Tidal Wave in Indonesia

[BCYL]

Death toll at more than 15,000 now, and rising... this is a really tragic

 

[Engineer]

Total over 21,000 now

 

[AnImuS]

Originally posted by: Engineer
Total over 21,000 now

Wow. All dead. God sure works in mysterious ways

 

[wchou]

Originally posted by: Engineer
Total over 21,000 now

If they would move to the United States, this wouldn't had happened.

 

[bamacre]

Originally posted by: AnImuS

Originally posted by: Engineer
Total over 21,000 now

Wow. All dead. God sure works in mysterious ways

He does. However, death can be a great punishment, or a great gift, depending on the person.

 

[Gooberlx2]

I wonder how quickly coastal areas around the world will adopt a tsunami warning system (a la Japan's) after this. Depending on the source, I've seen estimates as high as ~23,500 now.

If they would move to the United States, this wouldn't had happened.

I don't understand the point you're trying to make. There's no reason, that I can see, that this couldn't/wouldn't happen in the US. We've got a helluva lot of coastal cities and people that would get obliterated.

 

[Aimster]

Originally posted by: wchou

Originally posted by: Engineer
Total over 21,000 now

If they would move to the United States, this wouldn't had happened.

lol?

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: Gooberlx2
I wonder how quickly coastal areas around the world will adopt a tsunami warning system (a la Japan's) after this. Depending on the source, I've seen estimates as high as ~23,500 now.

If they would move to the United States, this wouldn't had happened.

I don't understand the point you're trying to make. There's no reason, that I can see, that this couldn't/wouldn't happen in the US. We've got a helluva lot of coastal cities and people that would get obliterated.

True, our "warning" system would be News, Emergency Broadcast system etc but still a lot of people would certainly not get to high enough ground in time even in the U.S.

12-27-2004 Asia Officials Failed to Issue Warnings

JAKARTA, Indonesia - Asian officials conceded Monday that they failed to issue broad public warnings immediately after a massive undersea earthquake in Indonesia, which could have saved countless lives from the subsequent giant waves that smashed into nine countries as far away as Africa.

India said it would consider establishing a warning system, and Australia and Japan said they would help build it. One Australian official said it would take at least a year to set one up. A basic, regional monitoring system would cost tens of million of dollars.

Also, Thailand's Meteorological Department said the country lacked an international warning system and proper coordination to get messages of impending disasters sent across the country.

"If we had the international warning system, we could give real-time warning to people," said Seismological Bureau official Sumalee Prachuab.

Governments around the region insisted they did not know the true nature of the threat because there was no international system in place to track tidal waves in the Indian Ocean ? where they are rare ? and they cannot afford to buy sophisticated equipment to build one.

And what warnings there were came too little, too late.

Indonesia villages closest to the temblor's epicenter were swamped within minutes, but elsewhere the waves radiated outwards, gathering speed and ferocity until they made landfall. The waves moved at speeds topping 500 mph.

Waves began pummeling southern Thailand about one hour after the earthquake. After 2 1/2 hours, the torrents had traveled some 1,000 miles and slammed India and Sri Lanka. Malaysia, the Maldives, Myanmar, and Bangladesh were also hit. Eventually they struck Somalia, on the east coast of Africa, where hundreds were reported killed.

 

[NickE]

Originally posted by: Gooberlx2
I wonder how quickly coastal areas around the world will adopt a tsunami warning system (a la Japan's) after this. Depending on the source, I've seen estimates as high as ~23,500 now.

If they would move to the United States, this wouldn't had happened.

I don't understand the point you're trying to make. There's no reason, that I can see, that this couldn't/wouldn't happen in the US. We've got a helluva lot of coastal cities and people that would get obliterated.

Biggest risk is said by some to be the potential for a landslide on Cumbre Vieja, a volcano in the Canary Islands.

On the west Saharan shore, waves would probably reach heights of 330 feet. Florida and the Caribbean, the final north Atlantic destinations to be affected by the tsunami, would have to brace themselves for 165 foot waves some eight to nine hours after the landslide.

Full Article

So, landslide happens now! News gets out within an hour let's say, a warning is issued by the super-efficient US emergency services. How many people are there in Florida, and how far will they get in the next 7-8 hours.

Considering most of what has happened in the Indian Ocean came from waves of 30 feet or less, 165 feet would cause a few problems!

On the bright side, 330 foot waves hitting the Western Sahara would at least irrigate it for a few years

 

[alent1234]

i want to see what saudi arabia and the rest of the muslim world will do to help the muslims in malaysia affected by this. I wonder if the al queda backed groups will help or use the situation to launch terror strikes. I bet the old evil USA will end up providing most of the aid.

 

[bjc112]

up to 24,000 now..

 

[BarneyFife]

The problem when disasters occur in that region is that their is always a high death toll because people live like ants. I would not be surprised that the total tops 50k by tomorrow.

 

[wchou]

God is still merciful, more people die in wars then all the catastrophe combined in the world.

Our WMD is much more powerful and devastating.

 

[bamacre]

Originally posted by: wchou
God is still merciful, more people die in wars then all the catastrophe combined in the world.

Our WMD is much more powerful and devastating.

Not true. The Black Plague killed off a third of the world's population in 90 days (or was it a third of Europe?). How many people have already been killed by AIDS?

And, BTW, our WMD are nothing compared to mother nature.

 

[Aimster]

Originally posted by: alent1234
i want to see what saudi arabia and the rest of the muslim world will do to help the muslims in malaysia affected by this. I wonder if the al queda backed groups will help or use the situation to launch terror strikes. I bet the old evil USA will end up providing most of the aid.

Check your facts before your post? U.S donated 50% of the emergency aid and Europe provided 15-25%. Kuwait and a few other Arab nations have already donated 10% each.
You don't possibly expect Arab nations or even Asian nations to donate close to the amount of money the West does do you? THIS IS EMERGENCY AID let me remind you.

Indonesia is the largest Muslim country in the world not Malaysia. It is also the largest economy in the Muslim world. India also has a large Muslim population (some 130 Million) and they have a large economy.

Muslims are not obligated to help other Muslims because they are Muslim. Every nation does what they can because we are all people and people lost their life.

 

[Aimster]

Originally posted by: BarneyFife
The problem when disasters occur in that region is that their is always a high death toll because people live like ants. I would not be surprised that the total tops 50k by tomorrow.

What kind of person are you? You are not normal. You insult everyone from every country.

I'm not just speaking about this thread either.

 

[BarneyFife]

Originally posted by: Aimster

Originally posted by: BarneyFife
The problem when disasters occur in that region is that their is always a high death toll because people live like ants. I would not be surprised that the total tops 50k by tomorrow.

What kind of person are you? You are not normal. You insult everyone from every country.

Yeah I'm such an insulting person because I said they have an over-population problem in that region. Fortunately everyone can figure it out except you. Have a good day, kid.

 

[Drift3r]

Originally posted by: wchou

Originally posted by: Engineer
Total over 21,000 now

If they would move to the United States, this wouldn't had happened.

Yeah because this could never happen in the US......please STFU and pull your head out of your ass.

 

[Drift3r]

Originally posted by: wchou
God is still merciful, more people die in wars then all the catastrophe combined in the world.

Our WMD is much more powerful and devastating.

This had nothing to do with god and everything to do with fault lines slipping do to the Earth's tectonic plates and their constant moving and shifting.

 

[Drift3r]

Originally posted by: alent1234
i want to see what saudi arabia and the rest of the muslim world will do to help the muslims in malaysia affected by this. I wonder if the al queda backed groups will help or use the situation to launch terror strikes. I bet the old evil USA will end up providing most of the aid.

Who is the richest nation on the planet ? That's like saying you and your family and everyone on your block could out spend Bill Gates when it comes to donating aide to a worthy cause. Here's a hint.....It's not gonna happen !

 

[alent1234]

in the end i'd like to see how the money spent compares to that country's GDP or budget

 

[Pliablemoose]

Originally posted by: BarneyFife
The problem when disasters occur in that region is that their is always a high death toll because people live like ants. I would not be surprised that the total tops 50k by tomorrow.

Remind me to subscribe to your newsletter...

Late Monday, Indonesian Vice President Yusuf Kalla was quoted as saying he believed the toll in the country could be as high as 25,000, that would be 20,000 more deaths than confirmed there so far and push the overall death toll to 42,000.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20041228/D878B53O0.html

 

[Glenn]

Originally posted by: BarneyFife

Originally posted by: Aimster

Originally posted by: BarneyFife
The problem when disasters occur in that region is that their is always a high death toll because people live like ants. I would not be surprised that the total tops 50k by tomorrow.

What kind of person are you? You are not normal. You insult everyone from every country.

Yeah I'm such an insulting person because I said they have an over-population problem in that region. Fortunately everyone can figure it out except you. Have a good day, kid.

Obviously you know nothing about the region. It might be a good idea to be a little less callous about terrible events like this. Some of us have loved ones in the area(Fortunately my wife, daughter and stepson are all ok). I can't help but believe that if you and I were in the same room when you make comments like that, you wouldn't be calling anyone-especially me- "kid"! Atleast more than one time!

And before anyone from Detroit could insinuate that other people in the world live like ants, they need only look around first before they open their mouth!

 

[CaptnKirk]

As widespread as the footprint of this damage is it realistically could surpass the 50K number.
There are whole villages that are unaccounted for streatching over several thousand miles.

Way over a million homeless.

 

[sandorski]

I think when Barney said, "..live like ants..." he meant they live in high densities and did not mean to denigrate them. Could be mistaken.

Anyway, just saw on the News some footage taken by tourists of the Tsunamis hitting the shore, freaky. Some people were gathering on the beach of one resort looking at the waves only to realize too late as to what was actually coming upon them. Can't say that I would have reacted any differently as the waves looked odd, but not threatening.

As for warnings. Certainly people should have been warned of the possibility and I suspect in the future they will be. However, the West Coast of North America is the only place in the world that has a system in place that can detect Tsunamis. A rather complex system needs to be in place to detect them as in the open ocean they are practically invisible consisting of waves only slightly larger than normal ocean waves.