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I just got back to America--to a headline in my daily paper assuring me that Nike and Intel factories in Sri Lanka were spared in the tidal wave. To Jan Egeland, UN emergency relief coordinator, wasting time apologizing for calling rich countries "stingy." To my TV news showing sexy swimsuit pictures of the Czech super-model who survived. And to this headline on CNN.com: "Tsunamis shatter celebrity holidays"
WTF?
Tsunamis shatter what?
Nike factories? Celebrity holidays? Welcome home to America. Tens of thousands of people are dead and my country's "free press" is deeply concerned about the fate of their shoes. Who will be Best Dressed this tsunami season?
Get your head out of your ass, America. I'm begging you.
Earthquakes and ocean furies are natural disasters, but decisions to spend billions on wars of conquest while ignoring simple measures that can save lives is not.
At least 80,000 people were killed by the tsunami that devastated coastlines from Indonesia to Somalia. Almost a third of the dead are children. Thousands are still missing. Millions are homeless. The drinking water is polluted. Bulldozers are digging mass graves.
Much of the destruction could have been prevented with a simple and inexpensive buoy system. Officials in Thailand and Indonesia say that an immediate public warning could have saved lives--but they didn't know of the danger because there is no international system in place to track tsunamis in the Indian Ocean.
Such a system is not difficult or expensive to install. The detector buoys have been available for decades. The United States has had a monitoring system in place for more than half a century. Seismometers are scattered across the Northwest to detect and measure earthquakes that might spawn tsunamis. In the middle of the Pacific are six buoys equipped with sensors called "tsunameters" that measure small changes in water pressure and are programmed to automatically alert warning centers in Hawaii and Alaska.
Dr. Eddie Bernard, director of the NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle, says just a few buoys could do the job. Scientists wanted to place two more tsunami meters in the Indian Ocean, including one near Indonesia, but the plan had not been funded, said Bernard. The tsunameters cost only $250,000 each--a mere half million dollars could have provided an early warning system. Compare this to the $1,500,000,000 the U.S. spends every day to fund the Pentagon war machine.
Local South Asian governments had no real warning, but the U.S. gevernment did--and it failed to pass along the information. Within minutes of the 9.0 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Indonesia, U.S. scientists working with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration suspected that a deadly wave was spreading through the Indian Ocean. They did not call anyone in the governments in the area. Jeff LaDouce, an official in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said they e-mailed Indonesian officials, but that he didn't know what happened after they sent the e-mails.
E-MAILS???
Just this afternoon I talked to my Dad in Singapore, my girlfriend in Ecuador & my mom in Mexico. In an era of instant communications--controlled in a large part by the U.S.--we can communicate with anyone anywhere whenever we like. It is beyond belief that the officials at the NOAA could not find any method to directly and immediately contact civilian authorities in South Asia. Even a few minutes warning would have given people a chance to seek higher ground. The NOAA had several hours notice before the first waves hit shore. Tim Walsh, geologic-hazards program manager for the Washington State Department of Natural Resources, said, "Fifty feet of elevation would be enough to escape the worst of the waves. In most places, 25 feet would be sufficient." But the inhabitants of the area weren't given the warning. As a result, television and radio alerts were not issued in Thailand until nearly an hour after the waves had hit and thousands were already dead. The failure to make any real effort to warn the people of the region is part of a pattern of imperial contempt and racism that has become the cornerstone of U.S. policies worldwide.
You'll forgive me, then, if my heart isn't with the celebrities and their holidays tonight.
*Oxfam is sending food and water . . . a reliable organization not overburdened with bureaucracy, you can send donations via their website or to 26 West St, Boston, 02111-1206.Oxfam
Help with Amma’s disaster relief
Reporting from the International Action Center
WTF?
Tsunamis shatter what?
Nike factories? Celebrity holidays? Welcome home to America. Tens of thousands of people are dead and my country's "free press" is deeply concerned about the fate of their shoes. Who will be Best Dressed this tsunami season?
Get your head out of your ass, America. I'm begging you.
Earthquakes and ocean furies are natural disasters, but decisions to spend billions on wars of conquest while ignoring simple measures that can save lives is not.
At least 80,000 people were killed by the tsunami that devastated coastlines from Indonesia to Somalia. Almost a third of the dead are children. Thousands are still missing. Millions are homeless. The drinking water is polluted. Bulldozers are digging mass graves.
Much of the destruction could have been prevented with a simple and inexpensive buoy system. Officials in Thailand and Indonesia say that an immediate public warning could have saved lives--but they didn't know of the danger because there is no international system in place to track tsunamis in the Indian Ocean.
Such a system is not difficult or expensive to install. The detector buoys have been available for decades. The United States has had a monitoring system in place for more than half a century. Seismometers are scattered across the Northwest to detect and measure earthquakes that might spawn tsunamis. In the middle of the Pacific are six buoys equipped with sensors called "tsunameters" that measure small changes in water pressure and are programmed to automatically alert warning centers in Hawaii and Alaska.
Dr. Eddie Bernard, director of the NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle, says just a few buoys could do the job. Scientists wanted to place two more tsunami meters in the Indian Ocean, including one near Indonesia, but the plan had not been funded, said Bernard. The tsunameters cost only $250,000 each--a mere half million dollars could have provided an early warning system. Compare this to the $1,500,000,000 the U.S. spends every day to fund the Pentagon war machine.
Local South Asian governments had no real warning, but the U.S. gevernment did--and it failed to pass along the information. Within minutes of the 9.0 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Indonesia, U.S. scientists working with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration suspected that a deadly wave was spreading through the Indian Ocean. They did not call anyone in the governments in the area. Jeff LaDouce, an official in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said they e-mailed Indonesian officials, but that he didn't know what happened after they sent the e-mails.
E-MAILS???
Just this afternoon I talked to my Dad in Singapore, my girlfriend in Ecuador & my mom in Mexico. In an era of instant communications--controlled in a large part by the U.S.--we can communicate with anyone anywhere whenever we like. It is beyond belief that the officials at the NOAA could not find any method to directly and immediately contact civilian authorities in South Asia. Even a few minutes warning would have given people a chance to seek higher ground. The NOAA had several hours notice before the first waves hit shore. Tim Walsh, geologic-hazards program manager for the Washington State Department of Natural Resources, said, "Fifty feet of elevation would be enough to escape the worst of the waves. In most places, 25 feet would be sufficient." But the inhabitants of the area weren't given the warning. As a result, television and radio alerts were not issued in Thailand until nearly an hour after the waves had hit and thousands were already dead. The failure to make any real effort to warn the people of the region is part of a pattern of imperial contempt and racism that has become the cornerstone of U.S. policies worldwide.
You'll forgive me, then, if my heart isn't with the celebrities and their holidays tonight.
*Oxfam is sending food and water . . . a reliable organization not overburdened with bureaucracy, you can send donations via their website or to 26 West St, Boston, 02111-1206.Oxfam
Help with Amma’s disaster relief
Reporting from the International Action Center
posted by Contact at 8:16 PM
7 Comments:
thanks for this entry, I didn't know most of this and it helps me be able to process everything I hear about the tsunami.
Check out the alternate detection system "Indian Ocean Tsunami Detector" at http://www.geocities.com/tvhuangsg/
Well, if not for the pretty white supermodel and freshly scrubbed white tourists from America and Europe, no media outlets would give a fuck. Not a dime would be raised.
When was the last time there was a outcry for relief, volunteers and money when a tens of thousands of brown people DIED? That would be . . . never so I say bring on the supermodels, doctors and grad students. They're calling it "Giving the tragedy a face" which means giving it a WHITE face.
I don't remember any headlines for the last devasting earthquake that affected brown people.
-malcontent pdx cullid gal
God, how sad you people are.
If anyone had bothered to take the time to look into what warning could have been given, most of your rants wouldn't have been made. The US has the BEST record of responding to disasters of any country in the world, heck, we even sent rescuers to Iran, and they REALLY hate us. Where is the outcry that none of the RICH Arab nations are offering anything? Where is the Outcry that the Governments of the Countries affected, themselves, decided AGAINST having a warning system in place. It is so typical the way people blasted the US here. Take a good look at the rescue efforts, and you will see it is the US that is reaching the hardest areas first. Maybe had the UN not greedly routed the money from the Oil for Food scam into Koffi's own pockets, it would have some money to respond to Crises around the world. I ask you, when was the last, or even the 1st time, another country came to the aid of the US when it had a natural disaster? Within 4 days of the Tsunami, the US had a Carrier task group sitting offshore and providing supplies to the rescue victims, while the rest of the world was still talking about giving money. I dont know what papers you read when you returned to the US, but it must be tabloids if all you saw was those headlines. It is a shame really, that you hide your head in the sand, and only see what you wish to be.
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