Arthur C. Clarke Reports From Sri Lanka 704
Jeff Patterson writes "Sir Arthur C. Clarke has filed a damage report from his home in Sri Lanka on the Clarke Foundation page. He is fine, however 'among those affected are my staff based at our diving station in Hikkaduwa and holiday bungalow in Kahawa -- both beachfront properties located in areas worst hit. We still don't know the full extent of damage as both roads and phones have been damaged. Early reports indicate that we have lost most of our diving equipment and boats. Not all our staff members are accounted for -- yet.'"
Or maybe.. (Score:5, Funny)
Very sad, .. still going on (Score:5, Informative)
The wave in kerala went nearly 4 kms inland (though it's through the backwaters) and I'm still having painful memories of seeing a white mercedes floating around in the basement of a building
The Marine Drive is around 6-7 feet above sea level and is the major business/market area in Cochin - thankfully we're on the right side of India to be compared to the earthquake.
Thanks to a timely news on radio and TV , only a few hundreds were caught unawares
Re:Very sad, .. still going on (Score:4, Interesting)
Come on slashdotters, what are your good flood stories?
Re:Very sad, .. still going on (Score:5, Interesting)
The City of Abingdon, Illinois, doesn't like rainwater in their sewers, so they pump it out - and right into customer's homes. since my house was the lowest in town, all the rainwater from the sewers (and sewage that was carried with it) went into my basement. the entire town's turds and femine hygene products wound up in our basement after every heavy rain. The city would not stop pumping, even after legal action was taken. Apparently a city can do whatever it wants to protect city assets. Such is the case in Abingdon, Illinois, anyway.
My father took an old tire inner-tube, cut it from an "O" shape into a "C" shape, rubber cemented and wirewrapped the ends, waterproofing and airproofing them. then, we waited for a rain. when it began to rain hard, we shoved this tube down into the main house drain. in the basement, where the drainpipes left the house, there was a drain grate - we took the grate off, shoved the innertube down into the pipe that led outside, and inflated it. no more of my city's sewage found its way into our house! Yahoo! no more weekends spent hosing toilet paper off our basement walls... But the story does not end here.
When we blocked our sewer, we just diverted the problem. someone else had to deal with it now. then that person figured it out, and the next had a problem. eventually everyone connected to that pump blocked their sewage drains somehow, and the next time it rained, the city's pump kicked in, but that sewage had nowhere to go. The pipe outside our house (which later we learned had been cracked by a nearby tree root) failed, and our front yard erupted with the same familiar sewage. Since the pipe was between our house and the street the city declared the problem to be ours, and went on their merry way. our sewage made it out through that pipe okay, but when it rained, and with the route into every other house blocked, the sewage piled up in our front yard several times a month.
Legal action proved fruitless. My father started attending city council meetings and raising a "stink" about the problem. The city asked him to stop attending city council meetings. He did not comply. He would pull cops over (!) and ask them when the pipe would be patched. He would knock on the mayor's door and ask about the pipe at least once a week. He would bring the issue up with his dentist (also the mayor). He basically performed a very gentle and 100% polite campaign to annoy the decision makers into doing the right thing. None of that worked. This went on for 10 years.
I don't know the rest of the story, but from what I've heard he got a little help from some organization who had a lot of members in the city council. Next day the pipe was dug up, replaced, dirt put back on and new grass planted. My guess is that the Freemasons helped him but I don't know.
A year later, after all that work, my father died.
That's my flood story.
Re:Very sad, .. still going on (Score:3, Insightful)
This is Good News (Score:3, Insightful)
I'd really hate to see one of Great Authors taken by this disaster, not to diminish the loss of life that did occure.
Mycroft
Claaaaaaaaaarke! (Score:3, Funny)
Humorous, in a dark way (Score:4, Interesting)
Maybe some people should have remembered Krakatoa cataclism or just simply should have seen Clarke book. Damn, some people should just read to help prevent disasters.
I know it's dark humor, but what can I say
wikipedia as a news source (Score:5, Informative)
bbc radio is broadcasting angry missives (Score:4, Interesting)
the criticisms are that all you had to do was pick up the phone and call cnn: 3 hours before it hit indian coastline, something could have been done to save lives
the indian ocean has no warning system like the pacific does in place, and no one knew the extent of the wave, and even if someone had acted like the world was ending, calling everyone in the world, the fact that nothing like this has ever happened before in the indian ocean in a few centuries would mean that the bureaucracy in india, sri lanka, etc., and the media, would have moved slowly... and even if the local authorities had somehow miraculously gotten megaphones on the beach in time, you can be certain people there would have just yawned them away...
additionally, unlike in japan and the philippines, for example, the people in the indian ocean do not know to head for high ground if they feel an earthquake... this is simple education that would have saved thousands of lives
but there is no experience with tsunamis on the south side of sumatra, for example, so for the people there, where a warning system would have made no difference, simply feeling the ground shake would be all the warning that was needed to get the heck to high ground asap
so, given the anger and grief and role hindsight plays in how people judge how their reactions would have been different, and you can see a shit storm of blame and finger pointing coming: "americans don't care if we drown"
just like the tsunami, here comes a massive wave of political shitstorms
it is most important to remember that thousands died needlessly in this event had their been a system of warning buoys in place in the indian ocean like in the pacific, and the onus is on the governemnts in the indian ocean to have done that, but considering the fashionable anti-americanism in the world right now, you can easily see how this tragedy can be spun for political ends
political tsunami warning system activated
According to Various Agenceies (Score:5, Informative)
Story here [news.com.au]. Since that didn't work, they called the State Department, who ALSO [sunnetwork.org] tried to find out who to contact, but again, due to lack of adequate warning systems/organizations, they failed as well.
Re:It's a bummer (Score:5, Insightful)
8,"Another earthquake. Jim see if you can run down a 20 second bit for the 10 o'clock news."
Three hours isn't long enough for a warning when there's no efficient mechanism in place for dealing with the event in rapid fashion. Hell, it takes an hour here in my corner of the US for the local TV/radio stations to get school delays/closings up and running when we have an unexpected snow. If Sri Lanka monitored an earthquake off the Atlantic coast of the US, and suspected a possible tidal wave headed for a group of barrier islands in the mid atlantic region, which TV or radio station would you call? I live 400 miles away, and I have no idea. If you did call, and spoke with a heavy accent (you do know all the languages in the world, right?), do you think they'd believe you and put it on the nes immediately? Of course not, they'd try to verify it before they broadcast such a warning. For an area with so few tidal waves, this sounds like a prank call to me.
Unfortunately, it takes a tragedy before those with the means decide it is worth their while to prepare for such disasters. I'm sure that this will spur more countries to create the pathways of communication necessary to mitigate damage in the future.
This is a tragedy, and a terrible one. I agree that it is worse than the 9/11/01 attack - far worse in human loss.
[aside] I believe it is less shocking because natural disasters occur on a fairly regular basis, whereas terrorists flying passenger jets into buildings is crazy. More improtantly, the cameras were rolling when the real tragedy occured - the buildings collaped on/with many occupants. Drama, horror, immediacy. [/aside]
My thoughts and prayers go out to all who have lost loved ones, and I hope that the country can pull together and get the physical damage repaired as soon as possible.
Good Grief (Score:5, Insightful)
This is something so far out of the realm of most peoples experience, that it's quite natural to assume some incredulity on their part. Do you pay attention to the wide-eyed guy on the street corner with the sign that says "The end is near?" I thought not... most people ignore him, just as you probably do.
Just to add to the political fray, some reports have UN officials already complaining [washtimes.com] that the US and other western nations are being "stingy" with their aid packages... and even suggesting that those countries raise taxes on their citizens to pay for more aid (if you believe the Wash. Times).
Maybe some of these folks should focus more on helping, rather than wasting their breath trying to find a scapegoat.
Re:Good Grief (Score:3, Informative)
Just to add to the political fray, some reports have UN officials already complaining that the US and other western nations are being "stingy" with their aid packages... and even suggesting that those countries raise taxes on their citizens to pay for more aid (if you believe the Wash. Times).
That particular official is from Norway. Norway, with less than 1/60th of the US population, has already donated 50 million NOK (a bit more than 8 million US dollars), mostly through NGOs. The US has donated 15
Re:Good Grief (Score:4, Informative)
I expect US donations from private citizens and aid groups are ramping up fairly quickly.
Re:Good Grief (Score:4, Insightful)
With the oil for food fiasco, the UN is not the logical place to put all the money for this, unless you want it horribly mismanaged.
Personally, I think groups like the Red Cross/Red Crescent would be able to make better use of the funds.
Links:
American [redcross.org]
International/Red Crescent [ifrc.org]
Re:Good Grief (Score:3, Insightful)
What this should remind everyone is that no one is immune to tsunamis. Even the eastern coasts of the Americas and the Caribbean Islands
Re:bbc radio is broadcasting angry missives (Score:5, Insightful)
What makes you think they didn't try? Even if GWB got on the phone and called the heads of government of all the countries likely to be affected, without an emergency response system, by the time the news filtered down to the people who could do something about it, it would have been too late.
Anyone who blames the US for this is simply looking for excuses to blame the US for everything.
Re:bbc radio is broadcasting angry missives (Score:4, Insightful)
Events like this can make for good filters. If anybody actually seriously tries to put any blame on the US for any part of this disaster, you can safely ignore anything they say about almost anything.
Re:bbc radio is broadcasting angry missives (Score:3, Insightful)
Come on man! don't be naive. A red scrolling bar on CNN or BBC would have saved lives. We know that the governments are not the most efficient ways of doing this. Anybody sufficiently powerful alerting news media would have helped.
The lives of some of the tourists, maybe. Other than that, how many lives do you think would have been saved in fishing villages where most folks don't have a TV, and have learned to distrust much of what CNN has to say in the first place? You need to have the message go to pe
Who are you gonna call (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.clarkefoundation.org/projects
PROJECT WARN in Partnership with the Japan US Science Technology and Space Applications Program (JUSTSAP)
The purpose of Project Warn is combine enhanced communications and IT systems to provide warning of impending natural or man-made disasters and to provide on-going communications and remote sensing and GIS support during disaster relief operations. The Clarke Foundation is working with the Pacific Disaster Center, the Asian Disaster Mitigation Organization, the United Nations, and the US and Japanese Governments as coordinated through the JUSTSAP organization to carry out a suitable test and demonstration in this area. In particular a simulation and test is being planned in the Pacific Region in 2005 to determine to how to use the latest information and sensing technology more effectively in the advent of that a major Tsunami might impact an Asian country or island. Clarke Foundation personnel are providing technical advice and support on a volunteer basis to this project.
Indonesian Archipelago needs warning system. (Score:3, Interesting)
People forget that the Indonesian Archipelago sits on one of the world's most geologically-active areas, the Indonesian Subduction Zone just south of the archipelago. As such, Indonesia is very prone to earthquakes and is home to some of the most powerful volcanic eruptions in recorded h
character assassination (Score:2)
where did you miss me say "it is most important to remember that thousands died needlessly" in my original post?
Re:bbc radio is broadcasting angry missives (Score:3, Interesting)
I doubt the fellow believes that the way in which the world perceives the US response to the tragedy is the most important thing, only a real scumbag could be cold enough to think like that. But world opinion regarding the US is important enough to be worth considering, events of the last decade have really brought home the knowledge that hostility and negative public opinion can be manipu
that's a very good saying (Score:2, Insightful)
that's funny (Score:3, Insightful)
it is interesting that you speak of human lives and rights, and you can protest american actions that are actually promoting such a thing, while you fall so very silent on what is happening in the sudan for example
your conscience seems to have an unhealthy obsession with america, no?
is the usa the center of the world?
i don't think so, but you apparently do
the usa is not the savior of the world (Score:3, Insightful)
tell me, you who has all the answers, what an american is supposed to do after 9/11?
what does "intent" mean to you (Score:3, Interesting)
versus
i kill 10 children on a schoolbus by accident, rushing medical supplies somewhere, and i am saddened of the fact after i do it and try to make amends
learn what the word "intent" means, and how it should inform judgment (but obviously doesn't inform yours) and then get back to me
i see it like this (Score:3, Interesting)
you correctly point out the risk of us actions in iraq of creating madmen
i say to you in reply that the risks are still palatable, because you have to consider the alternative: inaction
and inaction carries probably even more risk of madmen being created instead of doctors and lawyers
Re:ah, i understand now (Score:3, Insightful)
When a terrorist organisation carries out an attack on the scale of 9/11 and you realise that these terrorists are largely the same people your country was funding, arming and training in the recent past you should be considering the truth
Re:i see (Score:3, Insightful)
Way to generalize. I love how Americans would get figuratively flayed alive if they tried spewing such things about other countries, but somehow it's okay for everyone else to assume that all US citizens are mindless drones and support the "official doctrine" unconditionally.
And since it seems pertinent to this point,
Re:i see (Score:4, Insightful)
I know, I know, you're really just pumping your blog and trolling as you always do Troed. You could at least acknowledge an "ends justifies the means" debate when one exist.
Clearly Afghanistan is far more democratic now then it was under the Taliban, this isn't even worth discussing - you can't compare Afghanistan with the democracy of a modern first world country, which will take decades to achieve there. And Iraq, of course, I will reserve judgement for, but it's hard to get less democratic than Saddam Hussein's regime (doesn't mean I think the invasion of Iraq was justified however).
i'll concede your point (Score:2)
1. there are people in this world who distrust authority ("they just me to leave because they want to steal my stuff... what a joke! a tsunami? where did they make that up!")
2. or prioritize or judge things badly ("ok, i'll leave, just as soon as i find my all of my pets... they say this tsunami thing is a wave in the middle of the ocean, and i've seen waves, they don't travel very fast")
3. or have mob-driven behavior ("why all the fuss? i don't see anyone panick
that is exactly what i am talking about (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: bbc radio is broadcasting angry missives (Score:3, Insightful)
If it had happened to California, thousands would have died too, regardless of the USGS. In that situation, I doubt the most citizens of Sri Lanka or other other countries would have given a damn about the loss of life. They would only have been mildly interested for the entertainment value.
Most of us don't care if anyone that they don't know dies. Humanity does not currently have a dangerously low breeding population
take your words to their logical conclusion (Score:3, Insightful)
and then, in the spirit of your words, the usa has to set up warning systems in the mainland... why? because the local authorities aren't doing so... and you are expecting the usa to shoulder this burden, right?
how about this stunning idea for you: accountability
you are wrong (Score:5, Insightful)
but the failure to act in a timely manner and not having a system in place to save lives is something the governments local to the indian ocean have proved shameful about, not the usa
because your pov seems to demand of the usa to respect other people (warn them appropriately to save lives)... by disrespecting other people (set up a system that disregards their own abilities to take care of themselves)
the usa is a member of the global community, not an owner of the global community
you cannot condemn the usa for not doing something that your own pov insists they cannot do
follow the logic of your position to its conclusion, and you will see the logical inconsistencies in what you are saying
Re:the us and japan (Score:3, Insightful)
The procedure would be to call the secretary of state and let them inform the proper authorities and local media in the area. What is interesting is that they _did_ call the embassies, but somehow the message didn't go much further than that.
Humans are a virus... (Score:5, Interesting)
Human death is always unfortunate, and tens of thousands dying is a major tragedy indeed. But there are so many people now, living on just about every habitable patch of ground on earth, that any kind of a natural disaster happening anywhere in the world kills massive numbers.
The thing is, vast majority of humans today still live in impoverished, technologically backward societies. 6 billion is too many people for a primitve infrastructure to handle.
Actually Earth can easily handle hundreds of billions, but we would need advanced technology like the Puppeteers. And not just advanced technology, but also advanced cultural and societal organization far ahead of what we have today... plus a fundamental change in how people think and behave. Now we can't just suddenly become a herbivorous herd society like the Puppeteers, but we can be nicer to others and try not to be such assholes.
Solution to earthquakes, tsunamis and other natural disasters lie in advanced technolgy. Fleet of Worlds!
Terrible tragedy (Score:3, Interesting)
This tragedy affects the life of millions of people.
I was in Sri Lanka two weeks ago and I got to
know a few inhabitants there, who are living from
tourism.
They now have to go back to fishing again (I'm not joking) until the tourists are coming back
(hopefully next year).
Worry is not over (Score:5, Interesting)
Moreover this region is not linked to the pacific ocean tsunami network. There are no bouys here. Now the Indian Govt is planning to place deep sea sensors as well as tsunami detection system. This data will be linked with pacific ocean tsunami network.
Re:Worry is not over (Score:3, Interesting)
Why do you need a tsunami detection system when an earthquake detection system is already in place?
What you would have needed is an alarm system, something that can be used to quickly alert people along the coast. A common contact number or e-mail address where a warning could be sent that all local radio stations will broadcast, for example.
It was wellknown to all seismic centres around the world that th
South Asian Bloggers unite for Tsunami Help Blog (Score:5, Informative)
It will never be the same (Score:3, Informative)
We used to enjoy walking and relaxing on those beaches regularly. I don't think we will ever be able to do that again in a free state of mind. :-(
tsunami Video (Score:5, Informative)
Re:tsunami Video (Score:5, Informative)
Donations (Score:5, Informative)
Any of you planning to donate some money? Dollar may be losing ground but it still has 44 times more value than Indian Rupees. So if you donate 100 dollars that means 4400 Indian Rupees (INR). And to give you an idea what this could mean.. a normal meal in India is around 40 INR while cheap clothing is around 100-200 INR. And medicines per day per person won't be more than 100-200 INR. Taking some conservative estimates, your 100 dollars can save an Indian for 10 days till things get under control and one can start living on one's own. Kindly consider donating... Visit my blog http://ritesh.blogspot.com/ [blogspot.com] and this blog http://tsunamihelp.blogspot.com/ [blogspot.com] for some info on how/where to donate. Redcross and UNICEF are also accepting donations now.
Regards, Ritesh
Re:Donations (Score:5, Insightful)
This is not the first time (Score:4, Interesting)
This Sunday times article [sundaytimes.lk] starts with the latter part of the story. Complete, but brief, story can be found here [lakdiva.org] and here [sinhalanet.com].
This article [rootsweb.com] gives a list of kings, but nothing about the disaster.
Re:This is not the first time (Score:3, Insightful)
Oh well. Hindsight 20-20...
Technology of tsunami prediction (Score:5, Interesting)
The tsunami is detected by buoys that measure the tide. If the tide goes way up at the wrong time, it must be a tsunami. If the buoy is close to the epicenter, we can then warn people that are farther away. The buoys only work when they are in shallow water. It has been reported on the news that the buoys are very expensive and this is why the nations that were hit by this disaster did not invest in tsunami prediction. It seems to me that a shore based tide detector would be very cheap if it was connected by land line.
A massive displacement of the seafloor or an undersea landslide is required to create a tsunami. There doesn't seem to be any theory for predicting this other than going with the intensity measurement of the earthquake. There doesn't seem to be any large effort to place instruments on the ocean floor to detect this movement. (It would probably cost too much)
What about the high energy wave that travels vast distances through the ocean? Shouldn't there be some way to detect this wave?
Re:Technology of tsunami prediction (Score:3, Insightful)
You are going to need a massive education program to accompany said warning system, in nations where large portions of the population can't read. While it can be done, and it should be done, all the technology in the world is not going to fix this problem. Education will.
There is a much worse Tsunami impending for USA (Score:3, Interesting)
This slip is in a sense like the NASA tracked 2004 MN4 in that nobody knows WHEN it will happen, but unlike it in that it WILL happen as there is no way for it to miss.
From my recollection the waves, when they hit the eastern US seaboard, will be much higher than the indian ocean event, due to the mass of water displaced by the falling mountainside, I believe wave heights of 100 feet were mentioned, and flatlands like florida being scoured as far inland as orlando etc... deaths would probably total millions, not tens of thousands.
Found the reference (Score:4, Informative)
BRITAIN faces a natural disaster that will flatten the Atlantic coastline for several miles inland, a scientist predicted yesterday.
A massive landslide caused by a volcanic eruption in the Canary Islands would create a giant wave that would hit the coast at up to 500mph.
The largest mega-tsunami ever seen would be generated when an eruption of Cumbre Vieja on the island of La Palma caused a part of a mountain twice the size of the Isle of Man to plunge into the Atlantic.
"The first impact will be when 330ft waves crash into the west Saharan coast of Morocco," said Simon Day, of the Benfield Greig hazard research centre at University College London.
"It is not a question of if it will happen, only when it will happen. It could be in the next few decades; it could be hundreds of years hence."
Devastation from the tsunami was also highly likely in Florida, Brazil and the Caribbean. There the wave would reach heights of 130ft to 164ft - higher than Nelson's column - and could sweep four and a half miles inland.
Dr Day said: "It is a geologically definite process, a bit like a pressure cooker, with the volcano heating up the ground water and pressure building up inside the mountain."
In 1949 the mountain moved 12ft in two days, but the disaster waiting to happen would be much greater, according to Dr Day's report, published in Geophysical Research Letters.
The collapse of the mountain on the west of Cumbre Vieja would release enough energy, equivalent to the electricity consumption of America in six months, to generate a wave more than half a mile high and tens of miles long.
This would collapse and rebound on the Canaries. As the landslide continued to move underwater, a series of waves would develop, creating enormous surges all over the Atlantic.
"After only 10 minutes, the tsunami will have moved more than 150 miles," Dr Day said. It would reach America in little more than six hours.
There have been at least 11 tsunamis in the past 200,000 years, one of which wiped out Minoan civilisation on Crete.
The largest recorded wave to hit Britain was the Lisbo tsunami of 1755, when 12ft seas pounded Cornwall.
About 7,000 years ago, the Storegga tsunami, caused by a landslide off Norway, deposited silt several miles inland in northern Scotland.
"When the wave from the Canaries reaches Britain, it could be as high as the Storegga, which may have been up to 60ft," Dr Day said.
"It is difficult to know how far the ramifications will go. We should be looking at the doomed civilisation of Crete when assessing the effects."
http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=canary+i
Re:There is a much worse Tsunami impending for USA (Score:3, Informative)
Don't panic.
But other researchers in Britain discounted the prediction as the product of a speculative computer model. They said that over the last 200,000 years there had been only two huge landslides on the flanks of the Canary Islands and that there was geologic evidence indicating the slides broke up and fell into the sea in bits instead of one big whoosh.
and now land mines too (Score:5, Informative)
Land Mines Add to Sri Lanka's Misery
Tidal waves that hammered Sri Lanka have uprooted land mines that threaten to kill or maim survivors trying to return home while endangering relief workers, a Unicef official said today.
The tsunami have scattered mines and destroyed warning signs, said Ted Chaiban, the aid agency's Sri Lanka chief.
"Land mines are posing a new risk to Sri Lankans, and to relief efforts," he said. "Mines were floated by the floods and washed out of known mine fields, so now we don't know where they are and the warning signs
The greatest danger will come when survivors begin to return to their homes, not knowing where the mines are, Chaiban said.
More than 1.5 million mines have been planted across Sri Lanka by the army and Tamil Tiger rebels have been fighting for a separate homeland since 1983.
Re:and now land mines too (Score:3, Informative)
Because they still make up a large part of our defensive perimeter between North and South Korea. The Land Mines are there to slow down advancing columns of North Korean
Check USGS website.... (Score:4, Informative)
My house ... (Score:5, Funny)
Plenty of coverage in the U.S. (Score:3, Informative)
The first day there was not much but I think that's because the initial damage reports sounded outlandish.
By the second day it was the top story of every newscast I've seen, both national and local and that persists to today.
I don't watch Fox news so I can't tell you if their coverage is weak. I'm watching CNN/headline news, NBC and ABC national and local news.
Connetion of earthquakes and whale suicides. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Actually, Rama plummeted into the ocean (Score:3, Funny)
Oh, wait.
Cancel that.
Re:Here's your foreign 9/11 (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Here's your foreign 9/11 (Score:4, Insightful)
Sure if warning systems were in placed it could have helped lower the death toll, but there is no way to prevent deaths altogether in this situation. At least 9/11 could have been prevented, but right now we have no way to stop earthquakes/tsunamis from happening.
But hey, we Americans don't care. Since only 8 Americans died (thus far) in the trajedy, the news isn't covering it the way you might think they would for a single event that has caused (so far) over 20,000 dead.
Why isn't primetime TV pre-empted for round the clock coverage of this? 8 Americans dead isn't enough to pre-empt programming.
It's events like this that can get one easily pissed off (yet again) over the bias in the American Media.
What's really sad is that the bias reflects most Americans: They don't care about it, since Americans weren't affected that much (except the 8 that died). Typical Americans, at most, only care enough to ask "Could this happen to us in America?"
Everytime I see FOX NEWS show little coverage of this trajedy and move on to the War in Iraq, I am reminded of the hilarious satire song from Team America: World Police:
"America...f*ck yeah!"
Re:Here's your foreign 9/11 (Score:5, Insightful)
It's events like this that can get one easily pissed off (yet again) over the bias in the American Media.
This isn't bias in American Media, this is bias in human brains. The further away something is from us personally, the less we care. It's not at all unique to the US.
Re:Here's your foreign 9/11 (Score:5, Insightful)
I disagree. Here in the UK there has been rather a lot of coverage. Most of the newspapers here have several pages worth of articles covering how bad things are, and how the humanitarian efforts are proceeding in the various affected countries. I'm not sure how many British people died in this tragedy, but I think it's got to be a dozen at most. So this tragedy is no 'closer' to us personally in the UK than it is in the US, but if the media coverage really is as bad in the US as grandparent poster seems to imply, then I think that really is a clear indication of the different attitudes taken by the media in our two countries.
Re:Here's your foreign 9/11 (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Here's your foreign 9/11 (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Here's your foreign 9/11 (Score:5, Insightful)
Many of the countries hit by this earthquake/tsunami are former British colonies (India, Sri Lanka/Ceylon, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar/Burma) and others were formerly under the colonial power of European nations (Indonesia was once Dutch ruled, Madagascar was French ruled, etc).
It seems that the UK (and Europe) has much closer personal ties to these countries than the US, so that could explain the increased coverage in the UK.
I agree though, the short attention span of American media definitely has something to do with it. It's interesting that some people are saying "that could never happen to the US, so that's why people don't care."
There's a volcano on the Canary Islands that could erupt and trigger a tsunami that would deluge the Eastern coast of the United States. The west coast of the US is vulnerable to tsunamis created by the "Ring of Fire". Maybe this disaster will not only get counties around the Indian Ocean to take tsunamis more seriously, but also people on the coasts of the US as well.
Re:Here's your foreign 9/11 (Score:3, Interesting)
Anyway, to the US slashdotters: is this true or not?
Re:Here's your foreign 9/11 (Score:3, Insightful)
Run, you will be swept away. Grab something and you will be hit by debris, then swept away. It's like catching the flash of a nuclear blast, sure there is stuff you can do, but you are simply doubling your chances of survival from 0.1 to 0.2 %.
Re:Here's your foreign 9/11 (Score:3, Informative)
True. I lived in California for three years. When I got there the first thing I was told was watch the ocean after a quake. If the water starts to recede, run for the hills.
Enjoy,
Re:Here's your foreign 9/11 (Score:5, Informative)
The sea retreats just before the tsunami hits because the wave is symmetrical. When the wave is out at sea, it is very deep. When the bottom of the wave hits the shallows, there is nowhere for the water to go but up. This pulls the water away from the shore as the wave builds up.
A lot of people got swept away (or dragged over the coral) because they were naturally curious when they saw the sea suddenly retreat and walked out to see what was going on, only to get hammered when the wave arrived.
Re:Here's your foreign 9/11 (Score:3, Interesting)
I disagree. Coverage here in Canada has been massive. The disaster has been the top story, and has been dominating newscasts. The CBC last night even presented twice during its newscast a big list of organizations accepting donations, and how to reach them via phone and the web to do so.
But then again, about twenty years ago it was Canad
Re:Here's your foreign 9/11 (Score:5, Insightful)
Nonetheless, I have to point out a flaw in your reasoning and the grandparent post's - the reason this is different than 9/11 is not because of the distance, or evil americans not caring about foreign citizens. That influences only how much time you spend on the specific story in the news shows.
The difference is, 9/11 was a man-made disaster. Back in 2001, someone decided to take down those two towers, and do it in a particularly gruesome way that set back american civil liberties pretty seriously. Some asshole in a hat figured that he didn't like us for a some reasons that I'm sure feel perfectly logical to him and attacked us. Had it been a nation doing the attacking and not a group of terrorists hiding all over the world they would have gotten nuked off the surface of the earth.
This disaster however was natural. The mole people didn't get up last week and figure out they had to kill Arthur C. Clarke before his satellites discover the extent of their underground lair - no, it simply happened. It is tragic, it is terrible, but Mother Nature did not declare war on the Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India - it was just a very unfortunate event. One that could have been ameliorated with the proper warning systems, but that's besides the point now - hopefully they'll be better prepared for the next one.
-Jack Ash
Re:Here's your foreign 9/11 (Score:2)
In fact, many many more people have been killed in bombings in Iraq, so I guess they should at least get equal attention.
Re:Here's your foreign 9/11 (Score:5, Insightful)
Why isn't primetime TV pre-empted for round the clock coverage of this? 8 Americans dead isn't enough to pre-empt programming.
Because by and large:
1. It does not affect most Americans. That is not to say people do not care or are not interested; I have not yet found a person I've mentioned this to who hasn't already told me that they know about it. But the reality is, the number of Americans touched directly isn't high. This isn't media bias, it's audience. Saying the media is biased against this is like saying networks should pre-empt programming to talk about elections in other nations. In many ways that would even be MORE important to us locally than a tsunami that, while terrible, is done with. And that said,
2. It is pretty much done with. Yes, there is a TON of cleanup and humanitarian things going on, but how much is there to say about it? "The UN is helping." Okay, great. Do we need to break into programming or dedicate 24/7 coverage on CNN to say that? Do we need experts brought in to talk about what food is or something? Be reasonable. Things like 9/11 are covered in depth not only because of how directly and vastly it affects the average American, but because of how many questions remain unanswered. This was an earthquake, and a tsunami caused by it. It doesn't NEED vast coverage.
Oh, please (Score:3, Insightful)
So far as I can see (and I live in CA, Earthquake country), the media is covering this quite a bit... But it's not incredibly important to someone on the other side of the world.
Incidently, several thousand people starved to death today, more died in accidents, civil wars and from disease. Why no outrage over the poor me
Re:Here's your foreign 9/11 (Score:5, Interesting)
Actually in the UK the 3 main news channels (BBC News 24, Sky news, ITV News) haven't left the earthquake / tsunami / asia story at all in the last 48 hours apart from the occasional 2 minute headlines roundup. CNN europe and CNBC are barely touching on it, but that's all I would expect from US owned channels. Our main channels also show news occasionally, and when they do it's 90% about the disaster.
I would say that's enough coverage of the disaster for everyone to know about it, and for anyone who wants it to get round-the-clock coverage. What more is needed?
Steve.
The difference is... (Score:3, Insightful)
There is a very great difference between a human's knowing intent to cause pain and suffering, and nature once again reminding us who is really the boss.
With willful human intent, you have the questions of who did it, why, how, where did the money come from, are we going to go after their bosses, what scale is the conflict going to be on...?
With a natural disaster, the conversation is more along the lines of "told ya we shoulda had a better warning
Re:Protip: Do not live along known fault lines (Score:3, Informative)
I'll probably lose a lot of karma for this, but just like the past summer's hurricane disasters in Florida, people have to realise that there is a price to pay when you choose to live in a natural disaster zone.
A couple of issues:
WTF? (Score:2, Troll)
Re:WTF? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Day after Tomorrow (Score:5, Insightful)
and more people to catch disease and use up scarce medical supplies.
rebuilding will take years. it is not feasible for them to stay.
if you really want to help then forget about token gestures designed to make you feel good about yourself and just give them your money (directly through appeals or indirectly via foreign aid).
Re:Day after Tomorrow (Score:3, Insightful)
On the other hand, humans have strange minds. Helping someone rebuild their house to make takes precedence over giving them money. Give me a shovel and fly me the hell in there.
Re:Day after Tomorrow (Score:3, Informative)
Wouldn't be surprised if others did too.
Re:Bah (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:You won't read anything about it... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:You won't read anything about it... (Score:2, Informative)
Re: You won't read anything about it... (Score:4, Interesting)
> I still hope that it will soon be gone. Not through some horrible disaster, because that's not a very nice thing to wish on anybody, but through continued political pressure.
The US's lease runs out in 2016, though I can't imagine that the UK would fail to renew it.
BTW, an interesting/informative article about the history and current military/pollitical arrangements at Diego Garcia can be found at globalsecurity.org [globalsecurity.org].
Given its location and elevation (4' average, 22' maximum, according to the article), it's somewhat surprising that they didn't get washed away.
Re:Earth's Rotation (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Earth's Rotation (Score:5, Informative)
No, the disruption isn't big enough. The rotation sped up by a 10,000th of a second. It's hardly worth mentioning in the news. Earth's orbit changed, too, according to this [yahoo.com] article.
Wobble != Orbit (Score:5, Informative)
Short of a major loss or gain of mass, or impulse from a massive impact, the Earth just keeps trucking along in it's rut. While the energy is tremendous in an Earthquake, the energy just moves mass around within the same system.
Re:Earth's Rotation (Score:4, Interesting)
How can we test this hypothesis? Simple. Do some comparitive measurements of magnetic field strength and direction at the two locations which experienced major quakes. I suspect there may be a correlation, and further predict major tremblors in the near future, linked to an acceleration of magentic field changes, especially ELF [quakefinder.com] magnetic signals.
Re:The worst hit (Score:5, Insightful)
Sorry, but I got really pissed today watching the news and seeing a tourist comming back from Phuket complaining that they (he and his wife) lost everything they took on their holidays. What have you lost, little men? Two suitcases of clothes and a digital camera??? Look around you, little men, and see all those people that had little and now have nothing, look at the corpses floating and mothers mourning for their children. Then go on complaining about your digital camera little men. I won't cry for you.
Re:The worst hit (Score:3, Interesting)
- Four childs lost their parents.
- One man lost his wife and his four year old doughter
- One newly married man lost his pregnant wife.
Here in Sweden theese kind of reports goes on and on. Still 1600 swedes are missing, and if you live here there is a good chance that you know someone on vacation in Thailand. They say about 20.000 swedes were on vacation there, thats about 0.2% of our population. On every office and wor
Re:The worst hit (Score:3, Funny)
Re:The worst hit (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes many tourists have lost their lives, but many of those who have not will be able to get back on the plane and go home to their easy lives back in suburbia. The citizens in the likes of Sri Lanka, Thailand etc have no way of escaping this nightmare.
*shrug* Maybe Im just being overly sensitive.
Medraut
Re: In this thread, we say what we really think... (Score:5, Funny)
> If this happened to America, I wonder who they would bomb?
Until a couple of years ago, Iraq. Even now, they might go for Fallujah.
Tsunami speed explained in bad english. (Score:4, Informative)