in the devastating earthquake in Indonesia. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Indonesian people as they comfort all those affected by this terrible disaster.

Through financial and material support, the United States is assisting with recovery efforts in coordination with Indonesian authorities, and we stand prepared to provide additional assistance as needed.

###

[Berlin_Freeper]

I think it is a rude intrusion of privacy and an assault on personal dignity, to be shoving a camera in a dead persons face.

He even had to stalk behind the man to take the shot. Disgusting.

Would the AP photographer be so inclined to take a photo for profit to the mass media, if it were his own child?

I don't think so.

[vimto]

I have no intention of excusing Muslim countries about not quickly giving to the Indonesian relief effort, but I wondered if they have a very different attitude in the sense of disasters being the 'Will of Allah' and so somehow it is wrong to mitigate them?

I recall a disaster in a tunnel where the air con failed and many hundreds died, The official line was (something like "It was the will of Allah that they should die. If they had been anywhere else they would have died at that instant." A perspective we cannot understand.

Prayers to the Lord for the injured the bereaved.

[rogue yam]

Saudi Arabia pledged what? Iran? Kuwait? U.A.E.? Etc.?

Big surprise.

[Old_Mil]

Over 6,000 people

First it was 2,000. Then 2,500. Then 3,000. Now 6,000. It never ceases to amaze me how MSM body counts multiply within days of a natural disaster...especially when it occurs in a remote area in a third world country when it is difficult to make a phone call on a good day.

You'd almost have to think these writers are making the stats up.

[Recovering_Democrat]

Prayers for the country: healing in the physical, mental and spiritual arenas of their lives. Each child, each person is loved by God.

[HisKingdomWillAbolishSinDeath]

John 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

[wgflyer]

"...I wondered if they have a very different attitude in the sense of disasters being the 'Will of Allah' and so somehow it is wrong to mitigate them?..."

My own experience of more than two years working directly with Saudis in the 1970s taught me that the will of allah is a personal thing. Allah completely agrees with and supports the desires of the individual. Don't want to do it? Allah agrees. Too lazy? Allah's will. Pissed off? Allah lets you take revenge. It is a wonderful way to justify just about anything at all. It's really pretty much that simple.

[killjoy]

I think it is a rude intrusion of privacy and an assault on personal dignity, to be shoving a camera in a dead persons face.

As a photographer, I completely disagree. I have taken similar pictures and I can assure you that absolutely no disrespect is ment when they are taken.

During the Vietnam War, photographer Tim Page took a shot of a guy who had just been in an ambush and was being helicoptered out of the area. He said at the time, the guy wanted to kill him for taking the picture. Twenty years later, he sent a letter to Tim Page thanking him. He told Tim Page it is the only picture he has of himself in Vietnam.

[Global2010]

Amen.

[SkyPilot]

It is a tragedy, and the west should respond with Christian charity and aid. We should model ourselves as Christ would.

We must also remember that Indonesia, and Muslim nations, are hostile to us.

_{An Indonesian student from Syarif Hidayatullah University carries a portrait of U.S. President George W. Bush during Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit, in Jakarta May 11, 2006. Iran's nuclear programme is peaceful and has no military purpose, Ahmadinejad said on Thursday, adding he was ready to engage in dialogue with anybody. REUTERS/Crack Palinggi}

During the Tsunami relief effort, the government ordered that US C-130s had to fly at night, to make the American relief effort less conspicuous for the people and for cameras. Seeing the American flag on their tail during daylight operations was said to be "un-Islamic" by one local official.

Prayers to the suffering children and victims of this quake.

[Ichneumon]

First it was 2,000. Then 2,500. Then 3,000. Now 6,000. It never ceases to amaze me how MSM body counts multiply within days of a natural disaster...especially when it occurs in a remote area in a third world country when it is difficult to make a phone call on a good day. You'd almost have to think these writers are making the stats up.

Um... You might want to think this through a bit more.

You tripped over the reason without realizing it when you said, "especially when it occurs in a remote area in a third world country when it is difficult to make a phone call on a good day", but you failed to understand it.

The reason that fatality counts rise hour by hour and day by day after these kinds of disasters is precisely *because* the counts from more remote areas aren't available immediately, and begin to trickle in one or more days after the initial disaster, continually raising the totals.

In the first hours, tallies of, say, 2000 will come in from the more accessible areas. Later, another 500 are reported found dead in the first areas to be reached by rescuers. Then another 500 after a few more hours as even more remote places are checked and word gets back to the central headquarters, etc.

There's absolutely nothing suspicious about how "counts multiply within days of a natural disaster", and there's no reason it should "amaze" you -- it's to be *expected*.

[barker]

BRITAIN: Pledged $5.6 million to be channeled through United Nations, $1.85 million through Red Cross

5 million of which will stay at the UN for "administrative costs" and maybe 500,000 will get to the victims from the Red Cross.

[Calvin Locke]

There's a documentary on the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. A [professional] photographer only took about
a dozen shots at most, immediately afterwards.

Can't remember if it was shock, or respect.

IMHO, he should have kept documenting. There's always the editing process.

[killjoy]

During the Tsunami relief effort, the government ordered that US C-130s had to fly at night, to make the American relief effort less conspicuous for the people and for cameras. Seeing the American flag on their tail during daylight operations was said to be "un-Islamic" by one local official.

Do you have a source for this? I highly doubt this is true.

[SkyPilot]

I worked part of the airlift for Operation Unified Assistance. Believe me, it is true.

[Ditter]

The body count is rising because they are still finding bodies and they will continue to find them for days and weeks to come. Were you suggesting by being "amazed" that something sinister is going on with the reporting and the counting?

I heard on the news today that another body had been found in New Orleans.