Boys Throwing Rocks Into the Ocean. Day After the Tsunami
Update Update: I think the www.sarvodaya.org site is pretty good now. We’re taking Mastercard thru a local bank and everything else through PayPal (via Sarvodaya USA). Amma (my mom) wants to set up an interactive map that shows trucks going down and requests coming up. IBM has volunteered some programmers and I’m going to go meet with them in a few hours.
Update – I recommend Sarvodaya.org – they’re well organized, experienced and responsible with money. Plus I’m sleeping there so I can keep you updated. Actually, think about who you donate to, and wait if you can. We need long-term support. Try to make sure you know where the money is going and that it’s spent wisely. I can promise that I will do everything I can to keep photos and news and results flowing out of Sarvodaya, but look around. They’re only accepting Mastercard now, but should be Visa in the morning. The website looks bummy but I’m on it. Sarvodaya is good people. Ask Sri Lankans. Plus Ammi and Thathi say so.
First, to my friends – Colombo is fine. And to anyone, if you would like to send assistance try
Sarvodaya: They’re a very good organization and they’re doing their best to help people who need clean water, food and shelter. They don’t have any online billing in place, but someone is working on that. They do give a Swift code and account number for money transfers.
ColomboPage is accepting donations online (Credit Card, via PayPal). They are also reputable. That’s probably a better option.
Tamil Rehabilitation Organization: I’m not as familiar with TRO, but I got the link off TamilNet. The East and Northeast have been hit the worst and they need assistance. The Northeast is rebel territory but at this point I don’t think anyone gives a shit
USD can make a big difference. $10 = Rs 1000. With Rs 1000 you could buy about 20 meals, or enough clothing for a family. Certainly potable water, which I think is the main concern.
I went downtown to stand on the beach. It was eerie. It’s the same spot I always sit, before I take the 177 bus home. It’s the same beach – from Mount Lavinia to Galle Face. When Thamindu was in town we spent a whole night there, his friends drinking Arrack and me drinking Coke. I bet people were sitting on the beach as usual, as I would be. And then they got swept away.
Colombo wasn’t hit that badly, being on the West side, away from Sumatra (apparently that whole island has now moved 100 ft to the Southwest). Off in the distance I did notice a bunch of big ships, container ships I think. In the Financial Times they talked about ships with up to 300 containers on board being swept away. When my family moved here all our possessions travelled in containers. That’s all I know about containers. The beach also smelled awful. I don’t know why that is, but I do know that the flooding has seriously fouled up a lot of drinking water.
There’s a railroad running along the shore. The land around it is government, so people built shanty towns there. Just corrugated tin and plywood. Travelling down to Achi’s house I could see them along the coast, stacked like cards, little kids running through the narrow alleys. All that must be washed away. [update: it is, see the WaPo photo gallery]
The East, being directly opposite the quake, was the worst hit. From the BBC I heard reports of the waters suddenly receding, sometimes beyond the horizon (is that possible? update: yes) and then the waves rushing in at 500 km an hour. Apparently the undertow would come in surges, strong then weak. People and property on the coastline in Ampara, Batti, Trinco, Matara, Galle, and Hambantota must have been just swept away.
“Survivors in Matara said they were first struck by a small tidal wave, and before they had time to recover from the shock, a 20 to 30 foot tsunami swept in wave after wave
Electricity, water supplies and communication lines were also severly disrupted, making it difficult to assess the toll of those dead, injured or missing. That is why the casualty toll ranged from 2425 to nearly 10,000 [I would guess higher].
Soon after noon yesterday, most of the angry and unmerciful waves had swept back to the sea, but some areas were still under three to six feet of water.” (Daily Mirror)
…
For general information Wikipedia has an excellent page on the ‘2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake‘
Slate has a really good press roundup, especially the Washington Post Articles. Their roundup of the International Press is also excellent. I recommend the Michael Dobbs account of swimming near Weligama and getting caught in the wave. WaPo also has an excellent description of what exactly happened tectonic-plate-wise, and a good photo gallery.
As the waters rose at an incredible rate, I half expected to catch sight of Noah’s Ark.
Instead of the ark, I grabbed a wooden catamaran that the local people used as a fishing boat. My brother jumped on the boat next to me. We bobbed up and down on the catamaran as the water rushed past us into the village beyond the road.
After a few minutes, the water stopped rising, and I felt it was safe to swim to the shore. What I did not realize was that the floodwaters would recede as quickly and dramatically as they had risen.
All of a sudden, I found myself being swept out to sea with startling speed. Although I am a fairly strong swimmer, I was unable to withstand the current. The fishing boats around me had been torn from their moorings, and were bobbing up and down furiously. Dobbs, Weligama – SL
Thank God. We were quite worried about you mister. CNN makes it look like Colombo was hit really bad.
I’m so glad to hear you’re OK. How is the rest of your family?
Warmest wishes to all of the Samarajivas.
The Benedettis
At least 60000 people die when the Earth hiccups. Imagine what would happen if the Earth let out a really big belch.
Thank God MY ASS! Which of the gods to thank, the one that made the earthquake, or the others that sit and look? After all, it’s seems we don’t need them (since they don’t help us)
indi: i don’t believe that God is there to give us what we want. God is all things. Including the bad. God is the love beyond all the suffering of this world. I appreciate all your prayers
Dear Indi and others,
Do have a look at http://clublk.us/modules.php?name=Donations for a list of places that are acting as collection centres for the relief effort in Sri Lanka, or to make donations for the relief effort itself. All Sri Lankan Buddhist temples in the USA and Canada are currently functioning as collection centres. Clublk.us itself has collected around $5000, part of which has already gone to purchasing 25 000 water purification tablets.
Tharanga is my friend, I can vouch for her. Their blog is reliefforsrilanka.blogspot.com
Greetings;
I am in possession of about 100 clean, slightly used soccer uniforms, including shorts, t shirts, and socks which I would be pleased to donate to the tsunami releif effort.
Do you know if anyone is collecting clothing ??
Best wishes,
Ed
http://www.karunalanka.org is another organisation engaged in running relief efforts. Today the death toll in Sri Lanka itself has reached 22 000 while many more are still missing. Indonesia’s death toll is above 47 000 and climbing. It has been a terrible week. Let’s do all we can to help those affected.
Well said George. At times like these my disbelief in a Supreme Being is strengthened even more. What a cruel and sadistic “God” it is that lives up in the sky.
indi: you people are crazy. Human divide the world up into slices of things they like and don’t like. The God I love is indivisible. Suffering doesn’t come from ‘bad’ things. It comes from the hatred, anger and fear in your heart. The Earth moved, that moved the ocean, and a lot of people have been killed. We are trying to help those people, but I’m not hating on the Earth. Would you rather that the earth stopped moving?
God is not a cookie jar.
God Bless both of you, George and Amal. God Bless those involved in this crisis. The bible describes the end times….this shouldn’t be a surprise to those who are faithful in Christ. I will be praying for you, like it or not.
indi: thanks for your prayers. I don’t know about end times, I think this is bringing out the best in Sri Lanka and I see a bright future for us.
It is only natural that in a great tragedy people start asking questions.
Traditionally, the Judeo-Christian God, considered the most supreme and perfect being in the universe, has been ascribed the following necessary attributes: omniscience (all-knowing), omnipresence (present everywhere at all times and at once), omnipotence (almighty and powerful) and benevolence (all good and caring).
How, then, did a God as powerful and benevolent as this allow such a thing to happen? If he is benevolent then he cannot also be omnipotent, for a God who has both these attributes would have wanted to, cared to and been able to prevent such a catastrophe.
Perhaps, though omnipotent, He is not benevolent. That might explain why, although it was within His power to stop the tsunami, He simply chose not to: God has His own reasons and we are not to ask why. However, this answer will not suffice since by definition God is perfect. Being perfect, He must of necessity not merely be omnipotent but benevolent as well.
So no Indi, we who do not believe in a God are not “crazy” (that comment itself is intolerant – please learn to appreciate other viewpoints) but realistic.
You seem to think that omnipotence means doing what you want. God is not a cookie jar.
It’s not nit picking at all. Quite logical really. Please re-read what has been written, and don’t let your emotion stand in the way of its appraisal. You know Indi, you’re really starting to sound like a religious fundamentalist – the kind that starts raving when the God-idea is questioned at all. But then, as you’ve said you do have 700 things to pay attention to.
But let’s face it, according popular monotheism it is God that did this. Yes… God killed indeed killed people. It happened in the days of the Bible and it’s happening today. The evangelists are already on TV claiming that the “disbelievers” have been punished by their righteous God.
oh!..Tusnami oh!..Tusnami
you have wiped out my brother hood Nation
you created grave yard
you created father without child
you created children Parentless
you created widows
you created many people roofless
oh!..Tusnami oh!..Tusnami at last
you created dance of demise.
This is not about religeon this is a naural disaster that has affected so many people in the most horriffic way, So have some respect . There are plenty of wars going on in this world that are the product of religeon so maybe you should focus your thoughts of god on them. Or maybe stop preaching and do something productive. It discusts me that God has been brought into this equasion.
WE ARE HEAVYHEARTED FOR MY BROTHER HOOD NATION AND PEOPLE IN THIS VERY HARD GEOLOGICAL ERA.
WE PRAY TO ALMIGHTY GOD THAT THIS TRAUMATIC SITUATION WILL END VERY QUICKLY,AS SOON AS POSSIBLE
AND PEOPLE OF SRI LANKA WILL HAVE GOLDEN LIFE.
I miss INDI. I am so happy you are okay, and I am sending that email to people I know, kinda know, and dont even know to get you some good old USD. I check your website all the time for lil updates and you continue to amaze me.
indi—-
Richard’s comments to you are virtually worthless. He has some reasoning ability but is appprently unable or unwilling to see the flaws in his reasoning and i’ve grown weary, over the many years, of attempting to correct such flaws . However, for anyone willing to exert themselves mentally, the truth can become known. (re sin, free will, God’s interventions and non-interventions)—I thank you for the work you’re doing there and I pray that God blesses it.