Asia Quake

[hobbes]

Don't be so certain. There'll always be places with vermin that can spread that kind of thing. And old people and small children with weak immune defenses to die from it. People still die from the common cold ffs.

But it'd never spread the the way it did, and even in an isolated community, in the third world or somesuch where it could spread, people would have gotten out of it better than in those days.

But someone had prolly died.

Yes, well that is all a matter of finances, not the helpless slaughtering of the human race. Today we have antibiotics which eliminate the plague, no problem.

I was trying to make a point about what Jonno said.

Old people die of a stinky farts.

[dudevenezuela]

Any website about Tsunamis and how they begin etc ?

[TheKiler]

Yes, Tsunamis are created by earthquakes generating large waves. Or am I mistaking it witha water tornado..

Anyways, the one that will hit the eastern sea border of USA would be a land slide tsumnami, it's 100x stronger. What happens is a land slide occurrs and the water splits and generates an ENOURMOUS wave.

[spinningfreemanny]

Well, people have been on the east coast for awhile now, why has is not happened yet? maybe just cause it's "due".

If I were to bet, though, I would say it won't happen in my lifetime; and I would not give it another thought.

Then again, I live in Arizona

[cpt_azad]

damn, i'm still watching the news reports, so far 12,000 est. dead, 9.0 on scale, geez. wish i could help out, but i have no $$$ right now can't wait to get into the military and do my part.

[TheKiler]

Yes, I feel sorry for the many whom died.

BTW, eastern border mayhem won't happen for many years. So don't worry bout it

[cpt_azad]

western border? i heard a million times that vancouver is screwed cuz they've been talkin about that "huge one" that's gonna hit "anytime" for the last 10 years now, geez.

[TheDave]

Hmmm I suspect the many thousands affected by this disaster might beg to differ. By dint of this reasoning one would never report any disaster.

what i mean is they're not stopping to say that only a small fraction of the people on the coastlines we're killed. by the way it's being reported i'd presume any relatives out there are dead, but if you really think about it 1 in several thousand died

[cpt_azad]

yes you have a good point. no do you realize the power of media.

[Maxtor2]

Hobbes is quite right. Outside the western world, rather little is done to save lives, with the exception of for people who are in power.

Take Ethiopia as an example. Every few years, the western half of the country starves because there was a minor drought, and all the crops died. The western half of Ethiopia, on the other hand, has a surplus of food. The difference in crop production is caused by a mountain range that divides the nation; the mountains prevent moisture from reaching the eastern half of the country and, therefore, prevent rainfall in that half of the country.
Because of the excess of food, Ethiopia is capable of feeding its own people, if it is willing to transport the food. However, transportation costs money, and the rulers of Ethiopia prefer to let a few thousand people die and dominate the headlines in the West, so the West sends free food to the starving people, and the government of Ethiopia doesn't have to pay anything.

Similar can be said for many other parts of Africa. Mexico is not worthy of praise, either, as its government is disgustingly corrupt. To be honest, much of statecraft in the third world is knowing who to kill and when to kill them.

America, on the other hand, has a misguided belief that technology can prevent every death. And, we are willing to spend incredible amounts of money to try to prove it.

John L. Obscene, if the money is provided for the warning systems, it is uncertain that the systems will be put in place. If the US, or any other country, tries to provide the money needed, that money would go directly to the government of whatever country we choose to help. That government may have no interest in protecting the lives of its citizens. As they see it; the more citizens die, the fewer people there are to revolt. The only reasons they haven't killed tons of their own citizens are: 1; it's a hassle and can make people resent the government, therefore making them prone to rebellion, and 2; someone would tell the Western media, which may flock to the story, and Western nations would threaten to destroy the murdering government.
Additionally, disasters like this can force Western governments to send millions or billions in aid to the affected countries, and the governments simply absorb that aid money without any intention of helping a single citizen. Western governments know this, but the send the money because the Western populace feels sympathy for whatever country is hit by a disaster, and politicians find that they can get a few easy votes by sending aid to the country that was hit. The Western populace, as a whole, never bothers to see where that money really goes, and they really don't care.
Mind you, I'm speaking about a general type of statecraft that is often used; I honestly know little about the specific countries that were affected by the earthquake and tsunami. This type of statecraft is used in many parts of Africa, and I believe also in some parts of southeast Asia (plus North Korea, of course), but it takes more time than I've had recently to determine the thought process of the nations that were hit by the tsunami. In the case of Sri Lanka, the government has already requested international aid. It should be noted, however, that Sri Lanka is still going through a civil war (very bloody, in fact), and the government doesn't really have any resources in the first place.
India has the ability to recover on its own, as the Indian government is fairly competent and has some resources, though it would naturally appreciate foreign aid (and use the aid well). Sri Lanka, on the other hand, has been destroyed so much by civil war that I am unsure if they have much to recover to – there may not be much to rebuild because little was built in the first place.