9.0

[Kenrick]

Big, fast waves kill lots of people.

[schild]

More than 4,500 people have been reported dead in Sri Lanka. Most of them, authorities said, were in the eastern district of Batticaloa. Thousands were missing and more than a half million displaced.

In southern Sri Lanka, 200 prisoners escaped when the waves swept away a high-security prison in Matara.

What's scarier? The waves or the ex-cons running the streets. This is a pretty good argument for there being no prisons on coastlines or faultlines.

[stray]

What a frightening way to go. Glad my family in Thailand lives further up North. They didn't feel much except some heavy winds.

[MrHat]

13k and rising.

Prayers go out to the survivors.

[Paelos]

Man that's horrific. I can't imagine sitting at home weathering a storm and being obliterated by such a force of nature. I'm sorry that many lost family members in the tragedy.

[Kenrick]

21K.  I've never seen a death toll rising so fast.

[stray]

The one that happened in Turkey in 1999 had a huge death toll as well. I'm not sure what number they settled on, but at the time, they estimated around 30-40k.

[Rodent]

They're reporting 28000 dead so far, with alot more comming.

[SirBruce]

40,000 now.

Arthur C. Clarke is fine, though.

Bruce

[Hanzii]

This page won't bring any new info: http://politiken.dk/VisArtikel.iasp?PageID=351050 (it's in a language you don't understand).

But the included 1 minute video from the island of Koh Lanta was recorded by one of my good friends, who lives in Singapore but was vacationing on the island.
My boss returned just before christmas from Phuket with only an insect bite and a bout of reef rash to show for it - good timing.

Click on this link on the page for the video(in the box, bottom right of the article): Video:  Dansk øjenvidne på Koh Lanta

[Kenrick]

Call me retarded but I'm not finding that video.

[Hanzii]

Retard!

http://politiken.dk/media/video.asp?url=http://politiken.dk/media/wvx/3537.WVX

(I didn't think it was possible to directlink to it, but this paper was less techsavvy than I thought)

[Abagadro]

Pretty wild. I concur with the "Holy Crap!"

That looks like it was one of the milder ones too.

[Kenrick]

There was a much better video yesterday linked off of the Drudge Report, but it's not linked anymore and I can't find it.  Seems like it was hosted on some local news station site.

[Kenrick]

Nevermind, found it:

http://www.nbc10.com/news/4026938/detail.html

Look for the various video links.

[Hanzii]

There was a much better video yesterday linked off of the Drudge Report, but it's not linked anymore and I can't find it.  Seems like it was hosted on some local news station site.

I concur that it wasn't the greatest video (and yes, it was one of the lesser hit islands). But it adds something when you recognize the voice saying "Holy crap" as belonging to the friend who brought you and your wife together...

(last time I saw him, was when he married the silhouette in the foreground at the beginning)

[Kenrick]

There was a much better video yesterday linked off of the Drudge Report, but it's not linked anymore and I can't find it.  Seems like it was hosted on some local news station site.

I concur that it wasn't the greatest video (and yes, it was one of the lesser hit islands). But it adds something when you recognize the voice saying "Holy crap" as belonging to the friend who brought you and your wife together...

(last time I saw him, was when he married the silhouette in the foreground at the beginning)

Don't worry, Hanz, your personal connection to the whole situation trumps any video the rest of us can provide.  Hope your friend's okay. :(

[Hanzii]

Back in Singapore alive and well and negotiating with the newspaper for payment for use of the video.

I asked him to share any profits with a help organisation, since he isn't a journalist/photographer and thus a professional vulture ;-)

[Fabricated]

The news coverage of the disaster amuses me to no end.

FoxNews has a straight faced reporter say something like, "The death toll has risen to 44,000 from a previous estimate, and will only climb higher as disease becomes rampant..." ~then cut to the "HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!111" graphic, then commercial.

Also, Jet Li survived.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=796&e=1&u=/eo/20041228/en_celeb_eo/15599

He probably grabbed his kid and did a slow motion quadruple backflip to escape the water.

[SirBruce]

Some supermodel survived as well; it was in the New York Post I think.  Her boyfriend wasn't so lucky.

Countdown on MSNBC had a really awesome video from a Norweigan reporter that shows you just how rapidly the water rises and the sheer force and weight starts breaking apart everything in its path.

Bruce

[stray]

"Holy crap!" is right. Death toll is estimated at 70,000 now, with thousands still missing.

EDIT: Just got this in an email. I don't know much about the source (other than that it's very...umm..."progressive") or the science behind this, but anyone care to comment?

http://www.independent-media.tv/item.cfm?fmedia_id=10211&fcategory_desc=Unde

On November 28th, one month ago, Reuters reported that during a 3 day span 169 whales and dolphins beached themselves in Tasmania, an island of the southern coast of mainland Australia and in New Zealand. The cause for these beachings is not known, but Bob Brown, a senator in the Australian parliament, said "sound bombing" or seismic tests of ocean floors to test for oil and gas had been carried out near the sites of the Tasmanian beachings recently.

According to Jim Cummings of the Acoustic Ecology Institute, Seismic surveys utilizing airguns have been taking place in mineral-rich areas of the world’s oceans since 1968. Among the areas that have experienced the most intense survey activity are the North Sea, the Beaufort Sea (off Alaska’s North Slope), and the Gulf of Mexico; areas around Australia and South America are also current hot-spots of activity.

The impulses created by the release of air from arrays of up to 24 airguns create low frequency sound waves powerful enough to penetrate up to 40km below the seafloor. The “source level" of these sound waves is generally over 200dB (and often 230dB or more), roughly comparable to a sound of at least 140-170dB in air.

According to the Australian Conservation Foundation, these 200dB – 230dB shots from the airguns are fired every few seconds, from 10 meters below the surface, 24 hours a day, weather permitting.

These types of tests are known to affect whales and dolphins, whose acute hearing and use of sonar is very sensitive.

On December 24th there was a magnitude 8.1 earthquake more than 500 miles southeast of Tasmania near New Zealand, with a subsequent aftershock 6.1 a little later in the morning that same day.

On December 26th, the magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck at the intersection of the Australian tectonic plate and the India tectonic plate. This is the devastating tragedy that we have all heard about. The death toll of this horrific event has reached 52,000 souls and continues to rise.

On December 27th, 20 whales beached themselves 110 miles west of Hobart on the southern island state of Tasmania.

What is interesting about this is that the same place where the whale beachings have been taking place over the last 30 days is the same general area where the 8.1 Australian earthquake took place, and this is the same area where they are doing these seismic tests. Then 2 days after the Australian tectonic plate shifted, the 9.0 earthquake shook the coast of Indonesia.

[SirBruce]

I read if everyone in China jumped up and down at the same time, the Earth would tip over!  It was on the Internet, so it must be true!

Bruce

[shiznitz]

Wow, if we can really start tsunamis with air rifles we could clean up the Third World in no time. Next target: Ethiopia.

[stray]

Pain begins at 125db. A jet engine from 100 feet away is 140db. Eardrum rupture at 160-180db. 200db and above is far beyond "pretty fucking loud".

24 seismic airguns, firing every 10 secs, reaching 40km into the ground? Well, the article starts sounding at least slightly plausible then. If they were near some sweet spot, it seems like such a thing would have some consequences.

Still, I'm not even saying I believe it..Just because it's "on the Internet". I just don't magically "know" things is all. So I ask questions. And all I'm wondering is if anyone here has more knowledge about this kind of stuff.

[Shockeye]

Sri Lanka tsunami images are here.

[Shockeye]

It seems that India doesn't want any help. I guess we can spend our money on something else.

NEW DELHI (AFP) - India has turned down foreign aid as it has "adequate resources" to provide relief to victims of a deadly tsunami that killed tens of thousands of Asians, a government official said.

India has been flooded with "generous offers of aid" from countries like Russia, the United States, Israel and Japan, said the official who did not want to be named.

"In fact, all friendly nations have offered help but we feel we do have the resources to handle the situation. If at a later stage we feel we need assistance we will not hesitate to ask," said the source on Wednesday.

"Right now we not only have adequate resources but have gone out and mounted a huge relief effort for Sri Lanka and Maldives. We could not have done this if we were facing a problem in Indian relief operations."

[Daeven]

I know Drudge is evil incarnate, but if this is accurate.......

http://www.drudgereport.com/flash5.htm

"The death toll in Acheh, the region worst hit by last Sunday's tsunami, may exceed 400,000 as many affected areas could still not be reached for search and rescue operations, Indonesia's Ambassador to Malaysia Drs H. Rusdihardjo said Thursday. "

[Alkiera]

My only reaction to this is 'Gee, that sucks.'  Natural disasters just don't really inflame any passion in me.  Man really has very little control over nature.  If Mother Nature decides you lose at the game of Life, then you lose.

From a pragmatic point of view, hey, Earth has enough people as it is, we can stand to lose a few hundred thousand.  Especially in Indochina.

Lots of people dying in war or due to terrorism or whatnot is tragic; lots of people dying due to bad weather is just a combination of bad luck, and poor choice of settlement location, either on your part or your ancestor's.

Alkiera

[daveNYC]

120k+ people dying is one shot is tragic.  Period.

Although Petra Nemcova's survival both makes me happy and thereby ensures my place in Hell.

[Nebu]

My only reaction to this is 'Gee, that sucks.'  Natural disasters just don't really inflame any passion in me.  Man really has very little control over nature.  If Mother Nature decides you lose at the game of Life, then you lose.

From a pragmatic point of view, hey, Earth has enough people as it is, we can stand to lose a few hundred thousand.  Especially in Indochina.

Lots of people dying in war or due to terrorism or whatnot is tragic; lots of people dying due to bad weather is just a combination of bad luck, and poor choice of settlement location, either on your part or your ancestor's.

I'm guessing you'd have a different opinion if one of the deaths were a loved one.  I happen to have dear friends in Thailand and would consider the death of any one of them a tragedy regardless of the means.  

I realize it's "cool" to be all hard about things on this or any board... but the death of any decent human being is a tragedy regardless of the circumstance.  

This... was a tragedy.

[Calantus]

I'm guessing you'd have a different opinion if one of the deaths were a loved one.  I happen to have dear friends in Thailand and would consider the death of any one of them a tragedy regardless of the means.  

I realize it's "cool" to be all hard about things on this or any board... but the death of any decent human being is a tragedy regardless of the circumstance.  

This... was a tragedy.

There is a big difference in recognizing a tradgedy and being able to invest emotions in the event. That's where I am right now. It might seem callous but I just don't feel sad when I think of this disaster. Not anything at all like I felt with 9/11, or even the news of car crashes or murders. And that story of that pregnant women being murdered and the baby cut out left me cold. But natural disasters do nothing for me. Nature happens, and I guess my brain is just built to accept that. Man-made tradgedies upset me, but not natural ones.

As for the loved one, I would be sad if they died, but that emotion would be seperate from the overall disaster.

What does get a rise out of me is how the media abuses things like these. We've had so many goddamn reports on the same exact thing, heard interviews with tsunami experts, etc. It's just way too much, and way too tacky. I heard on ET one of the hosts say "the man responsible for bringing this disaster right to your living room". Um, excuse me? Jackals, all of 'em.

[Shockeye]

CNN is reporting breaking news that the US is increasing tsunami aid from $35 million to $350 million.

[geldonyetich]

It's been suggested that the initial death toll so far is nothing compared to the diseases that the water bred insects will be spreading afterwards.

[Alkiera]

I'm guessing you'd have a different opinion if one of the deaths were a loved one.  I happen to have dear friends in Thailand and would consider the death of any one of them a tragedy regardless of the means.  

This... was a tragedy.

No, this was a disaster.  A tragedy requires emotions.  Death of a loved one implies pre-existing emotions, and is always a tragedy for those who loved.  For the other several billion occupants of Earth... Ever hear of the Chinese Relativity Theorem? It states that no matter how great your triumphs or how devastating your defeats, 1.5 Billion Chinese couldn't care less.

I realize it's "cool" to be all hard about things on this or any board... but the death of any decent human being is a tragedy regardless of the circumstance.  

I do not believe that I am 'cool' nor am I 'all hard' about anything.  I am capable of a wide range of emotions on many topics.  The death of people to whom I have little to no connection, due to nothing more than bad luck, either from natural disasters, or poverty, or whathaveyou, is not one of those.  

No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee. Neither can we call this a begging of misery, or a borrowing of misery, as though we were not miserable enough of ourselves, but must fetch in more from the next house, in taking upon us the misery of our neighbours. Truly it were an excusable covetousness if we did, for affliction is a treasure, and scarce any man hath enough of it.

There was a time when I agreed strongly with this section of a sermon by John Donne, back in the 1620's.  However, since those days, I've experienced a great deal more of mankind, and my desire to be 'involved' with it on the whole has shrunk greatly.  People like Ted Kaczynski, Osama Bin Laden, the sons of Sadam Hussein, and the people who killed that woman and stole the baby from her womb, really changed my opinion about mankind in general.

Alkiera

[SurfD]

Going to have to go with Alkiera and Calantus on this one.

To many people, this was a tragedy.

To me this was a disaster, and hundreds of thousands of people I never met, never sent my 50cents coffee money, and quite frankly, never even thought about for 95% of my entire life just died.  Regardless of this fact, I am not substantially emotionally moved by this event, any more then I would be at the news that a homeless man in Toronto froze to death yesterday (and that would be much closer to home, and in some ways, similarly tragic).

Monkeysphere and all that.