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| -Signs, Portents, and the Weather- | |
| Indonesian Quake Worse Then Expected | |
| 2005-03-31 | |
| Aid efforts to earthquake-ravaged Sumatra are being hampered by the level of destruction, amid reports that the situation is worse than expected on the hardest hit island of Nias. Many of the roads on the island are impassable and the only link to the airport is cut restricting the delivery of urgently needed foreign aid, which is now starting to arrive on the island 48 hours after the quake struck. Australian military aircraft have begun flying additional medics and supplies to the region as the island's only hospital was all but destroyed. Little or no electricity and fuel is forcing doctors to tend to the injured, many suffering compression and crush injuries, without power. "Reports that I've had in now overnight are, I must admit, pretty bad," Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer told Australia's ABC Radio Thursday. "There's no doubt about this being a significant humanitarian crisis and the Indonesians have deployed resources very quickly, but we're obviously ready to provide additional assistance if it's needed and it may very well be needed," Downer said. Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was expected to arrive on the devastated island today. Indonesia "welcomes and is open to all kinds of assistance, including help from foreign troops, to assist in the disaster zone," a spokesman for the President told The Associated Press.
Helicopters from the Singapore Air Force landed in a sports stadium in Gunungsitoli, but a crowd looted supplies soon after they were unloaded. This prompted the U.N.'s operations officer to order no more landings in the stadium. Three Chinook helicopters ferried out the most critically injured people Wednesday morning, although more casualties continued to arrive for evacuation. In Washington, U.S. officials said the USNS Mercy hospital ship has been ordered to remain in the Indonesia area to help with earthquake relief. It is expected to reach Nias in about six days from its current station near East Timor. Indonesian officials estimate that, overall, at least 1000 people are dead following the quake but expect that toll could rise to 2000. Monday's epicenter was about 60 miles (100 kilometers) south of the December 26 quake which triggered devasstating tsunami waves and left an estimated 300,000 people either dwad or missing. Multiple smaller quakes followed Monday's tremors, including two others of 6.0 magnitude or higher. Both of those occurred in the early hours after the initial quake, which itself was considered an aftershock of December 26. Although many towns and villages on Nias were badly damaged, a feared tsunami did not materialize. | |
| Posted by:God Save The World |
| #13 #11 PR, go take a nap and sleep off your hangover. |
| Posted by: mom 2005-03-31 6:30:57 PM |
| #12 ex-lib, Thanks for the Two choices. ;) |
| Posted by: Simple T 2005-03-31 4:07:18 PM |
| #11 Bush and Cheney are black and white thinkers, I guess they have no brain. |
| Posted by: Poison Reverse 2005-03-31 12:08:54 PM |
| #10 All black-and-white thinkers who prefer simplistic viewpoints and couch potato reasoning: refer to response #4. Everyone else with a brain, see cingold's post #3. |
| Posted by: ex-lib 2005-03-31 11:48:25 AM |
| #9 Huh?, a Muslim risked his neck. Now, Nick Berg risked his neck. |
| Posted by: Poison Reverse 2005-03-31 11:30:15 AM |
| #8 Cingold's right. One item I noticed in this morning's paper: the island has unusual levels of religious tolerance for Indonesia. Only segregation seems to be among the corpses: morgue for Buddhists in the Buddhist temple, Christians in Santa Maria church, etc. A muslim risked his neck to recover the body of a Christian neighbor. |
| Posted by: mom 2005-03-31 10:08:31 AM |
| #7 Bad was doing a little "schiavo transferral" |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-03-31 9:27:25 AM |
| #6 Badanov: it may be that they don't care about the population in the affected area, if they're christian or revolting against the central government. |
| Posted by: Phil Fraering 2005-03-31 8:52:33 AM |
| #5 I think this is a rare opportunity to pass along our new humane methods. It sounds like these folk have lives not worth living. We should blockade it and actively deny all aid including water and food. Imagine how good we will fill when they start to die. Why they'll look posiviely angelic. |
| Posted by: badanov 2005-03-31 8:22:57 AM |
| #4 Let me oblige cingold's newly independent Indonesians by not feigning concern. Flip me off once shame on you, flip me off twice, shame on me. Let Kofi do it. |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2005-03-31 7:43:12 AM |
| #3 The recent earthquake hit Nias, an island off the coast of Banda Aceh, and to the South. These people are almost all Christians (about 95%). See, e.g., comments at this link. To be accurate, Indonesia has always emphasized that the concern about prolonged, and especially armed, aid workers had to do with the fact that Banda Aceh (where the aid happens to be needed) is a restricted war zone. See, e.g., update and recap at this link. The government has always expressed that any deadline was only a guideline, and could be modified as needed. Indonesia has been waging war against separatist Acehnese rebels for decades. Many of the rebels, but not all, are sympathetic to the islamofascists. Thankfully, the current President of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (âSBYâ), has made headway and the chances for a resolution of the separatist issues are the best ever since the conflict broke out. Peace in Banda Aceh will greatly weaken its potential usefulness to the islamofascists in the area. After multiple centuries of brutal colonial rule, Indonesia finally won independence from Western Whites in late 1949. That was just about 55 years ago. Many Indonesians, especially before the West assisted Banda Aceh after it was hit by the tsunami (12/26/04), were very leery of foreign involvement in Indonesia. That is because of the history of colonial rule, exploitation and brutality. Our help has softened those views tremendously. Imagine, if you would, a huge and devastating hurricane wiping out most of the villages and towns of Virginia and killing about half of the coastal dwelling population -- say in 1838, which was about 55 years after we won our independence. Now, imagine the British and the French (with genuine sincerity) coming in with a bunch of troops and aid workers for a prolonged period of time. We would have been a bit leery, too, even though grateful. Indonesians arenât that different. |
| Posted by: cingold 2005-03-31 3:46:52 AM |
| #2 as I recall the ingrates raised stinky over.. Christian aid workers, our Armed Service personal carrying/arms, limited contact with suffering people and locations, travel w/'Indonesia minders'...etc. |
| Posted by: thanksforthememories 2005-03-31 1:24:53 AM |
| #1 Already the UN is giving orders to people doing the work who haven't accepted their authority. What has the UN brought to the table on Nias, besides a roll of blue duct tape? |
| Posted by: Grunter 2005-03-31 1:15:38 AM |