Massive quake & tsunamis hit Asia, Please pray

[Naga Basuki]

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/12/26/asia.quake/index.html

[Radu Transylvanicus]

My thoughts are with them, will surf in memoriam ...

[Ferguson]

Prayers sent. Incense lit. Good luck for all of our members in the area.

Steve

[wolviex]

I'm really worried, and I hope our Forum Mates and their families are safe during this tragedy. It's not only local disaster, which devastate one of the most beautiful spot of the earth, there are many turists (among them from Poland too) which died in deadly waters.

Let me light a candles for them...

['] ['] [']

[Andrew]

A horrible tragedy. :(

Things like this put the Florida hurricane season just past into perspective. I'm deeply saddened.

[VANDOO]

TRULY A GREAT CATOSTROPHE MY PRAYERS GO OUT TO ALL THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN EFFECTED. THE AREA SHOULD ALSO KEEP A CLOSE WATCH AS A QUAKE OF THAT MAGNITUDE CAN CAUSE OTHER PROBLEMS IN A LARGE AREA. KIND OF LIKE KNOCKING OVER DIAMONOS ANYTHING THAT IS UNSTABLE CAN BE EFFECTED.

[nechesh]

To add to Andrew's statement, events like this put A LOT of things into perspective.
It would be nice to hear a bit of a roll call from our friends in the area just to know they are alright.

[cylord21]

My deepest concern for the people of affected countries and for the forum member and their families that live in the area, hope they are all well.

[wilked aka Khun Deng]

My prayers are added. We may have to wait for that roll call, according to one of my guys on vacation in Phuket (he and his family survived) all services are out, only cell phones are operational. Disease is now there biggest problem, the U.S. is sending personnel and medicine, I'm sure any contributions to the International Red Cross would be greatly appreciated at this time.

[Adni Aljunied]

Am truly saddend by this too, but thankfully here in Singapore only minor tremors were felt. I was comming back from Bali just the night before the quake struct and was having my badly needed rest when it happened. No one clsoe to me were effected except for one cousin's apartment in Penang that was partially cracked.
My prayers and condolences goes out to all effected and we pray that a repercussion don't follow.

[Jim McDougall]

Wilked makes a very important note- remember Red Cross donations!
This is an unbelievable tragedy and we all mourn the terrible losses of so many people....our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and in hopes that the many missing will be found safe.
I too hope that our members in affected areas will post and assure us of your status and any updates ...we have many readers and members there and we are deeply concerned.
Jim

[Raja Muda]

My prayers and condolences to the bereaved families and survivors. The northern states of the Malay peninsula are quite badly hit, though considering their proximity with the epicentre of the quake in Acheh (Penang is a short journey away by boat) we're thankfully spared the scale of death and destruction experienced in Sri Lanka, India and nearby Phuket.
Tremors are felt all the way south throughout Kuala Lumpur, especially in high rise buildings. So far, all forumites in KL are present and accounted for.
Living in what was considred a quake free zone, I guess people sometimes take for granted that we're living right in the middle of the ring of fire.
Many friends in the north live inland, so they were spared the worst of the tsunami.
The news bulletins warns us of aftershock and more waves and for people to continue to be careful at all times.
Tragedies like these tend to get you thinking about how fragile life really is and why you should make every second of your existence meaningful.
Also, man may be mortal, but the objects he fashioned with love and artistry such as the edged weapons we cherish in this forum confers him a kind of immortality.

[John]

Thoughts are with those affected and my "incense" added...

[Spunjer]

well put, raja muda. my thoughts and prayers to all that has been affected.

[Radu Transylvanicus]

How about Phillippines, is Moroland safe ?

[Rick]

A list of charities at this link :

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/12/27/quake.aidsites/index.html

[wilked aka Khun Deng]

Thanks Rick, The money I had saved for my next sword purchase is now on its way via the links you supplied.

[Rather]

It is an unbelievable tragedy. Nearly every hour we learn from the news about a rising number of victims and among the many thousands who lost their live are most likely more than 100 tourists from my country. Our churches here in Germany started collections for the survivors in the devastated areas, many other organisations as the Red Cross and our political parties organised accounts for donations. Hopefully, the aiding organisations can help the struck countries to fight diseases and hunger. I will contribute my share.

[Marc]

Been off-line for some days, but far from unaware of what happened. I'm afraid the feeling of horror and sorrow will stay for a long time... Our share of incense has also been lit.

Help is being sent from all the world to the area. At the end, this affects to all us...

[Federico]

A great tragedy, and my thoughts and prayers to all those affected. I just hope and pray, that none of our forumites are ill effected.

[VANDOO]

I DID A SEARCH ON NIAS ISLAND WHICH IS IN THE AREA OF THE QUAKE , IT WAS HIT HARD BY QUAKE AND TIDAL WAVES. I WAS GLAD TO FIND THAT SOME AID WAS MAKEING ITS WAY THERE AS IT IS WAY OFF THE BEATEN TRACK AND I FEARED HELP WOULD BE LONG IN COMING. I HAVE ALWAYS LIKED THE CULTURE AND CEREMONYS OF NIAS AS WELL AS THE WEAPONS AND ARMOR AND WOOD CARVEINGS. I HOPE THE TRADITIONS AND CULTURE CAN COME THRU THIS TIME OF EXTREME HARDSHIP INTACT, THAT ALSO APPLYS TO MANY OTHER AREAS THAT HAVE BEEN AFFECTED. I WILL LIGHT SOME INSENCE FOR THEM AND SEND MY PRAYERS AS WELL AS MY DONATIONS.

[Henk]

A friend of my, a dutch keriscollector, had contact today with ken_dedes about the tsunami disaster.
My friend opened a bankaccount and started collecting money for the charity fund "Indonesia Crying" here in Holland. In this way we can transfer the money to this fund with minimum of transfer costs. We even want to ask the bankdirector to transfer the money for this purpose without costs.

Perhaps an idea to start something similair in other countries?

This is the mail we recieved today from ken_dedes:

Sent: Thursday, December 30, 2004 1:11 PM
Subject: INDONESIA CRYING


Hello Ans and Johan,
Thanks a lot for your attention.
As known, the victims of the tsunami disaster now is approximately about 45,268 people in Aceh and North Sumatra ( Desember 30th 2004, 12.00 am, on TV report ). It can be more than that amount because there are still 3 isolated area. We cannot imagine how huge amount of the victims are those areas because of this disaster.
Although we are far from Aceh, we want to help them with our way.
We plan first to do a charity auction on ebay ( it will be coming out soon on ebay). The result of this auction would be donated to Aceh and North Sumatera people. For accountability report, the donation would be published in a big newspaper here (JAWA POS) and the winning bidder's name would be written on it as the donor.
But, you give me another idea about this charity move (related with your friends).
If your friends also want to participate with us, we can help to lead the donation. We will also published the fund on the newspaper as the accountability report for the donor. We personally could not visit Aceh and North Sumatera by ourselves, so we have to gather the donation with others in a group / organisation, such as via the media (newspaper,radio,tv), church or other government institutions.
I hope this explanation would be clearer for you and your friends.
Let us help each other as long as we could.....
God always be with us...
Thanks.


Kind regards,
febi prakosa
ken_dedes

[nechesh]

My friends, there are MANY well established and reputable organization to which one can donate money to help out with this terrible disaster. I would be very wary of ANY private group or individual which claims to be collecting money for disaster relief in the area.

[Rick]

Any charity auction announcements are to be posted in the Swap Forum only please .

[ariel]

That was a short note from the Israeli newspaper "Haaretz" of 12/30/04:

Briton in Sri Lanka: I surfed the tsunami

By Dudu Slameh



COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - A British tourist in Sri Lanka claims that he actually surfed the weekend's tsunami.
Gary Wolf is one of a large group of British tourists that is currently sleeping on mattresses in the conference room of a Colombo hotel. He told Haaretz that he was out on a surfboard when the tsunami hit.
"Suddenly I saw that the rocks near the shore had simply disappeared," he recounted. "At first, I didn't understand what was happening and I concentrated on surfing. When I finished surfing, I discovered that I was on the highway, about half a mile from the beach where my room was. Fortunately, the waves pulled me and my surfboard into shore instead of out into the ocean."
Wolf is a professional surfer who regularly enters international competitions.
"Had I known what was going on, I might not have left the water," he said. "I might have tried to continue enjoying one of those moments that will never recur."


Can you imagine?????