Five Years Later, Tsunami Victims Remember
Five years later, the people hit by the Boxing Day tsunami are still struggling to recover:
Countries across the Indian Ocean are marking the fifth anniversary of the catastrophic tsunami that killed almost 250,000 people.
In Indonesia's Aceh province, where 170,000 died, thousands held prayers in public mosques and private homes.
On Thai beaches, Buddhist monks chanted prayers as mourners held pictures of loved ones lost five years ago.
Hundreds of tourists also returned to Phuket island to mark one of the worst natural disasters of modern times.
A moment of silence was observed on Phuket's popular Patong Beach marking the time the tsunami struck.
German survivor Ruschitschka Adolf, 73, and his wife Katherina waded into the turquoise seawater to lay white roses as a tribute to the dead.
"We [still] come and stay here because we are alive," Mr Adolf told Reuters news agency.
Other ceremonies were expected in the 14 countries hit by the massive wave.
In the meantime, agencies from around the world are still trying to rebuild in a place where all the boundaries have disappeared.
The level of death and destruction from this event, in just a matter of minutes, is still mind-boggling.
Glenn Beck: Obama did it!
Bill O'Reilly: God's punishment!
Anne Coulter: But they are like brown and stuff!
The tsunami devastated a region, killing over 80 times the number lost on 9/11.
"Where boundaries have disappeared ..." as you put it, is where our response differs. Survivors of the tsunami understand that their recovery is dependent upon community, upon reaching across borders and distinctions of race and region.
In America, we shrugged it off and promptly armored up to launch ill-conceived wars, commit war crimes, and cast the world in a 'with us or against us' model. It has changed us - irrevocably, for the moment, as we seem to lack the moral courage or political will to hold these war criminals responsible, but happily pay lip service to a religious icon who spoke of peace and charity.
Portions of America are deathly afraid of losing their identity - a trait we actually share with the terrorists, who aren't looking for a seat at the table, but for an ideological restructuring of the world in keeping with their own narrow-minded views. And so we react with false bravado, with anger, with fear.
Perhaps some day, we'll get a clue.
I declare war on tsunamis.
Never again!
... that would be an evil photoshop job: Bush and his 'Mission Accomplished' banner over New Orleans' Ninth Ward.
This one's pretty close.
Photoshopped but it was what he was actually doing at the height of the crisis.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhQlXPWRvaM
My apologies in advance.
with us or against us.
Ever since the tsunami, I wanted to see them figure in a James Bond movie.
The books made it clear he was a Commander in the Royal Navy. I figure 007 would be assigned to ensure security of a joint American/British project to put tsunami detectors in the Pacific Ocean, hopefully to prevent future large numbers of lives lost.
This would give 007 a chance to put his uniform back on, and away from the babes, except of course those he cannot touch, because they're essentially under his command.
Then he discovers that the tsunami detecter is a cover for arming the sea bed in violation of the SBACT (Sea Bed Arms Control Treaty), and he's not sure who he dealing with. Is this actually a policy decision by Americans or British or both? Is it a rogue operation, or because he's fighting it, he's the rogue?
While Bond is still trying to decide what to do about it, his discovery is found out, and he's made a target.
The climax, so to speak, would be a fight scene/shoot out during a tsunami, while they're still at sea.
Maybe just for the hell of it, have Bond interrupt a rape scene where he is literally slamming this guy's head into the door of a locker.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
I think this is the next one.
If this thing blows like I think it will.
Hawaii and the Pacific coast could be next.
Let me put it this way. If this volcano blows like Mt St Helen's or worse.
Things might get a little dicey in Hawaii and the Pacific Coast regions.
What is your conceptual, continuity?
When you're at sea, a tsunami is hardly noticeable. There aren't huge swells until the wave approaches land.
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
I was presuming accompanying storms, but I looked it up, and as I suspected you're right, it's due to subducting plates on the ocean floor, while I was describing something more along the lines of a hurricane. But that could easily be inserted into the idea.
I have to admit the thought was just occurring to me as I was typing about that climax, but overall waddya think? Too much Hunt For Red October?
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
I'll polish it, punch it up where needed. ;D
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
The Philippines were battered with numerous Super Typhoons this year.
It was non stop for over a month. One even passed over the Northern Philippines, went north, swung back around and pummeled them again.
Now, imagine that coupled with an undersea earthquake. Resulting in a tsunami. Or, a volcano blowing it's top. And resulting in a tsunami.
Those folks have been taking a beating. And it ain't over for them yet.
The 2006 eruption was just a precursor. A pressure release if you will.
I hope that thing doesn't go the way of Mt. St. Helen.
What is your conceptual, continuity?
I was in Thailand right afterward and saw some of the destruction. We couldn't go in the sea/ocean because there were still parts of bodies floating around. I say parts because they had bloated up and fish were nibbling at them.
far left loon >.<
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