Tsunami Toll now 226.000

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http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2005/01/07...s_15997093.html

POST-TSUNAMI RELIEF: We need $1 bn now: Annan

Published on January 07, 2005

UN to use its regional headquarters in Bangkok to facilitate disaster relief and reconstruction work across the area

World leaders yesterday agreed to pool their efforts and contribute resources both to provide relief to the millions affected by the deadly tsunami as well as to establish an early-warning system in the Indian Ocean, where countries have been hard hit by the disaster.

The leaders, who met in Jakarta for a one-day meeting, also agreed that the United Nations would act as the central body for coordinating relief efforts. This will be the largest disaster relief project ever taken on by the global organisation.

The UN, criticised for being slow to take action, has mobilised resources and personnel to take part in rescue and relief missions for victims of what Secretary-General Kofi Annan called “the largest natural disaster the organisation has had to respond to in the 60 years of UN existence”.

Annan yesterday made an appeal for US$977 million (Bt38 billion) from the world community to help the millions of victims. Over the next six months, the UN requires this amount in order to cover the humanitarian emergency, which involves five million affected people, he said.

While individual governments have already pledged up to $4 billion-worth of general, longer-term aid to stricken nations, Annan said it was essential that they come up with hard cash to cover the immediate relief effort over the next six months.

“Many of the pledges have come to us in cash and in kind. We need the rest of the pledges to be converted into cash quickly,” he said.

The powerful tsunami, triggered by a 9.0-magnitude earthquake on Indonesia’s Sumatra Island, killed at least 150,000 people in 12 countries, injured half a million others and displaced a further two million people.

Annan said the UN, with Margareta Wahlstrom as its special coordinator, was undertaking relief efforts in the first and worst-hit countries of Indonesia, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, the Seychelles and Somalia.

The UN chief, who met with Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai on the sidelines to the international conference, said that the UN would utilise its regional headquarters in Bangkok to facilitate the relief and reconstruction efforts in devastated areas.

Asean, which organised the one-day emergency international conference on the tsunami aftermath, called upon the UN to coordinate relief efforts among affected countries since there has been logistical trouble and confusion among aid agencies.

“This will be a big test for the international organisation as it has comprehensive facilities such as personnel, vehicles and finance, in hand. It will also be prove how the UN can handle such a huge disaster’s relief work,” said Lao Prime Minister Bounnhang Vorachit, serving as chairman of Asean.

He said the UN should also lead the reconstruction and rehabilitation programmes that are badly needed to help restore a sense of normalcy to the lives of those affected.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said that countries must ensure that they benefit from the experience of the UN in establishing and managing special emergency relief efforts and that the organisation aid in enhancing preparedness for further disasters.

Asean has existing mechanisms to move relief efforts to damaged areas, Susilo said, adding that the Asean Security Community could provide military relief personnel and resources to assist the victims, he said.

Susilo called for the establishment of a stand-by mechanism for the instant deployment of military and civil defence resources to save lives during a disaster.

Annan said the US-led military relief operation was currently providing assistance in the region. As to worries about the military presence upsetting a security balance in affected countries, Annan said that it would only last for as long as the relief effort. The troops will withdraw in weeks, not months nor years, he added.

All of Asean’s mechanisms for emergency warning did not function well during the disaster. Indonesia, which was first to be hit by the waves, failed to send any warning to other members, an Asean official said. The group needs to seek ways to get this mechanism to work in a timely manner in the case of emergency, he added.

Surakiart said that the reach of the tragedy had surpassed the group’s domain.

The UN secretary-general said the establishment of an early-warning system to prevent such massive tragedies from occurring in the future must be made a top priority.

“The United Nations will be there to contribute,” Annan told the press conference.

Supalak Ganjanakhundee

The Nation

JAKARTA

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Warning-system plan backed

A proposal to build a regional tsunami early-warning system for the Indian Ocean received strong support from world leaders at the emergency summit yesterday.

The Kingdom offered to host an international meeting for ministers from countries in the region on January 28 to discuss details of such a system, which will be built to help avoid the type of human losses the December 26 tsunami caused, said Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai.

After their one-day summit here, regional leaders issued a joint statement in support of Asean’s decision to “establish a regional early-warning system such as a Regional Tsunami Early Warning System Centre on the Indian Ocean and the Southeast Asia region”.

The Philippines, South Korea and China said they would support a proposal to upgrade the Thailand-based Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre (ADPC) to run the early-warning system in the region, Surakiart said.

Japan and South Korea offered to contribute technical assistance and the Asian Development Bank agreed to donate $1 million (Bt39.2 million) for a feasibility study, said Smith Dharmasaroja, vice minister of the Prime Minister’s Office, who attended the summit.

Supalak Ganjanakhundee

The Nation

JAKARTA

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Aftershock hits South

Surat Thani and Phuket were shaken yesterday morning from an earthquake in northern Sumatra, but the Meteorological Department appealed for calm, saying it was not strong enough to trigger a tsunami.

Chalermchai Ekkanthrong, acting director-general, said the 6.2-magnitude earthquake was an aftershock of the 9.0-killer that hit on December 26.

Such aftershocks were to be expected and people should not panic, he said, adding that the department would monitor earth movements closely.

Neither the Gulf of Thailand nor the Andaman Sea should fear any seismic waves, he said. “Fishermen can go out to trawl as usual, though they ought to tune in to the department’s weather reports.”

Surat Thani Governor Vijit Vichaisarn warned residents of high-rise buildings to be cautious and report any earthquake damage, although so far no such reports have come in. He also instructed agencies to be ready for any emergency.

Pisanu Maneechote, director of Surat Thani Hospital, advised occupants of high-risers to lie on the floor during a trembler for their safety.

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http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2005/01/07...s_15997094.html

About 1,500 Finns are still missing

Published on January 07, 2005

Out of approximately 2,000 Finnish visitors to Thailand that went missing after last week’s killer tsunami, only 500 have so far been located, Thai authorities said yesterday.

Finland’s Minister for Social Affairs and Health Sinikka Monkare and Finnish Ambassador to Thailand Heikki Tuumanen thanked the Kingdom for its handling of cases of Finnish tourists missing, injured and killed in the wake of the tragic disaster that ravaged Thailand’s Andaman coast on December 26.

The Thai authorities welcomed Finland’s stated willingness to

help Thailand set up a tsunami warning system.

The Thai Public Health Ministry, meanwhile, received durable goods, medical supplies, medicines, foodstuffs and other goods worth more than Bt25 million donated by 168 Finnish companies.

Monkare and Tuumanen voiced their appreciation during an assembly at the Sofitel Central Plaza Hotel.

Thai authorities pledged to spare no effort in locating the missing Finnish tourists.

The Finnish government will provide DNA blueprints of relatives of the missing for possible matching with DNA samples already collected in Thailand.

Meanwhile, Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany yesterday recalled his ambassador to Thailand for failing to break off his vacation in the aftermath of the tsunami disaster, Agence France-Presse reported.

The ambassador, Janos Vandor, was on holiday in Hungary during Christmas and New Year and only returned to his post in Bangkok on January 5 – more than a week after the tsunami claimed nearly 150,000 lives in southeast Asia.

“After a review of the case, I ordered the [foreign] minister to recall Janos Vandor with immediate effect and relieve him” of his position, Gyurcsany told a press conference in Budapest.

The foreign ministry said that only five of the hundreds of Hungarian tourists in the region at the time of the tsunami remained unaccounted for. Three were in Thailand and one each in Indonesia and Sri Lanka.

================================

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/latest/

Threat from disease serious, WHO says

Published on January 07, 2005

At least US$60 million (Bt2.4 billion) is needed to address urgent public-health needs in the aftermath of the Asian tsunami catastrophe, said the World Health Organisation.

The funds are needed primarily to prevent outbreaks of

water-borne and other infectious diseases as well as to deal with the mental conditions of disaster survivors, the WHO said in a statement released in Bangkok yesterday.

An estimated three to five million people are currently displaced, and may be without access to adequate supplies of safe drinking water, sanitation, shelter, food and basic medical supplies, the statement said.

The WHO has conducted a preliminary assessment on the public-health impact of the tsunami disaster, in cooperation with the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination Team (UNDAC) and other UN agencies.

The team visited several sites, including Ban Nam Khem village in Phang Nga, the worst-hit village in the area. One-fourth of the estimated 4,000 people in the village were missing and the rest seeking shelter with relatives, friends and support groups of the government and NGOs.

The WHO expressed concern over the psychosocial needs of traumatised victims, particularly children, migrant workers and their families.

WHO representative to Thailand Dr William Aldis, who has visited many affected areas, said that despite strong support from the international community, it is important for local therapists and counsellors to be involved. “Counselling services have to be given by native speakers,” he said.

Based on a first-hand observation of the situation in the worst-hit areas of the country in Phuket and Phang Nga, the WHO recommends that special attention be given to care for post-traumatic stress, which includes counselling and the restoration of normal ways of life.

Aldis said the mass-casualty management carried out in Thailand resulted in a very low mortality rate of 0.3 per cent.

Regarding post-disaster surveillance and monitoring of diseases that are likely to occur, WHO noted that the Ministry of Public Health has strengthened surveillance for epidemic-prone diseases in affected areas, and has established additional surveillance response teams.

There was no evidence of disease outbreaks resulting from the tsunami disaster, said WHO.

The WHO has set up a 24-hour Tsunami Operation Centre at its Thailand office.

The centre is responsible for coordinating WHO’s relief and restoration efforts with the government of Thailand, the UN agencies and other government and non-government counterparts.

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Small country, big heart

Singapore rises to the occasion with 200-strong relief operation in Thailand

The mobile phone of Ambassador Chan Heng Wing rings constantly, and at times it seems the plastic gadget is glued to his ear.

The chief executive of the 200-strong Singapore relief operation has been in constant communication with the six Singaporean agencies – from the foreign service officials and medical personnel to airmen and civil defence workers – dispatched to southern Thailand, where the lives of some 5,000 people were cut short by the tsunami waves last week. About half of them were visitors from abroad.

While in the car heading towards Phang Nga’s Khao Lak, one of the hardest-hit areas in Thailand, to check up on his search-and-rescue team, Chan continued to work the phone, instructing one of his officers to cross-check with the British Embassy about a missing permanent Singapore resident from Britain. “He is not a Singaporean national. But we are all in this together,” Chan said.

And just when he had a moment to himself, a call came from Bangkok about Singaporean President SR Nathan’s state visit.

Like a good career diplomat, Chan chats, shakes hands and doesn’t let anybody see him sweat, no matter how hectic his workload.

“We want Thai people to know that they are not alone,” said Chan, who permitted The Nation to tag along with him for a day.

It has been like this for the past week, ever since Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced last week that the island-state was launching its largest-ever rescue operation.

Singapore has shown that it is a small country with a big heart.

Considering that the number of Singaporean casualties was a fraction of the 150,000 deaths across the continent, the country has done far more than its fair share.

Singapore has also dispatched about 600 personnel to Indonesia, which suffered the highest number of deaths of all 12 stricken countries.

Chan said five Singaporeans were confirmed dead in Thailand. Out of some 300 names of Singaporeans initially compiled by his team, all but 12 – plus a permanent resident of British nationality – are reunited with loved ones.

The 13 are categorised as “uncontactable”, he said.

Chan’s first stop was the Phuket Naval Airbase to meet his aircrew. Up to 75 Singaporean air personnel and four helicopters are assigned to work with counterparts from Thailand and elsewhere.

Lt-Colonel Shanmugaratnam of the Singapore Air Force admitted that the first couple of days were a little hairy given the number of countries involved in the air rescue operation. But in two days, the Thai military had established a command centre that brought with it a proper division of labour and made it possible for his Super Puma helicopters to fly up to 20 sorties a day.

Captain Kiatkul Suwan, commander of this Thai Navy Air Task Unit, said the mission included surveillance and delivering food, water and medical personnel to affected areas, including remote islands.

One of the most memorable moments was airlifting two boys who had been floating in the sea for two days, Kiatkul said.

Chan’s next stop was Khao Lak beach, where 80 Singaporean Civil Defence rescue workers were digging through the rubble of five-star resorts with the help of a sniffer dog named Tasha. Captain Cera Tan updated him while a member of a nearby Japanese search-and-rescue team stopped by for a breather.

Tan said the team wanted to make sure that nothing essential is left before the demolition team moves in and take down the foundations of what were once resorts.

Tan said she was taken aback by the extent of the damage but had got used to the smell of the bloated bodies, 14 of which were found by the Singaporean team.

The young captain said she had no regrets over choosing this career, adding that encouragement from home kept her going. “They are calling us heroes,” she said.

Chan’s day ends with a staff meeting at a coordinating centre set up in a church in Phuket. “We feel very involved,” said Chan. “This reflects well on the international community as a whole.”

Don Pathan

The Nation

Phuket

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Japanese rescuers fly back to Tokyo

A 49-strong Japanese search and rescue team flew home yesterday, leaving behind 11 medical experts to work alongside Thai doctors in relief efforts for tsunami victims.

The team had been on a mission to Phi Phi island and the Takua Pa district of Phang Nga since December 30. Team leader Toshimizu Ichigure reported the success of its operation to Vice Admiral Thana Bunnag, head of the government’s relief centre in Phuket.

Despite the hardships, the team had received cooperation from all parties, Ichigure said.

Doctors along with a helicopter that came with the rescue team over a week ago would stay back for another mission in Takua Pa district, he said.

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Germany’s Fischer to tour damaged areas

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer will arrive tomorrow for a two-day visit during which he will fly to Phuket and Khao Lak, where the killer tsunamis hit hundreds of Germans still listed as missing.

Fischer comes to thank the Thai people and government for the quick and extensive assistance given to Germans during the catastrophe, the German Embassy said yesterday.

With his counterpart Surakiart Sathirathai, Fischer will discuss reconstruction of the affected areas and seek ways of bringing immediate help to Thai victims.

He will visit Phuket and Khao Lak in Phang Nga’s Takua Pa district for a first-hand impression of the tsunami’s impact. Germany has suffered more than most countries outside the

disaster area, with 60 Germans reportedly dead and more than 1,000 missing.

Fischer will continue his trip to Indonesia and Sri Lanka, two countries hit hardest by the disaster.

Germany has dispatched 27 foreign specialists to support the embassy

and the German Regional Crisis Centre in Phuket in their relief efforts. Assistance to other affected countries includes doctors, medical staff including psychological counsellors, and

disaster-victim identification specialists.

Germany has become the biggest aid contributor to the tsunami-ravaged countries with a pledge for a package worth ?500 million (Bt25.9 billion).

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Israelis to exhume 388 bodies

Krabi’s governor yesterday approved a request from Israeli forensic experts to exhume 388 bodies buried in a local graveyard for new DNA tests.

Krabi Governor Anon Promnart said he had no problem with allowing the exhumation of the bodies from the Prachasantisuk Foundation’s graveyard for DNA tests in line with the method suggested by the Israeli experts.

The Israeli government sent a team of more than 10 forensic experts to work with other experts from several foreign countries to collect DNA samples from unidentified remains for their relatives to retrieve later. The Israeli team voiced concerned that DNA samples from the 388 bodies buried earlier might not have been collected properly. The team also wanted to collect tooth samples for DNA checking.

The governor said the DNA sample-taking process would be completed as soon as possible.

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http://www.nationmultimedia.com/latest/

[see Business section]

TSUNAMI EFFECT ON ECONOMY: New funds to boost growth: NESDB

Published on January 07, 2005

Think-tank sees massive post-disaster funding outweighing lost income

The tsunami effect will boost this year’s economic growth by 0.15 percentage points, the state planning agency said yesterday.

“The short-term income loss caused by the incident will be less than the recovery funds pouring into the affected region, which will generate further economic activities,” said Ampon Kittiampon, secretary-general of the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB).

The assessment by the governement think-tank defies the 0.3-0.5 percentage-point drag on growth predicted by research houses.

Income losses are estimated at Bt20 billion-Bt25 billion, but would be more than offset by estimated disaster-related inflows from various sources of Bt35 billion-Bt40 billion, Ampon said.

While research houses looked only at the negative side of the disaster in the six affected southern provinces, the NESDB carried out a more comprehensive analysis by computing inflow of recovery funds.

But the small net positive effect would not cause NESDB to revise its economic-growth forecast from the previous projection of 5.5-6.5 per cent for this year.

Earlier, the Finance Ministry predicted growth would be shaved by 0.3 percentage point, while private think-tanks downgraded forecasts by around half a percentage point, resulting in an economic growth scenario of below 6 per cent.

Ampon forecast growth this quarter of 1.5-2 per cent compared with the fourth quarter of last year, and 5.5-6 per cent on the first quarter of last year.

The economy would not just stand still this quarter, as one research house claimed earlier, Ampon said.

JP Morgan yesterday defended its recent controversial report predicting that first-quarter gross domestic product would remain flat, saying it was taken out of context.

Earlier this week, Krungthep Thurakij newspaper quoted the report as saying the economy would stagnate this quarter, prompting sharp dismissals from Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra as well as Bank of Thailand Governor Pridiyathorn Devakula.

Yesterday, Vorapak Tanyawong, JP Morgan’s senior country officer, said GDP this quarter would be 4.4 per cent larger than it was a year ago, despite the huge impact of the tsunami disaster in the South.

“The 0.0-per-cent figure came from our comparison of the growth rate of the forecast first quarter of 2005 and the last quarter of 2004, which is not a clear comparison” since economic growth is subject to seasonal changes, the investment bank said in its news release.

Ampon said sources of funds to the affected provinces include a central bank soft loan scheme amounting to Bt30 billion, venture capital of Bt5 billion, insurance payouts of Bt10 billion to Bt15 billion and construction work and donations worth some Bt5 billion.

“We also have more social capital. Relief efforts from Thais via donations and voluntary work will also attract tourists to come back sooner than expected,” he said.

The disaster did not affect growth last quarter and tourist arrivals did not drop, so economic growth for the whole of last year would be

about 6.2 per cent, he said.

The NESDB estimates that foreign visitors to the affected region would drop by 40 per cent this quarter and 30 per cent next quarter.

Domestic tourist traffic would fall by 55 per cent this quarter, out of 360,000 tourists monthly. Damage to hotels, restaurants, and tour operators is estimated at Bt30 billion.

Damage to cars and machinery is estimated at Bt4 billion, while some 8,000 homes were destroyed.

Unemployment in the South will be 20,000 for three months, with each laid-off employee losing Bt8,000 in monthly income.

“I believe the process of rehabilitation will be faster than expected because I have witnessed how fast the pace of relief efforts has been over the past two weeks,” Ampon added.

Wichit Chaitrong

The Nation

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http://observer.guardian.co.uk/internation...1386308,00.html

Relatives call for list of UK's 2,000 missing

Martin Bright and Amelia Hill

Sunday January 9, 2005

The Observer

Pressure was growing last night on the Foreign Office to publish fresh details about the hundreds of Britons still missing two weeks after the tsunami disaster, as relatives joined the clamour for the publication of a full list of names and photographs of the 2,000 who have still not been accounted for.

The death toll in Indonesia alone rose to more than 100,000, while aid agencies on the ground in Sri Lanka began to voice concerns that fishing communities were being moved away from the coast on the orders of the government to areas where they would be deprived of a livelihood. Charities will be asking Western governments to demand assurances from Sri Lanka and India that they will not use the disaster as a pretext for displacing local communities to make way for new tourist resorts.

Relatives criticised the Foreign Office's decision to stick to guidelines for the identification of the dead and missing that were developed for smaller-scale disasters. The Metropolitan Police are thought to have become increasingly frustrated by the FO's refusal to make public all but the most definitive death toll figures.

One police source told The Observer that there was no reason the FO could not publish a list of the countries where the 391 Britons now presumed dead actually perished, as they had done for the 50 confirmed deaths.

He urged the media and the public to keep the pressure on the Foreign Office to release more detailed information. 'They really have to take ownership of this,' he said.

Some officers are reported to believe it would be helpful to publish a list of a further 2,000 people estimated to be missing. Though the Foreign Office believes publication would upset relatives, others believe it could help identify the missing. The FO said it had received no representations from the police.

Natalie McLeish, from Sheffield, was on honeymoon with her husband, Andrew on Phi Phi when they were both swept away. Andrew's body was found on New Year's Day, but she has not been found.

Her mother, Sandra Bell, said yesterday: 'It would have helped both us and the public a great deal had they released a full list of names and a realistic estimation of numbers.' Ms Bell flew out to Thailand yesterday to help search for her daughter. 'If we had known then quite how many British victims there were, we could have prepared ourselves for the reality we seem to be facing now,' she said.

Lauren Russouw, Natalie's younger sister, added: 'If there had been a list of names and photographs of those missing, my sister might have been identified had her body been taken to a hospital. We are keeping up the hope that she is still alive but we can't ignore the possibility that she was taken somewhere but no-one could identify her because the information enabling them to do so was not available, and now it is to late.

'This makes things very difficult for us: until we have conclusive proof that she is dead, it will be hard to accept she is gone. If the Foreign Office had seen fit to publish her photograph, we might have been out of this position but now, we are stuck here.'

Nick Mullan, uncle of 16-year-old Louis and 12-year-old Theo who survived after the wave hit their beach in Phuket, sweeping away their parents, Catherine Mullan, 53 and Leonard Barratt, 49, from Truro, Cornwall, said: 'We braced ourselves for bad news from quite an early stage but we were given a lot of misinformation from the Foreign Office and not a lot of help.

'After Theo had been discovered in Thailand, we received a call asking if he was already on the missing list. He had never been on the list.'

Meanwhile, Tony Blair will tomorrow mount a further defence of his decision not to cut short his Christmas holiday. In a statement to MPs he will outline what the government has done so far to respond to the crisis.

The UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, yesterday visited the coast of Sri Lanka, where 30,500 people have died. Annan flew over areas flattened by the tsunami, including the southern town of Galle.

'From the air I saw a beautiful country, but there has been a lot of damage,' Annan told reporters.

Fears were growing yesterday about Sri Lankan government plans to move tsunami victims away from their destroyed homes on the beaches. Aid agencies reported that Sri Lankan police had been touring coastal villages warning villagers not to return to homes less than 300 metres from the sea.

[Tornado]

getting sick of these types of posts ! no one reads a post that long.

Now lets get back to finding the boy who might be being raped right at this moment.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

by the way - as I've suspected, this was all the fuss about this boy , which is confirmed by some posts in this forum:

Boy 'not Kidnapped' In Thailand

as well as as Thai (see pasted by George article in that thread) and international media, URL to article provided by the member Waverider who started that thread :

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4148599.stm

Boy 'not kidnapped' in Thailand

A young Swedish boy missing after the recent tsunami has not been kidnapped from hospital despite speculation to the contrary, Thai police say.

and I rather consider such your remark qouted above : "Now lets get back to finding the boy who might be being raped right at this moment." as a part of that histerical and perhaps obsessive paranoia which another member The_Moog in that thread talks about, very well said BTW :

The root of this story is a UK paranoia of paedophiles. Journalists know they can get a story if they try to raise the possibility of paedophile involvement.

in fact I consider your comment here as irresponsible! sort of trying to inflame unnecessarily unconfimred info, which appeared to be practically rumours rather than real fact !

not to speak that it is completely our of topic here.

and last : I wonder, people like you who like fuss, - do they even ever bother to follow up the news about such a fact which they consider much more important? and then - do they bother to make some sort of, well, admitions that "I was wrong to fuss about it?" I doubt it very much !

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I find you to be an idiot. A guy who likes to see his thread at the top of the page everyday you come online. You say I made a fuss?? Well I think it deserved a fuss!. I have just spent the last 4 days in Khao Lak and other surrounding areas, while you sit in your chair posting "news" that is available to anyone.

A child missing is not a fuss, it is responsible to make sure the message gets out.

BTW, the word in the Khao Lak area is that the boy could of been taken! so carry on with your 2 cent news and Ill carry on with getting on with the job.

your PM to me was also a waste of your time - you wrote:

Hello! Tornado, where are you?

I've made 2 posts addressed to you in 2 threads, and 3rd thred is related:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=23695

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=24030

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=24227

I'll follow up your posts in whatever threads and see what other irresponsible comments you make - and expose your irresponsibility if I find any !

I don't like someone like you making such irresponsible comments in general because they create unnecessary tension and unhealthy athmospere in Forum, and especially if they concern me directly or indirectly. I never make such myself and neither do any personal attacks on anyone. and I don't like anyone trying to do that sort of things to me.

regards

aaaaaa

IS it irresponsible to cause a "fuss" over a missing boy? grow up ###### head!

[aaaaaa]

IS it irresponsible to cause a "fuss" over a missing boy? grow up ###### head!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

nice post and wonderfull language! congradulations !

it is so good that at least there is some real contribution from such a polite and kind a guy like you! keep up the good work!

it is irresponsible to "troll" around ! to come to some thread you ain't interested in and start to make irrelevant comments even for small and seemingly innocent (BTW - realy chilsdsh) reason to attract attention to yourself while discouraging people to read some things they want to read. I don't even mention - direct and indirect insults, mocking, rude remarks etc. for , again childish reason of jealousy because you THINK that someone else has same motives like you do have and they are more "successfull" in that. I think it is you, who has to grow up, sweatheart ! because you epxose yourself . don't you know the famous saying: "when you point a finger to someone - 3 fingers point back to you" ? meaning: make sure that what you acuse others for you yourself isn't guilty of.

by the way - in this thread I never even once tried to attract attention to myself before the time I was compelled to reply to your post. and perhaps most of people who've read the news, because they wnat to read NEWS, not some insults, in this thread didn't even bother to look at who posts them, and didn't even know it was me or someone else, because naturally more important and interesting is the information posted, not a personality, especialy if all these articles ain't written by me. and I even didn't make my own comments till you have come and from your very first post managed to do so instantly, like: "now, everybody, start listen to ME !"

regarding - that these news are available for anyone and can be easily found. true, but some people don't bother to browse and find. if they come accross these infos here - they'd rather read. those who want to find themselves - fine. I didn't copyu and paste all these articles for reason to get credit for myself - simply for info. nobody even made ANY comments here - just came, read and went elsewhere to read something else. what to be so jelous of and fussy about ?

and then again - that article about boy - it was and is also available everywhere , internet, newspapapers, TV - so what is the difference in rpinciple here? and isn't it childish ?

and I send PM to you only, BTW without any bad language and abuse and Argumentum Ad Homenun - "attack on person" fallacy in discussion (BTW, again childish and immature: trying to prove one's point by discrediting a personality of opponent by insults, bad hints, or even phisically), not to mention purposefull intentional insults you dump on me here - IN PUBLIC ... PM = Private Message.... because I was sure what would be your reaction and didn't want to start any bloody ramble in PUBLIC FORUM.... and also because in general I don't like rambles, especially with guys like you....

but then you've shown your real face here - didn't you? well, my be you'll get some merit from whatever good work you do over there on Khao Lak or whatever, assuming that what you say is true and you not simply drinking beer there, or may be not even there but somewhere in Pattaya or Nana.

and regarding my sitting in the chair - why, of course I need it to sit on, coz if I sit , say, on the floor - I can't see the PC's screen ! I wonder, when you type your wonderfull illustrous posts - do you stand erect or lying down ? I bet you also sit on something - don't you ? may be on some wreck you've found on the beach while doing your wonderfull work and use some computer and phone line for its modem which miraculously survived were washed to the shore intact ? so then please be kind and fair to me - don't sentence me to eternal ###### because of such hideous crime and sin as sitting in the chair while typing this answer to you. sorry it is not my fault - I simply comply with the rules in this internet cafe, they don't let people standing while using internet ! they say it creates uneasy athmosphere for others here, and causes crowdness etc etc. ....

another point - I didn't and don't make this thread appear on the "top charts" (not to mention that even the very idea of it never crossed my mind) and as I know - nobody even including Moderators does that even if it is some thread they, not me, started ... this Forum is made - again, not by me - in such a way that ANY thread with latest posts will appear on the top. try it yourself, Oh briliant and genius one , if you want.... and the threads appearing on the top are always changing, you must have noticed that if you pay SOoooooo close attention to who and what is on the top and so concerned about why oh why not your posts are on the top ...

Maybe I'll make special request to Moderators - to create a special thread for you so that it can be always on the top, huh? candy for baby to keep from crying...

regarding the number of people viewing particular threads - it again doesn't depend on me or anybody. people choose and decide THEMSELVEs what to read or not - not me not anyone else make them do so. and it is impossible to "direct traffic flow" [as you have suggested to Forum moderators here or elsewhere] to any particular thread or post - not like paying to Yahoo search engine so that your website appears in the top ten results....

with such a hiqh IQ as yours - comparing to such stupid whatever-head you've called me above (I don't bother to guess) - I thought you might know that !

Forum is Forum (this word comes from Latin, meaning something like - open discussion) - for anybody who complies with its rules, BTW again - made and enforced not by me, and THANKS GOD - not by you ! anyone can start whatever thread. and one of the rules as I recall - to make RELEVANT to the topic of thread replies . and by irresponsibility I mentioned in my posts addressed to you and in the PM I meant - your writing something not only irrelevant, but even intentionally distracting the attention of readers of particular thread to some other subject, or as with guys like you - to no subject at all, perhaps may be only the subject - HOW GOOD AND SMART etc etc you are.... I remember someone explained a term 'troll' in this regard - sort of "energy vampire" or something like that, a person who starts unnecessary quarells and heated discussions which usually not even related to any subject at all, least of all to the topic of thread they post in...

the only problem with this Forum is that it also lets some people like you to insult and offend others.... yeah, you've learned some symbols on the keyboard to confuse the filters of foul language to be able to get away with it - congradulations, that is a big progress ! but it is a matter of INSIDE your mind and heart first of all - not with me or how I'll react or how whoever else will respond to your posts....

I would like to believe that you are actually not so bad guy, and that you simply like a bit of fuss - just as I said b4....

and that boy? yeah, sure - we must worry about children being kidnapped. it is very very wrong to do that - kidnap them and especialy abuse. but the point is - he wasn't and that you didn't even bother to admit that you droped you interest to this topic once it is not sensational anymore.... that's why again I consider you just a fuss maker and lover ....

[aaaaaa]

strangely, figures start to drop. perhpas most news agensies overblown the real facts earlier?

--------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/12/2...aths/index.html

Tsunami kills more than 140,000

Sunday, January 9, 2005 Posted: 10:11 AM EST (1511 GMT)

(CNN) -- Relief officials are working to assess the death tolls from the December 26 tsunami that killed tens of thousands of people in more than 11 countries.

CNN has confirmed that the undersea earthquake off Sumatra and the giant waves it triggered killed at least 140,313 people, and that number is expected to rise. Figures are from government officials or agencies unless otherwise indicated.

Indonesia: At least 95,000 dead and 77,000 missing, according to the health ministry.

The Social Affairs Ministry has put the numbers higher -- more than 100,00 dead; 10,070 missing. There is no explanation for the discrepancy.

CNN is using the lower number for its overall tally.

Sri Lanka: The overall death toll for Sri Lanka has been lowered to 29,650, as many of those listed in the Sri Lankan government figures were also listed in Tamil figures, resulting in a doubling up.

Figures for all Sri Lankan districts -- except Mulativu, which is entirely under rebel control -- come from government officials.

The government has estimated 3,000 people are dead in Mulativu; while the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) say the number is 1,932 dead, with another 1,000 missing.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in Sri Lanka, 4,707 people are still missing, and another 100,000 families have been displaced.

India: 10,022 dead, 5,617 missing -- 5,531 on Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Thailand: 5,305 dead, 3,498 missing. Many of the missing are presumed dead.

Somalia: 114, according to the United Nations.

Maldives: 82 dead, 26 missing.

Malaysia: 68 dead, 6 missing.

Myanmar: 59 dead, according to the International Federation for the Red Cross, which is coordinating with the Myanmar government.

Tanzania: 10 dead, according to the U.N.

Bangladesh: 2 dead, according to the U.N.

Kenya: 1 dead, according to Kenyan media.

Seychelles: Unconfirmed reports of deaths.

[aaaaaa]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4158357.stm

Sunday, 9 January, 2005, 00:25 GMT

Trauma of Thai child survivors

By Kate McGeown

BBC News, Krabi

Saturday was Children's Day in Thailand, although it was hardly a celebration for many of the children in the tsunami-ravaged regions of the west coast.

Twelve-year-old Siriam and 10-year-old Boui lost their mothers in the disaster, as well as their homes.

"People said the earth was splitting, and I could hear everyone screaming," said Siriam.

"I went out to see what was happening and someone grabbed my arm and took me up the hill."

Her mother was not so lucky. She is assumed to be dead, but her remains have yet to be found.

The body of Boui's mother was discovered soon after the disaster, impaled on a piece of wood.

Despite their loss, Siriam and Boui, like many other children from Phi Phi island, still found the strength to take part in a special Children's Day event at Uttarakij School, in the town of Krabi.

Shock

The children danced, sang, ate sweets and listened to a speech by the guest-of-honour, Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister Sutham Saengpratoom - all designed to make them forget their traumatic experiences.

The children of Phi Phi have lived through the almost complete devastation of their island.

The destruction was so complete that almost all of the islanders are now living on the mainland, in and around Krabi.

Children's Day celebrations took place in all the Thai regions affected by the tsunami, but the atmosphere was clearly different to that of previous years.

"There was less music and dancing, and more of a priority was given to providing psychological help to children affected by the disaster," said Suphinda Chakraband, who has helped to co-ordinate the aid effort to children on the island of Phuket.

Many have had such horrific experiences that they are likely to need help for a long time to come.

"One of the children at our school lost his heavily pregnant mother. Another lost both his parents and two of his sisters," said Sura Taaweephan, who taught at the junior school in Phi Phi.

Even those who have not lost family members are still in shock.

Twelve-year-old Maleewan Kebutr was far more subdued than she was before the disaster, and said she was afraid of another tsunami.

She was also frightened of going too near the sea. "I don't want to go swimming again," she said.

There are other children, like Juran Udom - who now lives in a camp for displaced people near Bang Niang - that are in urgent need of assistance.

Fourteen-year-old Juran is now his family's sole breadwinner. His mother has not been seen since the disaster and is assumed dead.

His father had a motorcycle accident last year, and Juran has now been left to care for both his seven-year-old brother and his sick grandfather.

Not only has he had to cope with the horrific experience of surviving the tsunami by climbing on the roof of his house and being washed into a tree, he now has to face the reality of fending for himself and two dependents.

Free education

Nearly two weeks on from the disaster, the authorities have had time to decide how to help orphans and other children suffering as a result of the tsunami.

Deputy Interior Minister Sutham Saengpratoom, who was at the Krabi Children's Day celebrations with the deputy prime minister, said the government was committed to providing full assistance.

He cited the Thai king's Rachprachanukroh Foundation, which aims to build new schools and provide children affected by the disaster with free education.

Prajak Changreua, the director of education services for Krabi, said he wanted to make sure that all the region's children could still go to school.

Orphaned children would have the option of going to a special boarding school in Krabi, he added, and all children in tsunami-affected areas would be given free lunches and access to counselling services.

"It's important to keep children in school right now, because their school is like their second home. They know people and feel safe," he said.

"It also gives us a clearer picture of who is still missing, and who is in need of our help."

He added that a new school would eventually be built on Phi Phi, so families could go back - if they still wanted to live there.

Many are thinking twice about living on the island, frightened of another tsunami - but according to Sukdee Tangtongsawat, the director of Phi Phi's primary school, it would be better for the island's children if the local community stayed together.

"They need to talk with other people who have been in the same situation," she said.

Teachers, officials, charity groups and local communities are all trying to help Thai children cope in the wake of the tsunami - but no matter how hard they try there are bound to be some children who slip through the net, and continue to suffer alone.

Juran Udom has already refused an offer of a place in a special children's centre because he needs to look after his grandfather.

"I don't know what I'm going to do," he said simply. "But I don't think I'll ever go back to school."

[Tornado]

IS it irresponsible to cause a "fuss" over a missing boy? grow up ###### head!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

nice post and wonderfull language! congradulations !

it is so good that at least there is some real contribution from such a polite and kind a guy like you! keep up the good work!

it is irresponsible to "troll" around ! to come to some thread you ain't interested in and start to make irrelevant comments even for small and seemingly innocent (BTW - realy chilsdsh) reason to attract attention to yourself while discouraging people to read some things they want to read. I don't even mention - direct and indirect insults, mocking, rude remarks etc. for , again childish reason of jealousy because you THINK that someone else has same motives like you do have and they are more "successfull" in that. I think it is you, who has to grow up, sweatheart ! because you epxose yourself . don't you know the famous saying: "when you point a finger to someone - 3 fingers point back to you" ? meaning: make sure that what you acuse others for you yourself isn't guilty of.

by the way - in this thread I never even once tried to attract attention to myself before the time I was compelled to reply to your post. and perhaps most of people who've read the news, because they wnat to read NEWS, not some insults, in this thread didn't even bother to look at who posts them, and didn't even know it was me or someone else, because naturally more important and interesting is the information posted, not a personality, especialy if all these articles ain't written by me. and I even didn't make my own comments till you have come and from your very first post managed to do so instantly, like: "now, everybody, start listen to ME !"

regarding - that these news are available for anyone and can be easily found. true, but some people don't bother to browse and find. if they come accross these infos here - they'd rather read. those who want to find themselves - fine. I didn't copyu and paste all these articles for reason to get credit for myself - simply for info. nobody even made ANY comments here - just came, read and went elsewhere to read something else. what to be so jelous of and fussy about ?

and then again - that article about boy - it was and is also available everywhere , internet, newspapapers, TV - so what is the difference in rpinciple here? and isn't it childish ?

and I send PM to you only, BTW without any bad language and abuse and Argumentum Ad Homenun - "attack on person" fallacy in discussion (BTW, again childish and immature: trying to prove one's point by discrediting a personality of opponent by insults, bad hints, or even phisically), not to mention purposefull intentional insults you dump on me here - IN PUBLIC ... PM = Private Message.... because I was sure what would be your reaction and didn't want to start any bloody ramble in PUBLIC FORUM.... and also because in general I don't like rambles, especially with guys like you....

but then you've shown your real face here - didn't you? well, my be you'll get some merit from whatever good work you do over there on Khao Lak or whatever, assuming that what you say is true and you not simply drinking beer there, or may be not even there but somewhere in Pattaya or Nana.

and regarding my sitting in the chair - why, of course I need it to sit on, coz if I sit , say, on the floor - I can't see the PC's screen ! I wonder, when you type your wonderfull illustrous posts - do you stand erect or lying down ? I bet you also sit on something - don't you ? may be on some wreck you've found on the beach while doing your wonderfull work and use some computer and phone line for its modem which miraculously survived were washed to the shore intact ? so then please be kind and fair to me - don't sentence me to eternal ###### because of such hideous crime and sin as sitting in the chair while typing this answer to you. sorry it is not my fault - I simply comply with the rules in this internet cafe, they don't let people standing while using internet ! they say it creates uneasy athmosphere for others here, and causes crowdness etc etc. ....

another point - I didn't and don't make this thread appear on the "top charts" (not to mention that even the very idea of it never crossed my mind) and as I know - nobody even including Moderators does that even if it is some thread they, not me, started ... this Forum is made - again, not by me - in such a way that ANY thread with latest posts will appear on the top. try it yourself, Oh briliant and genius one , if you want.... and the threads appearing on the top are always changing, you must have noticed that if you pay SOoooooo close attention to who and what is on the top and so concerned about why oh why not your posts are on the top ...

Maybe I'll make special request to Moderators - to create a special thread for you so that it can be always on the top, huh? candy for baby to keep from crying...

regarding the number of people viewing particular threads - it again doesn't depend on me or anybody. people choose and decide THEMSELVEs what to read or not - not me not anyone else make them do so. and it is impossible to "direct traffic flow" [as you have suggested to Forum moderators here or elsewhere] to any particular thread or post - not like paying to Yahoo search engine so that your website appears in the top ten results....

with such a hiqh IQ as yours - comparing to such stupid whatever-head you've called me above (I don't bother to guess) - I thought you might know that !

Forum is Forum (this word comes from Latin, meaning something like - open discussion) - for anybody who complies with its rules, BTW again - made and enforced not by me, and THANKS GOD - not by you ! anyone can start whatever thread. and one of the rules as I recall - to make RELEVANT to the topic of thread replies . and by irresponsibility I mentioned in my posts addressed to you and in the PM I meant - your writing something not only irrelevant, but even intentionally distracting the attention of readers of particular thread to some other subject, or as with guys like you - to no subject at all, perhaps may be only the subject - HOW GOOD AND SMART etc etc you are.... I remember someone explained a term 'troll' in this regard - sort of "energy vampire" or something like that, a person who starts unnecessary quarells and heated discussions which usually not even related to any subject at all, least of all to the topic of thread they post in...

the only problem with this Forum is that it also lets some people like you to insult and offend others.... yeah, you've learned some symbols on the keyboard to confuse the filters of foul language to be able to get away with it - congradulations, that is a big progress ! but it is a matter of INSIDE your mind and heart first of all - not with me or how I'll react or how whoever else will respond to your posts....

I would like to believe that you are actually not so bad guy, and that you simply like a bit of fuss - just as I said b4....

and that boy? yeah, sure - we must worry about children being kidnapped. it is very very wrong to do that - kidnap them and especialy abuse. but the point is - he wasn't and that you didn't even bother to admit that you droped you interest to this topic once it is not sensational anymore.... that's why again I consider you just a fuss maker and lover ....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

at least you wrote something yourself, congrats!

[aaaaaa]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/science/01/10...t.ap/index.html

Satellites measured killer tsunami

Data takes days to analyze

Monday, January 10, 2005 Posted: 8:41 PM EST (0141 GMT)

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The tsunami that killed thousands around the Indian Ocean was caught by a series of radar satellites, allowing National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientists to develop measurements of the wave in mid-ocean.

While a tsunami can rise to great heights when it arrives at the shore, such waves are often barely noticeable in the ocean.

In this case, scientists found that two hours after the undersea quake that launched the tsunami, the wave was about two feet.

An hour and 15 minutes later it was down to about 16 inches. After eight hours the main wave was down to about two to four inches, though a portion in the Bay of Bengal was still at about 10 inches, the N0AA scientists said Monday.

An earthquake deep beneath the ocean off Indonesia caused the tsunami by shifting the sea floor, resulting in displacement of the water overhead and causing a wave to spread out from that location.

Unlike surface waves that affect only a shallow amount of water, a tsunami stretches all the way to the sea floor and, as that rises to the land, so does the wave. Arriving at shore, such waves can grow suddenly by dozens of feet.

The new measurements were based on data from four earth-orbiting satellites. Researchers hope the work will help them develop models to improve tsunami forecasts.

Window to tsunami activity

The data, which took several days to analyze, came from the TOPEX/Poseidon and Jason satellites operated NASA and the French space agency, CNES; the European Space Agency's Envisat and the U.S. Navy's Geosat Follow-On.

"These observations are unique and of tremendous value for testing and improving tsunami computer models and developing future tsunami early warning systems," said Lee-Lueng &lt;deleted&gt; of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

Walter H.F. Smith, a geophysicist at NOAA, emphasized that the office does not get satellite data until several hours after a tsunami has developed -- too late to be used as a real-time forecast.

"Right now, this technique is not a first line of defense in tsunami hazard monitoring and warnings, but it gives scientists a window to tsunami activity in the deep and in remote parts of an ocean basin, too far away from coastal tide gauges and other instruments that could detect it," Smith said in a statement.

[aaaaaa]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/science/01/10...reut/index.html

Scientists: Earth ringing like a bell after Asia quake

Scientists say the Earth's vibrations are similar to that of a ringing bell, minus sound.

Monday, January 10, 2005 Posted: 11:08 AM EST (1608 GMT)

MELBOURNE, Australia (Reuters) -- Two weeks on, the Earth is still vibrating from the massive undersea earthquake off Indonesia that triggered the tsunami, Australian researchers said on Sunday.

The Australian National University (ANU) said the reverberations were similar in form to the ringing of a bell, though without the sound, and were picked up by gravity monitoring instruments.

"These are not things that are going to throw you off your chair, but they are things that the kinds of instruments that are in place around the world can now routinely measure," said ANU Earth Sciences researcher Herb McQueen.

"It is certainly above the background level of vibrations that the earth is normally accustomed to experiencing."

The magnitude 9.0 earthquake, the strongest for 40 years, struck off the coast of Indonesia's Sumatra island on December 26. The tsunami it generated claimed more than 156,000 lives.

McQueen said the oscillation was fading and at current levels equated to about a millimeter of vertical motion of the earth.

Immediately after the quake the oscillation was probably in the 20 to 30 cm motion range that is typically generated in the earth by the movements of the sun and moon.

"This particular earthquake because it was 10 times larger than most of the recent large earthquakes is continuing to reverberate," McQueen said.

"We can still see a steady signal of the earth vibrating as a result of that earthquake two weeks later. From what it looks like, it appears it will probably continue to oscillate for several more weeks."

The ANU's gravity meter is housed in a fireproof basement at the Mount Stromlo Observatory near the capital Canberra and is part of a global geodynamics project established after major earthquakes in the 1960s.

U.S. scientists said just after the quake that it may have permanently accelerated the Earth's rotation shortening days by a fraction of a second and caused the planet to wobble on its axis.

Richard Gross, a geophysicist with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, theorized that a shift of mass towards the Earth's center during the quake caused the planet to spin three millionths of a second faster and tilt about 2.5 cm on its axis.

[aaaaaa]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/01/1...nami/index.html

Indonesia: Separatists threaten relief efforts

Thailand digs up tsunami graves to identify bodies

Tuesday, January 11, 2005 Posted: 8:28 AM EST (1328 GMT)

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia -- Indonesia is restricting the movement of aid workers in the tsunami-devastated Aceh province because of alleged threats from separatist rebels.

Authorities said Tuesday that relief agencies will now need permission to work outside the provincial capital Banda Aceh and the town of Meulaboh, Reuters reported.

Budi Atmaji, the head of Indonesia's relief operations, told a news conference that the safety of foreign aid workers could not be guaranteed "in some places."

The military has asked aid groups to draw up a list of international relief workers and to report on their movements, The Associated Press reported.

Also Tuesday, Indonesia's military chief, Gen. Endriartono Sutarto, said that separatists -- led by GAM (Free Aceh Movement) -- were trying to hijack relief supplies.

He urged the rebels to agree to a cease-fire and "work together" to help rebuild, AP reported.

"If they ask for food, we will give it to them," he said. "They do not have to do this."

Sutarto also was quoted in The Jarkata Post newspaper as saying: "You know that killing a foreigner here (in Aceh) will attract international attention and they (GAM) need it."

However, GAM has denied allegations that it poses a threat to aid workers.

"We never attacked and will never attack aid workers be it foreign or Indonesian," GAM military wing spokesman Sofyan Dawood told Reuters in a telephone call.

The restrictions on aid workers comes as the United Nations and top government officials were set to meet in Geneva to plan how to use more than $5 billion in government and agency pledges for aid to tsunami victims. (Full story)

The donations include cash for the humanitarian relief effort as well as long-term development aid, reconstruction aid.

The worldwide death toll from the December 26 disaster has topped 140,000 and is expected to go much higher.

In Indonesia alone, which has reported 95,000 deaths, the Health Ministry says 77,000 people remain missing.

In Thailand, about 5,300 people were killed and 3,700 more are listed as missing, including more than 1,000 foreign tourists.

Thai authorities are still pumping lakes near the country's southwest coast, hoping to find some of the missing bodies.

Meanwhile, as many as 800 bodies are being exhumed from mass graves in Thailand in a bid to help identify thousands of people still listed as missing.

The bodies were buried in shallow, sandy pits at Bang Muang on the southwest coast in the days immediately following the disaster because the Thai authorities lacked sufficient refrigeration units to stop the corpses rotting.

The Thai government has announced DNA tests will now be carried out on all the confirmed dead in a bid to clear up any misidentifications that may have occurred.

Local officials had earlier insisted that only Thais were buried at Bang Muang, but there are now concerns that Westerners may have been wrongly identified as Asians in the chaos following the tsunamis.

Thailand's Interior Ministry now says the nationality of nearly 2,000 of the bodies is unreliable and will need to undergo further testing.

Forensics teams from Germany, Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands, as well as a joint Scandinavian team, are now working at Yan Yao to identify the bodies.

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said Monday he was confident that all the corpses would be properly identified through DNA samples taken from teeth, but he warned the process could take some time.

Thai authorities are planning to move the bodies of still unidentified tsunami victims to a single location on the outskirts of the hard-hit tourist resort area of Phuket.

The move would make identifying the dead more efficient, the deputy permanent secretary of the Public Health Ministry, Dr. Supachai Kunarattanapreuk, said according to Thailand's The Nation newspaper.

Other developments

Schools in Sri Lanka and Banda Aceh have reopened as the communities there try to recover some sense of normality.

Aftershocks from the quake continued to rattle Banda Aceh on Monday, sending people scrambling from their homes.

A new video has brought a fresh perspective to the horror of the disaster. The tape -- shot by a wedding photographer perched on a rooftop in Banda Aceh -- shows a torrent of dark brown water flowing fast and furious down the street below. (Watch the video)

[aaaaaa]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4154277.stm

At-a-glance: Economic impact

While no one disputes the vast human cost of the 26 December tsunami, the economic impact is far less clear. Some economies seem to have escaped unscathed; in others, the high cost of reconstruction could bring compensatory flows of aid and investment.

..............

Thailand

[for other countries - see the source URL]

Despite Thailand's high-profile tourist industry, analysts have not been persuaded to alter their forecasts for the country's growth. Output is expected to rise 5.5-6.5% in 2005, the same as last year. Even the gloomiest forecasts do not peg the cost higher than half a percentage point of GDP growth.

Thailand is better off than some nearby tourist destinations: although the industry accounts for between 5% and 12% of GDP (depending on whether the direct or indirect impact is calculated), the affected area around Phuket produces just 1.9% of national income.

Unlike Sri Lanka and Indonesia, the Thai Government has shown little interest in debt relief, preferring to maintain its credit rating. Instead, the government has proposed special tax breaks in international markets for Thai products - something that a few foreign governments have reportedly informally approved.

KEY FACTS

2004 growth: 6.2%

2005 forecast: 5.5-6.5%

Tourism earnings: 5.4% of GDP

External debts: $51.7bn

[aaaaaa]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...d=541&ncid=2337

Two Tsunami Survivors Have Measles

Tue, Jan 11, 2005

12 minutes ago

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia - UNICEF (news - web sites) on Monday confirmed two cases of measles in survivors of Indonesia's tsunami, raising fears that the highly contagious and potentially deadly viral infection could take hold on devastated Sumatra island.

The U.N. children's agency is in the midst of a campaign to vaccinate 600,000 people against the disease, which can be deadly to children if not treated, said UNICEF Indonesia spokesman John Budd. The mass vaccination drive in the Sumatra region began last week and is expected to take three weeks to complete.

Clauvia Hudspeth, a UNICEF official in Banda Aceh, said there were two cases of the infection in the province, which was the hardest-hit area in the tsunami zone. She gave no more details.

Measles kills more children than any other vaccine-preventable disease, according to UNICEF.

The virus weakens the immune system and renders children highly susceptible to fatal complications from diarrhea, pneumonia, and encephalitis. Children who survive measles can be left with permanent disabilities, including brain damage, blindness and deafness.

Budd, in Jakarta, reported the first case involving a child on Sumatra earlier Monday.

"In this situation, it is deadly to children," Budd said. "But we have to keep this in perspective — it is a single case."

There have so far been no major outbreaks of disease since the Dec. 26 disaster that killed more than 150,000 across southern Asia and Africa — including more than 100,000 in Indonesia.

___

On the Net:

UNICEF measles fact sheet: http://www.unicef.org/immunization/facts_measles.html

[aaaaaa]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4160753.stm

Monday, 10 January, 2005, 11:25 GMT

Thai village struggles to rebuild

By Kate McGeown

BBC News, Khlong Prasong, Thailand

At first glance, the small island community of Khlong Prasong might count itself lucky.

Like much of Thailand's west coast it was hit by the devastating Asian tsunami, yet no one in the 400-strong community died.

But the tsunami changed the lives of far more people than those now mourning loved ones. Away from the famous resorts and tourist beaches, hundreds of small communities like Khlong Prasong now face a long, difficult challenge to rebuild.

Before the disaster, the people of Khlong Prasong had two sources of income - fishing and tourism.

Now they are struggling to make money from either.

"We're afraid we're going to get forgotten, and all the aid is going to go to Phi Phi island and other areas where the destruction is greater," said Donjit Hafah.

Mr Hafah, like most people in his predominantly Islamic village, is dependent on boats for a living - boats which are now mostly strewn around the island needing to be repaired.

"Boats are our life. If we don't have a boat, we don't have a livelihood," said village elder Maad Oonbutr.

Even if they find the money to mend their boats, the villagers stand little chance of earning enough to live on.

It is meant to be high season for the tourist town of Krabi on the mainland, just 25 minutes away by boat from Khlong Prasong.

But Krabi's hotels and restaurants are empty, as almost all those holidaying in the area have decided to leave in the aftermath of the tsunami.

So there is little call for the boat drivers from Khlong Prasong, who used to come to the mainland every day to take tourists on trips around the islands.

Fishing is little better. Most of the community's nets have been washed away by the tsunami. And few people want to eat fish now anyway. Those involved in hauling corpses from the beaches, washed up entwined with fish and other ocean life, simply have not got the stomach to eat seafood.

Continuing fears

Two weeks on from the tsunami, the people of Khlong Prasong are still suffering from the trauma of their experience.

"I still can't sleep. I keep thinking another tsunami is going to come. The waves and the tides are still not normal and I'm very scared," said Samari Koonlong.

"Last night I was just sitting watching the waves," Maad Oonbutr said. "I thought about the children who ran towards the sea when the tsunami came, and how near they were to drowning."

Some people on the island are even thinking about leaving for the mainland.

Mr Hafah's house has been badly damaged - his bed ended up in a bush on the other side of his shrimp pond.

"I want to stay on the island and sell shrimp," he said. "But if I don't get enough money to repair my house, I won't have much option."

Everyone in Khlong Prasong and other affected island areas have so far received food parcels and 2,000 baht ($50) in aid, which - while very welcome - is not enough to pay for many of the repairs.

"I haven't cried yet," said Mr Hafah. "I keep smiling to try to stop the tears. But my wife has cried until her eyes swelled up."

For others in the village, there is simply no option but to stay. "This is the only life I know," said Boonchuai Madohsot.

Retribution?

As head of his village, Maad Oonbutr is scared for the future of his community.

"I never imagined something like this would happen. The tsunami has made me aware that the village is not a safe place to live in. It's changed the whole way I look at the world," he said.

According to Sophia Buranakul, project manager for a local non-profit foundation, this is a worrying sign.

"If even a community leader is questioning the whole existence of his village, I don't know whether the people will have the strength to rebuild," she said.

"There is huge insecurity here. These people trusted the sea, but when it does something like this to you, you feel a lot less comfortable about it," she said.

Added to that, many villagers think that somehow the tsunami was their own fault, because of years of over-fishing and pollution.

"Too much has been taken from the sea, and now the sea has taken something from us," said Ampan Netbussarakham, the principal of the island's Khlong Yai school.

There are some signs, however, that the community is getting back on its feet.

A bridge has already been rebuilt, and many villagers can be seen hammering at their boats and the walls of their houses, to repair damage done by the tsunami.

On the mainland, too, boatyards are crowded with people - many of whom have lost friends and family - all repairing their vessels in the hope they can carry on as before.

In the words of Mrs Buranakul, "People have lost those they love. They don't want to lose their livelihoods as well."

===================================================

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/worl...maps/html/2.stm

Thailand

Worst affected districts are Phang Na, Ranong, Trang, Phuket and Krabi where more than 5,000 people are believed to have died. These provinces form the heart of Thailand's tourist industry. Some 27 hotel complexes in Phuket alone have been destroyed, the Thailand government reports.

At least 2,400 fishing boats have been destroyed and 54,000 farm animals killed, according to official Thai estimates. Some 6,000 houses, 50 schools and 19 government buildings are also reported to be damaged or destroyed.

================================

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4162529.stm

Monday, 10 January, 2005, 18:32 GMT

Thailand tsunami victims exhumed

Authorities admit mistakes may have been made identifying victims

The bodies of hundreds of tsunami victims are being exhumed in Thailand because of mistakes made in identifying victims immediately after the disaster.

Authorities say some victims quickly visually identified as Thai and buried may have been foreign nationals.

Thailand on Sunday increased by 10-fold the number of corpses listed as having an unknown national origin.

Meanwhile, Indonesia says it has set a two-week deadline for clearing up the main towns affected in Aceh province.

The province, on the northern tip of Sumatra island, was one of the regions worst-hit by the tsunami disaster.

But aid operations were briefly disrupted on Monday when a US Navy helicopter crashed near the provincial capital.

More than 150,000 people died from the 26 December tsunami, mostly in Aceh province. Many more are missing.

Microchips implanted

More then 5,300 bodies have so far been recovered in Thailand, but the Thais now admit there were so many found in the first few days that the situation became confused.

In Phang Nga, ravaged by the tsunami waves, rescue teams quickly ran out of enough refrigerated containers to store bodies in.

The decision was made to divide the bodies according to whether they were visually identified as Thai or foreign. Many apparently Thai victims were then quickly buried in sandy trenches at Bang Muang temple.

But some relatives of foreign tourists now suspect their loved ones may have been buried at Bang Muang. And though hair samples were taken, DNA procedures have changed and samples of ribs are now required, Thai forensics expert Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand said.

Now bodies will be unearthed from Bang Muang and rehoused in refrigeration containers until they can be definitively identified and released to relatives.

Microchips will also be implanted in bodies to allow accurate identification of remains.

The AFP news agency quoted Thai authorities as announcing on Sunday that the nationalities of more than 2,100 victims were still unknown - a 10-fold increase on previous reported figures. More than 3,000 people are still missing.

In other developments:

The UN's children's agency Unicef says it is rushing vaccines to Aceh's west coast after confirming a case of measles there

Schools open in Sri Lanka for the first time since the disaster

US Secretary of State Colin Powell says he will call for long-term US aid to the Indian Ocean region.

Two-week deadline

Meanwhile in Indonesia, the welfare minister Alwi Shihab says he has set a two-week deadline for clean-up operations in the two main cities in Aceh province, Banda Aceh and Meulaboh.

In an interview with the BBC, he promised 24 relocation centres would be up and running around Aceh within three weeks to look after the thousands of homeless.

Mr Shihab admitted shortcomings in the government's initial response, saying it had been completely overwhelmed and had "panicked".

In Meulaboh, near the coast, the destruction is terrible, but further into town, some shops are open and fresh produce is for sale, the BBC's Jonny Dymond reports.

Diggers are operating all around town, clearing rubble and wood from outside the concrete structures still standing.

The authorities in Aceh opened schools on Monday in an effort to restore some normality to shocked schoolchildren who have lost many of their friends.

The government said 420 schools had been destroyed and 1,000 teachers killed in Aceh province.

On Monday, rescue efforts suffered a setback when a US helicopter crashed into a rice paddy about 500m from Banda Aceh airport. At least two of the 10 people on board were injured when the SH-60 Seahawk came down.

The navy described the crash as a "hard landing", ruling out fears it had been shot down.

[aaaaaa]

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/latest/

Cabinet approves Bt60 bn relief package for tsunami victims

Published on Jan 11 , 2005

The cabinet today approved the Bt60 billion relief package for local tsunami victims, damaged businesses and to repay airlines for transporting foreign survivors home free.

The televised cabinet meeting today agreed to the Bt5.57 billion baht fund for payments to everyone who lost relatives, or property to the December 26 tsunami which hit the Andaman coast of southern Thailand.

Amost Bt240 million will go to hotels which provided free rooms and free flights home to surviving foreign tourists. About Bt740 million will aid local survivors and relatives of the dead, while about Bt100 million will serve a scholarships for 446 children who lost their parents to the tidal waves disaster.

The remainder of the money will be use as soft loans to help damaged business revert to normal operations.

The tsunami wave disaster of December 26, 2004 killed at least 5,300 people and left 3,370 missing.

============================

50,000 'likely to lose their jobs'

Published on Jan 11 , 2005

Almost 50,000 people employed in Phuket, Krabi and Phang Nga are expected to lose their jobs in the wake of the tsunami, according to local businesspeople.

While many have seen their workplaces destroyed, employees at businesses still standing are being laid off after European and Scandinavian tour agencies made mass cancellations at resorts in Krabi through to the end of January, said Krabi Chamber of Commerce vice president Pronchai Tantrasakul. Adding to the potential hurt, other tours have yet to confirm their bookings for February, capping off a disastrous and heartbreaking high-tourist season, he said.

The tsunami damaged about 2,000 of Krabi’s 8,000 hotel rooms, and with tourists staying away, most of the remaining rooms sit empty.

If tourism fails to recover next month, Pronchai said the entire Krabi hotel and resort industry will lay off their 20,000-strong staff.

Some Krabi hotels and resorts have tried to keep their employees on the payroll by halving work hours and pay. Other operators continue to pay their employees a full salary.

But with occupancy at 10 per cent, compared to 80 per cent prior to the tsunami on December 26, many have given their staff 10 days vacation.

It is the same story in Phuket, where hotel occupancy has fallen to less than 10 per cent from 90 per cent before the calamity, according to Phuket Tourist Association director Jirachai Amornpairoj. If the tourists fail to show up in a month, the same fate awaits Phuket’s tourism industry workers.

“We expect to lay off up to 20,000 staff at all of the hotels and related businesses in Phuket,” he said.

The 50 Khao Lak hotels and resorts destroyed or damaged by the tsunami have suspended operations and told their 7,000 employees to return after they have rebuilt, said Pichai Nilthonkham, a representative of the Phang Nga hotel industry.

To assist the displaced workers, the Employment Department has found positions at businesses in the 14 other southern provinces, said Pairat Lumyong of the Employment Department. He added that the department had found 20,000 jobs for unemployed workers.

Somluck Srimalee

The Nation

PHUKET

=============================

Tensions rise at relief temple

Published on Jan 11 , 2005

Tension among government officials, Buddhist monks and tsunami victims heightened yesterday amid allegations of misappropriation of donated goods and disputes over the fate of the Morgan sea gypsies.

Government officials accused Wat Samakridhama of trying to monopolise the distribution of food, water and essential items for tsunami victims after wives and relatives of senior government officials tried to take over the management themselves but met with resistance.

A number of tsunami victims who went to the temple told reporters they were disappointed at the low amount of supplies, which monks said had been depleting quickly. Temple abbot Prakru Suwatdhamarat said he suspected the quick drying up of donated goods was due to those who asked for supplies taking more than they needed.

Further disputes in the temple resulted after Natural Resources and Environment Minister Suwit Khunkitti ordered the return of Morgan sea gypsies to Surin Island.

The monks objected, saying that the island-dwellers - who are technically stateless - should be given time to consider whether they want to remain on land and apply for citizenship, in which case they would be permitted to get an education.

An aid worker who worked with the Morgans in the Andaman Sea said the government was primarily concerned with teaching the gypsies the Thai language, not with whether they are socially mobile or granting them citizenship.

Misai Talayleuk, a Morgan woman who spoke to The Nation on Surin Island upon her return on Saturday, said she had suggested that the men return first to rebuild houses. However, they did not want the family to be separated and so everyone opted to return on the same day.

Others in the group said they were happy to return, saying life on the mainland was just too awkward for them. Though they are not permitted to engage in commercial fishing around Surin Island, the Morgans said they were content just to be able to be able to catch fish for their own consumption.

The Nation

Kuraburi, Phang Nga

=======================================

Dead to be moved to one site

Published on January 11, 2005

Authorities are planning to move the bodies of still unidentified tsunami victims to a single location on the outskirts of Phuket.

The move would make identifying the dead more efficient, said Dr Supachai Kunarattanapreuk, depu-ty permanent secretary of the Public Health Ministry, who heads a tsunami victim autopsy and identification centre.

After the bodies are relocated, he explained, experts from local and US disease-control units would help cleanse temples that have been serving as morgues and autopsy centres since December 26. “We will disinfect the areas to ensure healthy environments for local people,” Supachai said.

He said efforts to identify bodies of tsunami victims were continuing and that all bodies would be catalogued using dental analyses, taking inventory of personal effects found on the body, and DNA testing.

“We will send tissue samples from the bodies to laboratories in China for tests,” he said. China has been invited to conduct DNA testing on some 2,500 bodies.

Thai and Chinese experts skilled in disaster victim identification met yesterday to discuss identification procedures, Supachai said. Their conclusions should be announced today. He advised relatives of those who went missing in the tsunami to undergo DNA testing at pro-

vincial hospitals, Ramathibodi Hospital, Siriraj Hospital or the Central Institute of Forensic Science Thai-land.

“Relevant authorities will work together to check the DNA results against those of the dead,” he said, adding that foreigners should send their DNA test samples to their embassies in Thailand. The results would be forwarded to the Foreign Affairs Ministry and Public Health Ministry.

In Phang Nga, Dr Porntip Rojanasunun, deputy director of the Central Institute of Forensic Science Thailand, said the corpses of Asian-looking people at Bang Maruan cemetery were being exhumed to gather more DNA samples from them. “Initial examinations collected muscular tissue and hair. But we are now going to collect teeth samples as well. We will also implant microchips in the bodies so that we can later retrieve the information efficiently,” she said.

The corpses there were among the first to arrive at Yan Yao Temple, which was immediately turned into an autopsy centre following the disaster. “At the time, we didn’t have enough dentists to collect dental records. Now we do,” she explained.

Chinese laboratories had expertise in tooth-sample checks will help with analyses. People who have recognised missing friends or relatives from photos of bodies can contact her Porntip’s unit at Yan Yao Temple for verification.

==================================

Optimism in the North

Published on January 11, 2005

The northern chapter of the Thai Hotels Association met last week to discuss the impact on Chiang Mai’s tourism market from the December 26 tsunami that hit major tourist areas in the southern provinces.

Chapter president Vorapong Moochaotai said that the disaster could have both negative and positive effects.

“Chiang Mai is on its way up and tourism campaigns for this year have already been launched worldwide, so we believe that there won’t be much negative impact on the North,” he said.

The meeting concluded that since the northern and southern regions have completely different attractions, the only negative impact was likely to be from cancellations by groups wanting to tour the whole country.

On the positive side, the disaster could stimulate tourism in the North, especially with regard to hotel investment.

Large hotel chains, which usually start with investments in the South, may consider investing in the North sooner to make up for large losses from the tsunami, he said.

==================================

Koh Lanta’s revival plan

Published on January 11, 2005

In cooperation with the Tourism Authority of Thailand, hotel and resort owners on Koh Lanta are launching an aggressive campaign to make the island an alternative destination to other spots in Krabi, Phuket and Phang Nga.

A number of international road shows are being planned this year and about 170 hotel operators renting about 3,300 rooms are trying to draw tourists by offering 45 to 50 per cent off their high-season rates until October of this year.

“To survive, right now, all are applying low-season room rates,” said Paninart Tiyathorn, the managing director of Pimalai Resort and Spa.

Located in Krabi province, Koh Lanta is Thailand’s seventh-largest island. Like others, it has witnessed a massive tourist boom over the past few years. Surrounded by small islands that are perfect for skin- and scuba-diving, the island has been a dream destination for divers, mainly European, who are fascinated by coral reefs.

In 2004, the island welcomed 200,000 tourists, generating Bt1.6 billion. This rosy picture was gone once the deadly tsunami destroyed a few hotels, leaving two tourists dead. About 90 per cent of tourists cancelled bookings.

According to Suntorn Chaokijka, chairman of a hotel operators’ group, some hotels have had to cut costs by temporarily suspending their business. That has resulted in the layoff of 1,000 workers from a total of 4,000.

In its bid to rebuild and move forward, Koh Lanta has three international road shows planned. The first is the Asean Tourism Forum on Langkawi, Malaysia, from January 24 to 26.

In March, it will join road shows in Germany and Russia.

“At the road shows, we are offering tour agents discounts of up to 45 per cent. Thai tourists and expatriates here are entitled to a 50-per-cent discount,” said Paninart.

Suchat Sritama

The Nation

Krabi

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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...d=564&ncid=2100

Top Stories - Reuters

Global Tsunami Death Toll Tops 226,000

Wed Jan 19,11:42 AM ET

By Jerry Norton and Dean Yates

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (Reuters) - The global death toll from the Asian tsunami shot above 226,000 Wednesday after Indonesia's Health Ministry confirmed the deaths of tens of thousands of people previously listed as missing.

The ministry raised the country's death toll to 166,320. It had previously given a figure of 95,450 while Indonesia's Ministry of Social Affairs had put the death toll at around 115,000 before it stopped counting.

Dodi Indrasanto, a director at the health ministry's department of health affairs, said the new death total reflected the latest reports from the provinces of Aceh and North Sumatra, which were directly in the path of the killer tsunami spawned by a magnitude 9 earthquake the day after Christmas.

The new figure lifted the total global death toll from the tsunami disaster to 226,566, although the number continues to rise as more deaths are reported around the region.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, speaking before the health ministry released its latest figures, told a donors conference in Jakarta that the true extent of the catastrophe defied description.

"Perhaps we will never know the exact scale of the human casualties," he said.

Indrasanto said the health ministry report, which had just 6,245 people still listed as missing, had been sent to Yudhoyono late Wednesday.

The ministry's figures said 617,159 people were still homeless in northern Sumatra more than three weeks after the killer wave struck.

INDONESIA OFFERS TALKS

The staggering death count came as Indonesia said it was hopeful of holding talks with rebels in Aceh, where the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) has waged a bloody, three-decade long battle for independence from Jakarta's rule.

Security fears prompted by the GAM conflict have been a worrying backdrop to the massive international relief effort in Aceh, where huge stretches of coastline were laid waste by the earthquake and tsunami that followed.

"Behind the cloud there must be a silver lining. Behind the scenes, a process is happening toward reconciliation," Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said.

Wirajuda said he hoped the talks would take place by the end of the month, but he could give neither a date nor a place. A spokesman for GAM's exiled leadership in Sweden said there had been no progress on talks.

"We haven't had any concrete response from the Indonesian side," said Bakhtiar Abdullah.

A U.N. official in Meulaboh, the province's second city, said emergency aid drops would have to be sharply increased in order to avoid hunger in outlying areas.

GAM's leaders have repeatedly welcomed relief efforts spearheaded by the United Nations (news - web sites) and the rebels have said they would not attack aid workers or convoys.

A DEFINING MOMENT

Political concerns have also plagued relief efforts in Sri Lanka, where the Tamil-rebel controlled northeast is waiting to see if it will get a piece of the government's $3.5 billion tsunami reconstruction program.

"The tsunami didn't wash away political divisions. In fact it may have made them worse," said Jehan Perera, director of the National Peace Council in Sri Lanka.

"What we have here is a moment that will define the peace process and politics for years."

Most of those swept up in the tsunami disaster -- which ripped coastal areas of Indian Ocean nations as far away as Africa and left more than 1.5 million people homeless around the region -- had far more pressing concerns.

Across Aceh's ravaged west coast, survivors were few and many villages were virtual ghost towns. In others, a mosque was the only building left standing.

In the province's second city Meulaboh, almost sliced in half by the killer wave, mountains of rubble smoldered and electricity was intermittent. But some shops and markets were busy, and food appeared to be available.

Daniel Augstburger, head of United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the coastal city of Meulaboh, said not enough help was reaching people outside of major urban areas.

"The French are starting to move food, of course the Americans....are moving food out, but this has to increase ten-fold, I would say," Augstburger told Reuters, adding that tsunami victims also needed items such as clothes and cooking utensils.

In Sri Lanka, residents of a tsunami-ravaged town packed up and left -- ready to re-establish their community 1.5 km (about one mile) inland as a precaution against any other surprises from the sea.

"This will give our people a better future, a safer future," said fisherman M.J. Raseek, a resident of Hambantota who planned to follow his town away from the coast.

The International Monetary Fund (news - web sites) said it hoped to approve Sri Lanka's emergency request for up to $160 million in assistance, while Indonesian officials told donors that the tsunami would likely cost the country around $4.5 billion.

Governments, aid groups, individuals, corporations and international agencies have pledged more than $7 billion in aid to Asia's tsunami victims.

But donors have to date promised just $739 million of the $977 million the U.N. system says is needed in emergency aid to meet the basic needs of victims over the next six months, according to Kevin Kennedy, a senior official of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

====================================

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4189883.stm

Asia's tsunami death toll soars

The number of people known to have died in last month's Asian tsunami has reached 220,000.

The toll increased dramatically after Indonesian officials announced that more than 166,000 had been confirmed dead in their country alone.

The latest figure is more than 50,000 higher than the previous total issued by Indonesia's health ministry.

Most of the deaths came from the provinces of Aceh and North Sumatra, which were directly hit by the tsunami.

UN and Indonesian officials have said the total number of deaths may never be known.

In other developments:

At an international disaster conference in Kobe, Japan, the United Nations humanitarian chief says the UN should take the lead in creating a tsunami early-warning system in the Indian Ocean

India unveils a $628m reconstruction package for mainland areas hit by the tsunami

Sri Lanka's president launches a reconstruction drive worth $3.5bn

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) says that at least one million people have lost their livelihoods in Sri Lanka and Indonesia alone and calls for action to create jobs.

Bodies recovered

The director of the Indonesian ministry's health affairs department, Doti Indrasanto, said the number of fatalities soared after health officials declared that thousands of people previously listed as missing were dead.

The ministry said it had slashed the number of missing from 77,000 to 6,245.

"We have cross-checked this information and it is correct," Mr Idrasanto said.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said the final death toll might never be known.

"Perhaps we will never know the exact scale of the human casualties," he said.

The BBC's Rachel Harvey in Aceh says that in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, more than 14% of the population is confirmed dead.

She says there are still local districts that have not reported any figures at all, making it seem inevitable that the final death toll will be higher still.

Officials retrieving decomposed bodies in Aceh said about 3,500 corpses were being removed each day - nearly four weeks after the disaster.

About 800,000 people were made homeless in Aceh and North Sumatra as a result of the disaster.

Floods slow relief

Relief officials said floods caused by heavy rains were delaying lorries sending supplies to Aceh's provincial capital, Banda Aceh.

"Flooding is a bigger problem than security," a spokesman for the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), Chris Lom, told the AFP news agency.

He was referring to fears of renewed clashes between Aceh separatists and Indonesian armed forces.

On Wednesday, Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda said he hoped to hold formal peace talks with the Free Aceh Movement (Gam) rebels later this month - the first since May 2003.

The Gam has been waging a rebellion against the Jakarta authorities for nearly three decades.

But in the wake of the tsunami, both sides agreed to an informal ceasefire to help ease the distribution of aid.

====================================

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/01/1...nami/index.html

Tsunami deaths soar past 212,000

Wednesday, January 19, 2005 Posted: 3:36 PM EST (2036 GMT)

JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNN) -- The Indonesian Health Ministry said Wednesday that the December 26 earthquake and tsunamis killed 166,320 people in Indonesia, jumping the regional death toll for the disaster to 212,611.

The Health Ministry said 6,245 people were missing.

Dodi Indrasanto, a director at the Health Ministry's department of health affairs, told Reuters that the new death total reflected the latest reports from the provinces of Aceh and North Sumatra, which were directly in the path of the killer tsunamis spawned by a magnitude 9 earthquake the day after Christmas.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, speaking before the Health Ministry released its latest figures, told a donors conference in Jakarta that the true extent of the catastrophe defied description.

"Perhaps we will never know the exact scale of the human casualties," he said.

Meanwhile in Japan, the U.N. head of emergency relief warned that natural disaster in any of the world's largest cities could set off a catastrophe that could be 100 times worse than the Indian Ocean tsunamis.

Speaking on the first day of a disaster prevention conference in the Japanese city of Kobe, Jan Egeland, the U.N. Director of Disaster Relief, said many of the world's megacities, including Tokyo, are extremely vulnerable to natural disasters.

"Perhaps the most frightening prospect would be to have a truly megadisaster in a megacity," he told delegates from 150 nations Tuesday in Kobe, where an earthquake killed nearly 6,500 people a decade ago.

"Then we could have not only a tsunami-style casualty rate as we have seen late last year, but we could see one hundred times that in a worst case."

Megacities are densely concentrated cities, with a population of 10 million or more, and Egeland said time is running short for some of the largest cities in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

The five most populated cities in the world are the greater Tokyo area with 35.3 million people, Mexico City with 19 million, New York-Newark with 18.5 million and Bombay and Sao Paulo both with a population of 18.3 million, U.N. figures show.

The five-day conference to mark the 10th anniversary of the Kobe quake is also aiming to draw lessons from last month's quake and tsunamis.

Key to the meeting is laying the foundation for an Indian Ocean tsunami early warning system, similar to one set up in the Pacific.

The U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization has proposed a system in the Indian Ocean -- including offshore detection buoys and a communications center -- that would cost $30 million and go into operation by mid-2006.

Experts say well-placed breakwaters, quake-proof seawalls, detailed hazard maps showing danger areas and well-defined evacuation routes and shelters are also needed, according to The Associated Press.

In Tamil Nadu, the Indian state hit hardest by the tsunamis, more than 8,000 people died. Most of the victims lived along the state's lengthy coastline, and state officials are looking at ways to prevent natural disasters from exacting such a heavy toll in the future.

While deep-sea tsunami sensors and solid sea walls were among the proposals discussed, forest officials have suggested a simpler and cheaper alternative.

India's state government is now planning to plant 3 billion casuarina, coconut and cashew saplings along the entire coast after discovering that villages that survived were protected by forest cover.

The United Nations is also calling for the world's children to be educated in disaster reduction and prevention in the next 10 years.

Three weeks on

As experts talk about how to protect cities and nations against natural disasters, relief workers and militaries are trying to help the survivors and help rebuild communities three weeks after the tsunami struck.

A U.N. travel ban on aid workers in parts of the Indonesian province of Aceh has been lifted.

The United Nations had imposed a 24-hour ban on staff travel to specific regions because of security fears following reports of fighting between government forces and rebels in Aceh.

Indonesia's defense minister said the military is sending 5,000 more soldiers to the region to help with reconstruction efforts.

Sri Lanka is launching an extremely ambitious plan to rebuild parts of the country wiped out in the tsunami disaster.

By some estimates, almost two-thirds of Sri Lanka's coastal region was destroyed, including hundreds of thousands of homes.

The so-called "Rebuilding Nation" program is expected to cost $3.5 billion. It includes plans for constructing new townships, replanning transportation networks, and improving telecommunications infrastructure.

=======================================

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...d=516&ncid=2337

World - AP Asia

Indonesia Raises Tsunami Death Toll by 70k

By MIKE CORDER, Associated Press Writer

JAKARTA, Indonesia - Indonesia's Health Ministry declared Wednesday that more than 70,000 people previously listed as missing are dead, significantly raising its estimate for the death toll from last month's tsunami.......

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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...ke_050119182339

Asia - AFP

Indian Ocean tsunami death toll approaches quarter million

Wed Jan 19, 1:23 PM ET

................ With the latest tolls, the tsunamis triggered by a 9.0-magnitude quake off the coast of Sumatra island have left nearly 220,000 dead in 11 Indian Ocean countries..............

=======================================

[Tornado]

Do you honestly think that 'anybody' is going to read all these monster posts and links???

Ravisher.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Be careful Ravisher, I posted the same as you last week and he followed me around the board for a few days, raving on like a kid. He is a cantankerous troll like fellow who likes to see his name first, hence his nick title. I think he should be banned, bashed or banished. bbb

Maybe we should have a poll

[aaaaaa]

<br />

<br />Do you honestly think that 'anybody' is going to read all these monster posts and links???<br /><br />Ravisher.<br />

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

<br />

<br /><br /><br />Be careful Ravisher, I posted the same as you last week and he followed me around the board for a few days, raving on like a kid. He is a cantankerous troll like fellow who likes to see his name first, hence his nick title. I think he should be banned, bashed or banished. bbb<br /><br />Maybe we should have a poll

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

NO COMMENT - I'm not gonna fall for such an obvious bait anymore. it is useless to waste time for such as you - I have told you this quite some time ago both in private and in public.

let people who are interested decide who is troll - I'm definetely not, and therefore not gonna try to prove that I'm not a camel

for reference:

in this Forum

Definition Of A "troll" ?

.....

1. A post (on a newsgroup, or other forum) that is solely intended to incite controversy or conflict or cause annoyance or offense. (Many posts may inadvertently cause strife as collateral damage, but they are not trolls.)

  2. A person who posts these

or elsewhere :

Troll definition

......  A troll is deliberately crafted to provoke others with the intention of wasting their time and energy. A troll is a time thief. To troll is to steal from people. That is what makes trolling heinous.

Trolls can be identified by their disengagement from a conversation or argument. They do not believe what they say, but merely say it for effect.

Trolls are motivated by a desire for attention by people and can't or won't acquire it in a productive manner.

Someone may be insufferable, infuriating, fanatical, and an ignorant idiot to boot without being a troll.

Also note that a troll isn't necessarily insulting, snide, or even impolite. Only the crudest, most obvious, forms of trolling can be identified so easily.

If you find yourself patiently explaining, at length and in great detail, some obscure point to someone who isn't even being polite to you, then you are probably being trolled.

P.S. as saying goes: "dogs bark and caravan keeps going"

[aaaaaa]

Tsunami Aid in Aceh Is Hampered by Rains, UN Says (Update2)

Jan. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Aid deliveries for tsunami victims in Indonesia's Sumatra Island, where more than 600,000 people are displaced, are being hampered by rains, the United Nations said....

Indonesia's death toll from the disaster is more than 172,000 people, the Home Affairs Ministry said yesterday. The government says it will need $4.5 billion to rebuild Aceh and North Sumatra. More than 240,000 people are dead or missing as a result of the tsunami that hit Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, India and nine other countries in the Indian Ocean...

Deaths in Asia

At least 30,000 Sri Lankans were killed and half a million left homeless by the giant waves. More than 10,000 people are confirmed dead in India, with another 5,640 missing. In Thailand, 5,326 people were killed and more than 3,000 are missing.

The devastation requires what ``clearly will be a long-term recovery effort,'' Fargo said.

Foreign tourists were among those killed in the disaster. Sweden's government said as many as 1,000 of its citizens may have been killed. Eighteen Americans are confirmed dead, with another 17 presumed dead, the U.S. State Department said. The U.K. government has confirmed 53 Britons were killed and at least 11 Japanese died in the tsunami.

To contact the reporters on this story:

Paul Tighe in Sydney at  [email protected]; Shanthy Nambiar in Jakarta

at  [email protected].

To contact the editor responsible for this story:

Paul Tighe at  [email protected].

Last Updated: January 21, 2005 01:11 EST 

[aaaaaa]

Sun Jan 23, 2:01 PM ET

Top Stories - Reuters

Indonesia's Tsunami Death Toll Rises

By Dean Yates and Tomi Soetjipto

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (Reuters) - The emergency relief phase is nearly over in Indonesia's tsunami-ravaged Aceh province and foreign militaries should scale back operations, the government said Sunday as it raised its death toll by 7,000.

But four weeks after giant waves killed as many as 234,000 people across the Indian Ocean region, workers are still pulling hundreds of bodies from the mud and rubble each day and aid organizations say they are struggling to reach isolated areas.

Indonesia's Health Ministry said Sunday 173,981 people died on Sumatra island, up from 166,320. Most of the deaths occurred in Aceh province, where Indonesia's chief social welfare minister, Alwi Shihab, said civilian relief workers will now be more useful than foreign troops................

1,000 BODIES A DAY

Volunteers and soldiers in Aceh still pull more than 1,000 bodies daily from the mud and destroyed buildings. The corpses are usually dumped in mass graves.

With so many missing, conflicting figures put the toll of deaths in a dozen countries from Indonesia to Somalia at between 165,000 and 234,000.

[aaaaaa]

Tsunami warning system agreed as death toll nears 300,000

Home > News > World > Asia

The Independent on-line edition

By Jan McGirk in Bangkok

30 January 2005

As the official tally of the dead and missing from last month's tsunami climbed above 298,000, delegates from 43 countries meeting in Thailand yesterday agreed to set up a regional early warning system that might prevent such a massive loss of life in the future.

The news came as the death toll from the disaster continued to rise relentlessly. As predicted in last Sunday's IoS, the numbers who will eventually be listed as killed by the wave now seem set to exceed 300,000. The British totals are 54 confirmed dead, and 194 missing.

Officials had gathered to discuss an early-warning system on Phuket, a tourist island where thousands were swept away in earthquake-powered waves five weeks ago. After two days of talks, delegates had been unable to agree on where to base the new network or how to fund it.

Thailand, India, and Indonesia had each promoted themselves as the ideal location to base a regional warning centre........

==================================

Indonesia quake toll jumps again

Tuesday, 25 January, 2005, 12:41 GMT

Indonesia has again raised its estimate of the number of people killed by December's earthquake and tsunami.

Health Minister Fadilah Supari said more than 220,000 people died or are missing, bringing the total killed throughout the region to 280,000.

............

[aaaaaa]

Quake Death Toll in 2004 Could Be Worst Since 1556

By Robert Roy Britt

LiveScience Senior Writer

posted: 11 February 2005

10:39 am ET

A final analysis of the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami is likely to create a death toll in 2004 greater than any caused by ground shaking in more than four centuries.

While the total deaths from the Dec. 26, 2004 disaster remains uncertain, it stands at 275,950, according to a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) statement released Thursday. A comparatively small number of other earthquake-related fatalities for the year brings the total to 276,856, the agency reported.

However, other disaster officials put the known deaths at between 162,000 and 178,000, with a list of missing between 26,000 to 142,000. Those figures add up to a possible death toll range of between 188,000 and 320,000.

It remains to be seen whether the final tally will exceed 1976, when a magnitude 7.5 temblor killed roughly 255,000 people in and around Tangshan, China.

On Jan. 23, 1556, a quake thought to have been magnitude-8 killed an estimated 830,000 people in Shansi, China.

Historically, most earthquake deaths are caused directly by the shaking. But tsunamis and fires have contributed to combined catastrophes before. In 1755, an earthquake in Lisbon, Portugal triggered a tsunami and fires that combined to kill more than 60,000 people.

Recent large earthquakes

The Dec. 26, 2004 earthquake was put at magnitude 9.0 initially. One group of scientists said earlier this week it was actually 9.3. As of Thursday, however, the USGS was still using the 9.0 figure. Depending on what number geologists ultimately settle on, it will go down in history as the second or third strongest event ever measured.

The all-time largest, magnitude 9.5, hit Chile in 1960.

In 2004, just three days before the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, another large earthquake -- magnitude 8.1 -- struck north of Macquarie Island, about a thousand miles southwest of New Zealand. There were no reported deaths.

Prior to that, the last great earthquake was a magnitude 8.3 in Hokkaido, Japan, in September of 2003.

In 2003, 33,819 deaths were attributed to earthquakes; about 31,000 owing to a magnitude 6.6 temblor that struck Bam, Iran on Dec. 26 of that year. In 2002, 1,711 people were killed by earthquakes.

Normal for nature

The largest U.S. earthquake in 2004 was a magnitude 6.8 in southeastern Alaska.

A magnitude 6.0 temblor struck Parkfield, Calif., on Sept. 28, 2004. Long anticipated by geologists, it ruptured roughly the same segment of the San Andreas Fault that had cracked in 1966, 1934, 1922, 1901, 1881 and 1857.

The deadliest U.S. earthquake in history struck San Francisco on April 18, 1906. The magnitude 7.8 quake killed about 3,000 people, but many of the deaths were attributed to fires that ravaged the city.

None of this is unusual in the grand scope of nature. Earth rattles constantly. About 50 measurable earthquakes occur every day. On average, each year there are 18 major earthquakes with a magnitude of 7.0 to 7.9, and one great earthquake of magnitude 8.0 or higher, according to the USGS.

Geologists caution that the magnitudes of historical events are in some cases estimated based on little or no instrumented seismographic measurement.

==================================================

Tsunami elephants 'need help'

Heavy toll

Six weeks after the disaster, rescue teams are still recovering more than 1,000 bodies a day from the wreckage.

Indonesia now says it has found more than 115,000 bodies and estimates that another 130,000 are still missing, bringing the total number of deaths to about 245,000 in Indonesia alone.

But even that might not give the full picture.

Privately, the United Nations says that for the purposes of planning, they used an estimate of more than 300,000 dead.

[mffun]

Quake Death Toll in 2004 Could Be Worst Since 1556

By Robert Roy Britt

LiveScience Senior Writer

posted: 11 February 2005

10:39 am ET

A final analysis of the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami is likely to create a death toll in 2004 greater than any caused by ground shaking in more than four centuries.

While the total deaths from the Dec. 26, 2004 disaster remains uncertain, it stands at 275,950, according to a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) statement released Thursday. A comparatively small number of other earthquake-related fatalities for the year brings the total to 276,856, the agency reported.

However, other disaster officials put the known deaths at between 162,000 and 178,000, with a list of missing between 26,000 to 142,000. Those figures add up to a possible death toll range of between 188,000 and 320,000.

It remains to be seen whether the final tally will exceed 1976, when a magnitude 7.5 temblor killed roughly 255,000 people in and around Tangshan, China.

On Jan. 23, 1556, a quake thought to have been magnitude-8 killed an estimated 830,000 people in Shansi, China.

Historically, most earthquake deaths are caused directly by the shaking. But tsunamis and fires have contributed to combined catastrophes before. In 1755, an earthquake in Lisbon, Portugal triggered a tsunami and fires that combined to kill more than 60,000 people.

Recent large earthquakes

The Dec. 26, 2004 earthquake was put at magnitude 9.0 initially. One group of scientists said earlier this week it was actually 9.3. As of Thursday, however, the USGS was still using the 9.0 figure. Depending on what number geologists ultimately settle on, it will go down in history as the second or third strongest event ever measured.

The all-time largest, magnitude 9.5, hit Chile in 1960.

In 2004, just three days before the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, another large earthquake -- magnitude 8.1 -- struck north of Macquarie Island, about a thousand miles southwest of New Zealand. There were no reported deaths.

Prior to that, the last great earthquake was a magnitude 8.3 in Hokkaido, Japan, in September of 2003.

In 2003, 33,819 deaths were attributed to earthquakes; about 31,000 owing to a magnitude 6.6 temblor that struck Bam, Iran on Dec. 26 of that year. In 2002, 1,711 people were killed by earthquakes.

Normal for nature

The largest U.S. earthquake in 2004 was a magnitude 6.8 in southeastern Alaska.

A magnitude 6.0 temblor struck Parkfield, Calif., on Sept. 28, 2004. Long anticipated by geologists, it ruptured roughly the same segment of the San Andreas Fault that had cracked in 1966, 1934, 1922, 1901, 1881 and 1857.

The deadliest U.S. earthquake in history struck San Francisco on April 18, 1906. The magnitude 7.8 quake killed about 3,000 people, but many of the deaths were attributed to fires that ravaged the city.

None of this is unusual in the grand scope of nature. Earth rattles constantly. About 50 measurable earthquakes occur every day. On average, each year there are 18 major earthquakes with a magnitude of 7.0 to 7.9, and one great earthquake of magnitude 8.0 or higher, according to the USGS.

Geologists caution that the magnitudes of historical events are in some cases estimated based on little or no instrumented seismographic measurement.

==================================================

Tsunami elephants 'need help'

Heavy toll

Six weeks after the disaster, rescue teams are still recovering more than 1,000 bodies a day from the wreckage.

Indonesia now says it has found more than 115,000 bodies and estimates that another 130,000 are still missing, bringing the total number of deaths to about 245,000 in Indonesia alone.

But even that might not give the full picture.

Privately, the United Nations says that for the purposes of planning, they used an estimate of more than 300,000 dead.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

(Aceh) The toll currently stands at 117,000 dead and 124,000 missing, and 400,000 people remain dependent on aid.

---guardian, Monday February 14, 2005

The massive earthquake and flood left some 300,000 people dead or missing when it hit a number of South East Asian countries in December.

---reuters, Sun February 13, 2005 5:46 PM GMT+02:00

Edited February 14, 2005 by mffun

[kandt]

The numbers we have read over the last month, are staggering and incomprehensible. Needless to say, the numbers of victims Thailand is announcing is completely out of range with the real number of victims. However, the Toxin machine is working and nobody is allowed nor dare to announce the real number of victims in Thailand. Sad but true.

Cheers…………kandt

[aaaaaa]

Death toll in Asian tsunami disaster passes 290,000

Thu Feb 24, 8:09 AM ET

Science - AFP

JAKARTA (AFP) - The number of people believed to have perished in December's tsunamis rose to 290,713, almost two months after the disaster, as more bodies were found in Indonesia's Aceh province.

The number of those confirmed dead in Indonesia rose by 302 on Wednesday alone, taking the death toll to 123,487, while those missing and presumed dead was 113,961, the National Disaster Relief Coordination Agency said Thursday.

Thailand's toll stood at 5,395 confirmed dead. A further 3,001 people are listed as missing, more than 1,000 of them foreigners

........

Death toll

Indonesia: 237,448

  Sri Lanka:  30,957

  India:      16,389

  Thailand:    5,395

  Maldives:        82

  Malaysia:        68

  Myanmar:        61

  Bangladesh:      2

  Somalia:        298

  Tanzania:        10

  Kenya:            1

  Total:      290,713

Â¥ The figures include 113,961 listed as missing in Indonesia and 5,640 in India.

In addition, 3,001 people are listed as missing in Thailand and 5,637 in Sri Lanka but not included in the toll because of possible double counting.

[Peewee]

Saw this release from the UN a week ago.............

DISASTER TOLL - latest news

DEATH TOLL ESTIMATED BY THE UN - FEBRUARY 20TH 2005

300,000 in 11 countries 169,070 confirmed dead 128,426 missing

Thailand; 8,386 dead & missing

Total Injured; 500,000

Cost of reconstruction; £6 billion

Aid pledged; £3.7 billion

Jobs lost; 2 million

Homeless; 1.7 million

British victims; 61 dead & 139 missing

Thailand Tsunami - Damage & Casualties

As also reported on the above website goodness only knows the true number of those lost. When talking to one of the head men in the Khao Lak area last month I was told that the 'official' number of dead from his village was just over 500 - all of these people were registered at the local Ampher office and so that was the official figure. Unfortunatly there were an awful lot of other people that were in the area that were not registered - perhaps another 1500 - 2000 people who would have died, many of them Burmese workers.

Baan-Nam-Khem

Its altogether too frieghtening to think of what the true numbers of people lost could be.