Bush Announces Plans to Form Coalition for Tsunami Aid

Lash wrote:

The aid isn't the only thing going up. When I went to work this morning--the death toll was around 84 K. Riding home, it was 117K.

I STILL don't think we have grasped the enormity of what has happened. I can't get my head around the land area affected--and how there can be one hundred and seventeen thousand dead people. I can't even imagine one thousand dead people. To me, it seems if the ocean came in and swamped a huge area of land, fewer people would be found, than would be lost in the sea.

It makes me think the death toll should be about a third or less of those lost.

I don't know what you mean by this last sentence.

Today I watched fly-by footage over some island community and there was almost nothing to show that people had ever lived there. They guessed it had been home to over 10,000 people... all presumed dead. Most of the mainland dead were killed by getting trapped in debris and drowned. Their bodies were left twisted in the debris when the water receded. So many that in some places they don't have time to even think about identifying them It's all they can do to separate them for burial by bulldozer before the diseases come.

The Tsunami wasn't a giant wall of water breaking like a giant surfing wave... it was more like a very rapidly rising tide that just kept rising impossibly fast. I've lived on the water for years now and I still can't imagine a tide rising like that... let alone without warning. A Massive Cat 5 hurricane could bring a storm surge like that, but everyone would leave days before it arrived. It must have seemed almost surreal in the impossibility of it. Sad

Death toll now 125,000. The news said the tide washed in on one beach with over 1,000 bodies in it and survivors are starting to die now too. I fear the final death toll could reach 200,000. Crying or Very sad

I'm going to be really upset if Jeb doesn't come back asking for at least a Billion. Powell says our contribution may well be measured in billions. It better be. This has got to take center stage.

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Yeah. My bad at wording.

I thought the bodies found would only represent a third of the total people lost. I think for every one person found dead--there are likely two that will never be found.

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Oh, you're here. Powell's on Nightline ABC right now!

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Lash wrote:

The aid isn't the only thing going up. When I went to work this morning--the death toll was around 84 K. Riding home, it was 117K.

I STILL don't think we have grasped the enormity of what has happened. I can't get my head around the land area affected--and how there can be one hundred and seventeen thousand dead people. I can't even imagine one thousand dead people. To me, it seems if the ocean came in and swamped a huge area of land, fewer people would be found, than would be lost in the sea.

It makes me think the death toll should be about a third or less of those lost.

I have a real far that that the death toll could reach 1,000,000.

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OCCOM BILL wrote:

JustWonders wrote:
That Egelund guy must have really ticked some people off LOL.

LOOK:

http://s1.amazon.com/exec/varzea/ts/my-pay-page/PX3BEL97U9A4I/104-2326617-1358340

(When I checked this morning, it was just over $2M)!!!!!!

now it's up to $4,072,378.00 as of 9:30 Eastern Time. That's some pretty serious progress!

Another 3.5 million in the last 24 hours totaling $7,541,023.54. Shocked

I wouldn't have thought one website could be so effective.

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.

And in two days UNICEF has raised more than in all of 2003

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That is nice Lash. Amazon picked up another $3 million today bringing their raise-total to $10,537,346.87. Maybe we'll get in the habit and stop watching people starve to death by the millions. It would be nice if some good change could come of this.

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Oh, and Colin Powell said give cash, not goods. Easier to move, and they can buy what they need. What they don't need is a bunch of do-gooders spending more money than canned goods are worth to ship over planes full of them. Just send cash. (Obviously not a quote)

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As an short aside: amazon doesn't collect that money only in the USA but worldwide.

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Walter Hinteler wrote:

As an short aside: amazon doesn't collect that money only in the USA but worldwide.

I'm sure that's true and likely receiving a similar percentage as book-sales. I thought I saw MoveOn.org pushing foreign charities that were in better position to act now or something and I think it's wonderful. The total of the raise is infinitely more important than the breakdown of sources. I continue to be impressed and encouraged that a single website has been so successful though. I wonder if Ebay is doing something similar.

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Well, actually it is NOT a single website: amazon has different ones in all the different countries, but only the collection is centralised at amozon.com (you get re-directed there for spending the money).

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OCCOM BILL wrote:

Walter Hinteler wrote:
As an short aside: amazon doesn't collect that money only in the USA but worldwide.
I'm sure that's true and likely receiving a similar percentage as book-sales. I thought I saw MoveOn.org pushing foreign charities that were in better position to act now or something and I think it's wonderful. The total of the raise is infinitely more important than the breakdown of sources. I continue to be impressed and encouraged that a single website has been so successful though. I wonder if Ebay is doing something similar.

I found a list of them early yesterday while browsing around - pretty sure eBay was on it, along with bunches of others Smile

I've also been reading some controversy about whether or not it's best to continue "business as usual"...meaning places like Phuket depend on tourist dollars for survival, so if you're contemplating a tropical vacation.....

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Walter Hinteler wrote:

Well, actually it is NOT a single website: amazon has different ones in all the different countries, but only the collection is centralised at amozon.com (you get re-directed there for spending the money).

Interesting... some poker sites are like that... what other names do they go by?

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Different national endings, like co.uk, de, fr etc etc etc

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Didn't be on the German site since yesterday: now - it's still redirected to amozon.com - the German money goes to the German Red Cross.
(After a quick check: same on other sites: to national Red Cross organisation, but all via amazon.com.)

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JustWonders wrote:

I've also been reading some controversy about whether or not it's best to continue "business as usual"...meaning places like Phuket depend on tourist dollars for survival, so if you're contemplating a tropical vacation.....

That's a tough one. I followed this link yesterday and admit I was pretty appalled... but then started thinking about the billions they must be losing in tourism. Are those people any better or worse than those who cancelled their trips and vacationed elsewhere (with there vacation dollars)? Obviously the intolerant ones were jackasses, but that country depends heavily on tourism too. I think I'd have spent my vacation volunteering rather than soaking up the sun, but then if I truly wanted a vacation does that mean I should take my money elsewhere? After the hurricanes here, people looked forward to returning to their normal routine, but the hurricane was an inconvenience, not a horror. I just don't know. I'm not traveling to the tropics anytime soon but I have put Phuket on my list of must-sees.

That name is the beat-all for imagining a carefree vacation, no?
(if mispronounced :wink:)

Walter: I see. I thought you meant they actually did business under another name altogether. It matters little which red cross gets it I would think. Anyway you slice it, the $11,000,000 they've now raised is pretty impressive. I've purchased hundreds of books there (or through there, since I mostly buy used) over the years, but would never have guessed they had that broad of reach. 138,627 payments through that source alone is just staggering to me.

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That is apparently one site too Walter, because the UK website recognizes my one-click purchase settings and invited me to add to the $186,000.16
# of Payments: 3918 they've collected so far. Btw, are you saying it did redirect until yesterday, or were you just assuming that? (Not that matters, just curious)

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Well, they tell you today as well that you get redirected to "com", but yesterday it was a totally different site (looked like "google-translated").

(Funny, I had to register at four sites - since I purchase from those four - althought they "know" me.)

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EBay is helping too... and in the cleverest of ways. Via PayPal, which is now an eBay company, you can donate 10-100% of the proceeds of anything you sell, or just straight donate, to any of 8 prominent charities. Or, you can browse the items for sale, whose proceeds go to your charity of choice and even see the percentage being donated (100% in many cases).

This is terrific, like the Amazon source, IMO, because it bypasses the strong possibility of fraud that you have in call-center environments. I predict there will be hundreds of millions in fraudulently raised capital from this disaster. The scumbags must be licking their chops.

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Bush Announces Plans to Form Coalition for Tsunami Aid

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