Tsunami Devastation - Asia
A very sad New Year brought our global community closer.
This could happen again - we need each other - tomorrow is not a given.

How YOU can help whenever a huge disaster strikes
Global agencies.

This photo shows what can and does happen somewhere everyday,
whether caused by nature or by politics, be thankful it is not you.
Reach out and help sometimes - one day it COULD be you.

January 14th 2005:
More than 159,632 people from multiple nations were killed by 500 mph tsunami waves,
resulting from a 9.0 earthquake off the coast of Sumatra, on Boxing Day, December 26th 2004.

Millions are now homeless - many of them are now orphans. As many as five million people
are at risk, with little or no water, food, sanitatin or shelter. Supplies are urgently needed to
support the survivors and to try and prevent disease which could double the rising death toll.

The *Red Cross, and its sister charity the Red Crescent, supplied
blankets, cooking utensils and other crucial goods - British Red Cross

The Disasters Emergency Committee  (The DEC)
- is an umbrella group of UK aid organizations - including ActionAid,
Oxfam and the British Red Cross - working to provide clean water,
food and shelter to thousands. To call from the UK dial 0870 60 60 900
The DEC was outstanding with UK public donations for the tsunami,
surpassing 32 million as of December 31st.

What do people left homeless by disaster or war need to survive:
Humanitarian Basics

Medecins Sans Frontieres
- Sent aid workers to the region, focusing on medical care for survivors and
displaced people after rescue operations. OUTSTANDING MEDICAL CARE.

The United Nations Children's Fund, Unicef
- worked to meet the "urgent needs of hundreds of thousands of people"
affected by the tsunami disaster.

Action Aid -  is the biggest charity working in south India. They focused relief work
on the coast of Tamil Nadu, where 7,000 people died. They worked on providing
medical assistance and sanitation for the survivors.

Save the Children
- has already flown a plane out to Sri Lanka carrying plastic sheeting for temporary shelter,
tents to run children's services from, and essentials such as clothing and cooking utensils.

Anti-poverty organisation Care International
- provided food for thousands of affected people in Sri Lanka.

Medair
- provided emergency support to agencies with a long term presence in Sri Lanka
and their medical experts assessed the likelihood of malaria and diarrhoea.

The United Nations World Food Programme
-  donations to feed victims.

Concern
- worked with local partners to meet the needs of families in the
devastated coastal villages of Tamil Nadu, the worst affected state in India.

World Vision
- focus on poverty and sponsoring children.  -

The Salvation Army
- local teams rally and work in affected areas.

Cafod, the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development
- works with partners across Asia to provide shelter, food aid and medical assistance.

Islamic Relief  -  Muslim Hands
- UK based, both work with needy communities, send aid to disasters, and much more.

In Depth Tsunami Info

---

CONFIRMED DEATH TOLL - Jan. 14th 2005
1.  Indonesia: 106,523 - 12,047 missing
2.  Sri Lanka: 30,893 - at least 5,903 missing
     - Children account for 40% or 12,000 of the dead.
3.  India (inc Andaman and Nicobar Is): 16,383
4.  Thailand: 5,313 - 3,345 missing (1,078 foreigners and 2,267 Thais)
5.  Burma: 59
6.  Maldives: 82 - 26 missing
7.  Malaysia: 68
8.  Myanmar: 59
 9.  Somalia: 298
10. Tanzania: 10
11. Seychelles: 1
12. Bangladesh: 2
13. Kenya: 1

FOREIGNERS MISSING AND DEAD - Jan 14th, 2005
At least 2,402 foreigners have been killed - More than 7,000 missing
 

Argentina 2 Austria 12 - many missing Australia 17 dead - 30 missing Belgium 6 Brazil 2 Britain 51 - 900 missing Canada 6 China 3 Croatia 1 Czech Republic 1 Denmark 7 - many missing Finland 2, many missing France 22 - many missing Germany 60 - many missing Greece 9 Hong Kong 10 Hungry 10 Iceland 11 Ireland 2 Israel 4 Italy 20 - many missing

Japan 23 Luxembourg 11 Malta 1 Mexico 1 Netherlands 7 - many missing New Zealand 2 Norway 13 - many missing Philippines 3 Poland 1 Portugal 8 Russia 2 - many missing Singapore 9 - many missing South Africa 11 South Korea 12 Spain 3 Sweden 52 - many missing Switzerland 23 - many missing Taiwan 3 Turkey 1 United States 18

SMH 12/29/04 - Thousands of Westerners Missing
Australia is trying to locate many of its citizens missing in the tsunami-hit ring of countries
round the Indian Ocean, joining many nations around the world in an agonising search.

Several thousand foreigners, mostly holidaying Westerners, are still unaccounted for, adding
to thousands missing from the region itself. Rescue authorities said they were trying to track
1500 Swedes, 800 Norwegians, 720 New Zealanders, 214 Danes, 200 Finns, 200 Czechs,
188 Israelis, 100 Germans and 100 Italians among others. Those numbers are expected to grow.
Thailand listed nearly 1400 people missing yesterday and said many may be tourists at its
beach resorts.

Wayne Broadbridge, whose son, the Melbourne AFL player Troy Broadbridge, went missing
on the Thai island of Phi Phi, said: "We live in hope and we pray that he'll walk off one of
those boats and be as good as gold."

Scandinavian governments fear most of their missing may never be found. "This might be one
of the biggest catastrophes to have struck Norwegians abroad," Norway's Foreign Minister,
Jan Petersen, said.

The Swedish Foreign Minister, Laila Freivalds, said: "We don't know the whereabouts
of 1,500 Swedes. We are afraid that we will never find many of them."

The Swedish Government has even sent text messages to Swedish mobile numbers
in Thailand, in the hope of gaining information about the missing.

Locals and foreigners have crowded hospitals and morgues, poring over lists and peering at
the scores of photos of swollen, unidentified bodies. Many put up photos of the missing,
attaching fraught pleas for help. "I will reward you if you can find her," said the message
with the photo of an Asian girl who was on the island of Phi Phi, Thailand.

Identifying the bodies may also take time. Many are so bloated it is impossible to tell even
their sex. "It's hard to tell which bodies are foreign because they are just unrecognisable,"
said a French rescue volunteer at Khao Lak. Two Australian forensic teams arrived in
Phuket on December 28th, to begin checking bodies, using DNA and dental techniques.

Another problem is a lack of equipment. "We have to carry the bodies out by hand,"
a Thai rescue volunteer said.

The families of a British couple missing in Thailand's south described the futility of the search.
"It has got to the point where we are looking at bodies floating in the sea, and wondering which
one is them," said Nick Mullen, who has lost his son, Christopher, and daughter-in-law, Gaynor.

In Banda Aceh, where the expected death toll is 15,000, some have abandoned hope. "I have
given up searching for their bodies. I just don't know what to do," said Rohani Amad, who
lost her daughter and two sisters.

---

GLOBAL AID PLEDGES - Jan. 6th 2005

Australia: $765m + Aid agencies have received public pledges of $58 million.
- The number of Australians pledging money rose steeply December 31st, with
donations topping more than $17 million in one day. Australians have donated
almost $750,000 an hour.
Germany: $674m, plus public donations $200m.
Japan: $500m
USA: Raised from $35m to $350m overnight Dec.31st, due to world pressure.
(Bush is spending $35 million every 7hrs in Iraq - Over 100,000 Iraqis
confirmed dead since US invasion and occupation)
World Bank: $250m
Norway: $182m plus $30m raised in public donations.
UK: $96m from government - British public has so far raised millions through
the DEC appeal, with call centres taking up to £15,000 a minute. The public
have now raised nearly $146m, which the Government has promised to match.
Italy: $95m plus public donations of $20m.
Sweden: $80m plus $60m in public donations during 2 telethons.
Denmark: $75m
Spain: $68m
France: $66m plus 49m in public donations.
Canada: $66m plus $29m in public donations to be matched by government.
China: $63m
S.Korea: $50m plus $13m in public donations
Taiwan: $50m
EU: $44m
Netherlands: $36m plus $35m in public donations.
Japan: $30m
Saudi Arabia: $30m
Qatar: $25m
Finland: $3.4m
Kuwait: $2.1m
UAE: $2m
Ireland: $1.3m
Singapore: $1.2m
Mozambique, one of the world's poorest nations: $100,000
East Timor: $50,000, also one of the world's poorest countries.
Russian town of Beslan, still mourning the loss of 344 people including scores
of children in a school hostage drama last year, donated $36,000
Nepal also poor, has donated.
Source: Reuters, United Nations

International Aid Report:
International aid arrived in Phuket December 30th, with supplies from France and
Australia being the very first to arrive. The Scandinavian Airlines System has put
on extra flights to Bangkok and Phuket carrying relief supplies. They will return
with injured tourists.

The massive Australian effort in the ravaged countries is being co-ordinated from a
headquarters in Medan, in Indonesia. Four C-130 Hercules transport aircraft are ferrying
aid into Aceh and bringing out injured for medical care in Medan and Jakarta. Two more
C-130s will set up operations in Darwin to provide an "air bridge" between Australia and
Sumatra. Four Iroquois helicopters will also be dispatched from Queensland over the
New Year weekend, which adds to the three already in operation in the disaster zone.

The Australian contingent working in the affected areas also includes advance medical
and assessment/planning teams, a water purification plant, HMAS Kanimbla, which
sailed out of Sydney on New Year's Eve, two Sea King helicopters and two landing craft,
and a 55-bed field hospital staffed by about 90 medical personnel.

In Phuket, Thailand, authorities are now using refrigeration trucks to store bodies while
forensic experts, led by Australian Federal Police officers, attempt to identify the bodies.

The UK sent a special flight to Bangkok on 1st January to pick up UK survivors.
The European Union is planning a special meeting of EU aid ministers to co-ordinate
relief efforts. Denmark has said it plans to head a Nordic-British-Dutch effort to
establish a UN disaster coordination centre on Indonesia's Sumatra island.

January 2nd 2005 - US Aid Finally Begins
1,500 US marines have been sent to Sri Lanka, a dozen naval vessels and 40 helicopters
to the region. Aid is now being delivered to the western coast of Aceh, the epicenter.
The last person to be found alive was on Friday 31st, when workers for the Indonesian
Red Cross workers heard Ichsan Azmil's cries for help from the ruins of his house.
Many bodies have been seen by helicopters, still floating out at sea.

2010
WE NEED EACH OTHER MORE THAN EVER.
WALK AWAY FROM VIOLENCE, HATRED, WAR AND POLITICS.
IT BEGINS WITH YOU!

Miracles and Tragedy
Tsunami killed both rich and poor.

Note To USA
For Americans that admit they don't care.