I'm sure you have heard about this, but it deserves a thread:

23,000 dead

It's being called the worst natural disaster in modern history. Un-fucking-believable.

Oh man, the death toll went up!

I read about this earlier this morning and the report was at 8,000 but even then they expected it to climb as the day went on.

This is absolutely horrifying, can you imagine? I mean tourists on vacation, sunbathing one minute and swept into the sea the next. Ugh.

Sorry - thought this'd be about a reappreciation of Jenny Toomey...
I'll leave now...

And it's still rising. No warning at all and during one of the busiest vacation seasons. The damage and effect that this is going to have is pretty much uncomprehendible.

It's horribly, horribly sad. My heart goes out to all those affected.

Yeah, god damn this is messed up.

This is so sad. I couldn't imagine those people that were just going throught their daily routine and then to just have this happen. No warning.

Makes me want to cry.

This is one of those events for which all responses, no matter how carefully considered, seem glib. In final consideration the death toll may easily be double, triple, or quadruple that which has been reported here, for many island nations are as of yet completely radio silent. I fear that it will be too swiftly forgotten because those affected are largely from developing nations. Most people that I have seen interviewed were white European tourists.

Many nations have already pledged or sent millions of dollars of aid, but the Bush administration, tight-fisted with any expenditure that doesn't involve blowing things up, had merely said that countries affected will receive "all appropriate assistance." Nice job, boys.

This sort of event could easily occur on the Pacific coast of North America someday. Despite all of human scheming, nature holds the trump card.

Disease and deprivation from food and water will be the greatest problems over the next weeks and months (aside from any possibility of aftershocks).

Actually, I heard the DoD is going to have some of its Marines/infantry pull out of twelve-year-old Okinawan girls so as to be able to supply manpower in the regions affected.

Not that it's much, but... Those Okinawan girls need our juice too. So, we all suffer for the good and betterment of the injured in this case.

I love that shit. 22,980 asians killed 20 palefaces. Better talk to white people b/c god knows that we in the US won't care otherwise.

The best excuse I can make up for that is that it is easier to find English speakers than translators, but it is reprehensible nonetheless.

I think that is true. Of course I am guessing they have translators

It is worrysome that if, like me, you didn't even hear about this until today. Meanwhile, they interrupted NFL football to tell us all about Reggie White passing. How messed up are our nation's priorities?

When we lose 3000 people in New York we practically demand the world mourn for months, yet ten times the destruction barely makes our newsstations, and heaven forbid it interrupt our soap operas or sports games.

this is god's way of killing terrorists for us. i take this as a sign from above that our holy war in iraq is just and righteous.

Especially when most of the terrorists that threaten the US aren't located anywhere near or weren't affected by the tsunami.

hey if they're not american and they're dying, it can't be a bad thing. are you not supporting our troops?

This is starting to get old.

I'm truly saddened by this. To think that actual islands off the coast of Sri Lanka may have disappeared is terrifying. It's getting to the point where people are gonna be terrified by the sea causing tourists to stay away from tropical locations.

yeah, you're right. back to the drawing board pinky

[img][650:415]http://www.psi.edu/~bermandc/misc/pinky02.jpg[/img]

In the short-term, I can see people avoiding this particular area, but within a year or two tourists will be back. Tsunamis, I guess, are pretty common, but tsunami's of this size and destruction are a once-a-century event.

One of the guys in my office was going out to Thailand for the holidays but I'm pretty sure he wasn't going till after Christmas.

I cannot believe that number...its hard to wrap my head around this one..unreal

Not to diminish the tragedy, but all these offers of aid from around the world and still not a bit of help for Darfur.

Do we only care about sudden tragedies?

Boy, I'm sure glad all those people died so we could have another opportunity to take pot shots at Bush, the next of kin must be so proud.