Damn, I didn't hear about this until last night....and I was going to post a thread bitching about the weather I had to drive though in the Midwest. This kind of puts things in perspective. Let's hope that this relief effort can get coordinated before more die from disease.

there is in fact a bright spot to all of this. i had "random sri lankan beach bum" in the 2004 death pool. and here i thought it wasnt going to happen!

Videos here.

Also - for those wanting to donate...Amazon has it set up now where you can "One-Click" any amount over $5 you want to the Red Cross relief effort. Real easy way to help out.

The death toll is now over 100,000



My God.

correct me i'm i'm wrong, but i heard that Bush wasn't going to publicly speak about it. his "office issued a statement" on his behalf, and he's writing letters of condolences to the leaders of the nations that have suffered. i don't know why, but it irks me that he's not taking the time to make a brief public address about the situation, what the US is doing about it, and what we as citizens can do to help. i understand that the US is/will be doing something about it, and i can understand the concept of "actions speak louder than words", but still, when you've got a tragedy of this magnitude i'd expect to hear from the most powerful guy (shudder) on the planet.

i mean, it's Dec. 29th. what the heck is Bush doing that's so important right now that he can't speak to the nation and to the world about this catastrophe?

Death toll is now estimated at more than 75,000 people - may easily surpass 100,000 in the final counts. The deadliest recorded tsunami, and now among the greatest of natural disasters.

It already has.

It depends on which news outfit you listen to. I doubt there will ever be an official count.

Still mind-boggingly sickening, no matter what the tally.

What's mind boggling is the numbers in Indonesia alone. They still haven't counted or received aid in Rebel held areas. I just hope they can get doctors and medicines to the affected areas before people start dying from disease. I'm sure most people feel this way, but I wish I could do more than just give money. The US and Britian have increased aid to 35 & 29 million respectively, which is admirable, but it's going to take much more than that to even begin to help these people.

It seems like the most important thing right now is potable water - the decaying cadavers are not as big a health threat as some people are focusing on, especially since some water supplies have become brackish and undrinkable due to the salt water influx. I can't imagine the logistics involved in providing assistance where it is needed, especially since not all of the islands have even been contacted yet. I am thankful that it seems like most of my American field biologist colleagues were actually home for the holidays, but wonder about what has happened to our Asian and Indonesian friends.