h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Traveller in Time worried
"How about the after shocks?

Now one on the other side? "

The experts think they'll happen for at least a year...

And don't be so harsh on the scientists- it's not their fault that they didn't have a monitoring system in place. Chances are, you'll go back over the years and you'll find seismologists clamoring for warning system in the Indian Ocean- it's the governments who don't think it's necessary, and then turn around and blame the scientists for not warning them. It happened with the Cuyahoga, it happened with the atomic bomb, it happened with the Bald Eagle, it will happen with global warming, and it's happening now with the monitoring system, just like it happened after the last Big One in Alaska.

It takes a disaster to get people to wake up.

There are quite a few warning systems in place, the problem is getting people to hear about it. For instance, the Tsunami didn't hit Africa for a few hours, the Government was told. But, especially in places like Africa, how are they going to tell anyone? They couldn't get the people in places like Kenya etc away from the beaches, because there's no way for them to contact the people on the beaches in Kenya easily.

Australia and New Zealand, for instance, monitor a lot of what's going on in the Pacific Ocean as an early warning for the Americas. A good chunk of the Americas have (I beleive) systems in place to tell people what's going on. Australia doesn't have that. I mean, Australia is pretty sheltered, all of Australia is on the Indo-Australian plate and there are other countries that usually shield us, Indonesia and half of the Asian island countries, for istance. However, New Zealand isn't. New Zealand sits on the merger between Indo-Australia plate and the pacific plate. There's a fair bit of that merger that NZ doesn't shield Aus from. Australia and NZ would register any movement there and would notify the government, but the government wouldn't have any way of telling the people. Of course, in Australia (especially the East) they could get it out better than they could in the African countries, but we still don't have the systems.



This has been a pointless rant from Cat.

I'm not sure how much people could do anyway
in many of these countries there isn't the infrastructure to get away from coastal areas quickly
even in countries where there is it wouldn't be able to cope with the massive increase in traffic
most people have always lived in coastal areas or along rivers

Still, a warning system would have saved at least some lives- and that's far better than this tragedy.

it makes the world feel so so small.

i think of all the people i know around the world, from here on hootoo. and it suddenly brings a whole new meaning to it.
i was allways the kind of person who couldnt really grasp it because it was so far away, or whatever. but hearing that it was near Australia and NZ i just think of people i now know there and feel rather worried, and i'm so glad you're all alright!
but it makes me realize thats its not just a statistic, or some story blown way out of proportion by the news or something.... i dont know.... just..... well never mind..... i tried to write a journal on this too, and that didnt work out very well either.

by the way. i heard on the news that it is better to send money than to send blankets and clothes....

I don't have money, but I'm working with the geology club to put together a fundraiser- I'll let you know how it pans out!

what a good idea!
i wish i was there to help with it!
..let me know what you decide to do. perhaps its somthing i could try here.... i dont know. its very hard. sometimes i dont knw about the people that live here... my freinds that is. i'm not sure all of them have heard about the earth quake, and if they have they have probably just shrugged it off

*sighs* I wonder if there's anything I could do to help, without my brother and his friends making too much fun of me... perhaps I could talk about it with Liam as he is always keen to help (eg, on Christmas he was helping some "feed the homeless" thing.) *starts wondering*

This time the scale of the disaster is so enormous and involves so many countries, perhaps it is easier to order the equipment needed and send it direct to that particular country.

To sort out donations of blankets and clothing would use up manpower when it is needed elsewhere just now.

Go for it!

I'm not sure if we on the Atlantic seaboard are any more protected than those in the Indian ocean. Mind you, we don't have so many subduction zones, but even so, major tsunamis have happened in the distant past (Scotland, Iceland and Norway), and there is a very big one expected some time in the future (the Canary Islands).

It's one of those Risk vs Likelihood problems, it's not very likely to happen in our lifetime, but if it did occur, the consequences, as we have just seen, are horrendous. A large meteorite strike would have a similarly devastating effect. We know these things happen, but they are on timescales of decades and centuries. It certainly bolsters the case for major investment in long term planning initiatives - something that we on this planet have so far proven ourselves quite incapable of achieving.

i believe the death count is up to 125million people or so ive heard.

and that doesnt even consider people who will die dut to problems caused by the tidal wave such as unclean water

125 thousand, not million... but millions will die.

We're doing the best we can to help, and there's a lot of people working on it. Check out Ariztid's journal for a good story!

sorry i know what i meant obviously to much to drink last night!

There was an expert on TV this morning that said Tsunami's come in 2's and there will be another one in the next 5 - 10 years

if thats the case maybe we could be better prepared

Hopefully, they have Tsunami early warning system in the pacific but no where else

Perseverance and Resolution

The following concerns the December 26th tsunami that hit the shores of South Asia.

These two stories are uplifting (the word that comes to my mind).

I have nothing else to say but my appreciation for the perseverance and the resolution of these two stories that have come out of this new
tragedy.

***I believe that there are more***



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

The Australian Woman and her Two Sons:

There was the terrible "Sophie's Choice" dilemma that confronted Jillian Searle of Australia as she struggled to stay alive in the raging maelstrom with both her young sons in her arms. Ms. Searle concluded that she had to let one go for her to live. "I just thought I'd better let go of the one that's the oldest," she said. That is 5-year-old Lachie, who was handed to another woman. Ms. Searle kept Blake, aged 2.

But this harrowing story - which includes the caretaker also letting go of Lachie - ended happily. He was found alive two hours later, clinging to a door.

Resolution in Sri Lanka:

The aftermath of the tsunamis that destroyed vast swaths of Sri Lanka's coastline raised hopes on December 30th for a new era of peace between the Tamil Tiger rebels and the Government. Just weeks after the Tigers threatened to resume a two-decade war for self-rule, rebel political-wing leader S.P. Thamilselvan accepted a government offer of aid and vowed to work with officials to get supplies to survivors.
"This new tragic situation has laid the foundation for both parties to come together and work towards closing the division between the two parties," Thamilselvan said after meeting with aid workers and Norwegian peace envoys in the northern rebel stronghold of Kilinochchi.
"The LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) is very happy and encouraged by the government's offer, and this would help bridge the rift between the two parties," he further said.
This conciliatory note followed an unprecedented statement by LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran. On Wednesday, he sent condolences to the southern Sinhalese, whom he was fought with for 20 years at the cost of more than 64,000 lives.
The tsunami that flooded Sri Lanka's famed, palm-fringed shores on Sunday December 26th have killed more than 27,000 people and that figure is still likely to rise. The Tamil Tigers say almost half of the dead came from their northern and eastern strongholds and thousands have been buried in mass graves. President Chandrika Kumaratunga has promised relief to all, regardless of their religion and politics. She said the disaster has helped reconcile long-time foes. "The threat of going back to war is far more remote that it was before December 26th," Ms. Kumaratunga told a news conference.
Mr. Thamilselvan, the rebel's political-wing leader, said he received a message from the government that aid would not be just for the short term, but for rebuilding the country's northeast. Mediators who met the Tamil Tigers were also optimistic that the political divide would be bridged in the aftermath of the tsunami.
"I believe that if this joint effort and this spirit of harmony prevails at this stage, then a lasting peace in Sri Lanka would be achieved," said United Nations Sri Lanka representative Miguel Bermeo.