80,000 and counting…
500,000 injured…

Relief agencies have finally been able to reach areas that were inaccessible.
In the midst of despair and devestation there is hope.

I’m not going to link to this blogger in Sinapore, he has enough anger and lostness in him, he doesn’t need more thrown at him.

Believe that everyone has heard of the latest natural disaster that has hit the region… i really cannot understand what is the big hoo-ha about it.. so what if people die? it’s just nature’s way of taking out the garbage.. and i would like to think that for some people.. maybe death was a form of release.. esp considering that india and indonesia were quite hard hit.. i mean.. maybe they were living in poverty with barely enuff to get by.. so maybe death is a good thing.. by the way the death toll is about 60,000 now.. ok lar.. just wish that the tsunami had hit china… am damn pissed by chinese nationals

Real Live Preacher commented on the Southeast earthquake and a political discussion broke out in his comment section. I’m sorry too Preacher, you weren’t making a political statement and how people chose to respond is not your fault.

I mentioned that I wasn’t going to be writing until January, though I was tempted out of my silence by my desire to post a few thoughts on the tragedy. Those thoughts seem to be creating something of a debate, which is sad to me, but probably my fault. The last thing I want to do is let myself get sucked into debating what a nation should do.

I’m going to stop reading the comments from yesterday. In fact, I’m not going to read ANY email while I am visiting my parents. I’ll see you in early January. peace, if such a thing is possible for any of us right now.

As Canadian Sri Lankans gathered to mourn at a temple in Toronto, they are grieving, worried and scared. Many of them have lost relatives and have fled from a 30 year old civil war to safety in Canada.

The Sinhalese government doesn’t care for Tamils. They only give aid to their own people,” said Devathasan Thambirajah. “They are showing their racism and discrimination against the Tamil community.”

“I am also worried that foreign aid going to Sri Lanka will be used to buy weapons and ammunitions in the future against the Tamil people.”

Thambirajah and many others claim a centuries-old homeland rivalry between Sri Lanka’s Sinhalese Buddhist majority and its Tamil Hindu minority are thwarting foreign relief efforts in the Tamil-dominated north and eastern regions of the country — a consequence, they say, of their 20-year civil war. They cite both media reports and anecdotal evidence from family and friends in Sri Lanka as proof of the charges.

Here is a site dedicated to help people know how to give appropriately when a disaster happens.

Ian’s Messy Desk is posting about what is being done now. The Salvation Army has been hard at work since the quake and tsunami. It is one of many teams on the ground extending aid, even though they suffered personal loss.

Wednesday, December 29, 2004 – The latest update from The Salvation Army’s Central Indian headquarters reports that Salvation Army rescue workers are meeting the needs of 2,000 residents of two relief camps, who lost everything when the disaster struck their homes in Nagapatnam and Tanjavoor. Nearly 5,000 people died and 60,000 were left homeless.

The Salvation Army expects to continue feeding and clothing the residents of the camp for at least 10 days before providing them with materials to resettle in new homes.

In Chennai, Salvation Army teams are distributing food and blankets to 1,000 homeless fishermen and their families, whose homes in the Marina beach area were completely destroyed.

In Machilipatnam and Nellore, also, The Salvation Army is concentrating its aid efforts on the survivors – mostly fishermen – who lost all the means of their livelihood, as well as their homes and possessions.

Almost every country in the world has lost citizens. 70 Canadians are missing, 13 died.
Governments will waste money, scams will spring up, every disaster brings out opportunism. Every disaster also gets politicised as politicans fail in their pledges, divide up favours and seek return. Haiti and the Dominican Republic, just like Bam Iran have not received all the help they required after this years hurricanes. But help has gotten through.
That is a given that governments and even NG0’s may not meet their goals and give empty promises. It is not something we as individuals need to get into - vain and foolish arguments will not feed and shelter people made in the image and likeness of God.
Every person in 11 devestated countries matters. So do you.
So, what are you going to do?

For many people this event seems like a TV movie. In an age of instant communication and technical advancement of entertainment that actually makes some sense.
Step away from your TV set.
Do some reading. I got an email from a blogger last night that had planned to take his family to Southeast Asia on vacation next week. He knows he could well have been one of the thousands swept away, or hungry, hurt and thirsty and he is doing what he can to help.

The searches finding their way to this blog are from concerned people. For many, english is not their first language. Many have suffered great loss and are desperate for specific kinds of information. This eathquake and it’s horrible aftermath isn’t a movie, a political debate or just something that happened on the other side of the world that somebody else can deal with. It happened to people that need hope. And hope is not a feeling, it is a gift and it is a choice.

AFP

Christianity Today, World blog, Beliefnet and the BBC have links up to relief agencies.
As well, the US blog The Command Post is posting non-partisan relief links as fast as they come in.