Asian Earthquake and Tsunami

[Karthik]

As many of you may have heard, there was massive earthquake of the coast of Indonesia which spawned a Tsunami. Over 20,000 people are dead and over 250,000 are homeless in 10 countries.

CNN report on the quake

I have many family members who live in Madras, India, one of the worst hit cities. Luckily they are all safe, but the same cannot be said for many of their friends.

For those who are interested in helping, here's a list of international aid organizations who are taking donations to help with the rescue and relief operation.

Aid groups accepting donations for victims

As always, the American Red Cross is always looking for donations as well.

www.redcross.org

Thanks.

[Will Hanashiro]

its a tragedy isn't it? i couldn't formulate any thought after i first read that article... as my mind kinda went numb. i have a close friend from school who lost his grandparents in India.

please if you haven't done so already, read up on what happened, the CNN article is good, and there are plenty of other articles everywhere right now. ALSO, if you can, lets lend a helping hand... they're asking for basically the basics right now (not just money), such as CLOTHES and CANNED GOODS.

thanks Karthik for bringing up this recent happening.

[Bharat Nain]

Madras is my home town, and I know over 100 people over there. As of yet, I havent heard from all of them, but all I can do is pray for their[and the people affected by this tragedy] well-being. Some of them lived by the sea, and no news from them yet.

[Ashley Weed]

I have been following the BBC news, etc. from the very beginning. All of it is unbelievably tragic. My prayers and wishes out to all of you, and all of those many miles away from us here.

[Joshua May]

This is a terrible tragedy. As of yet, the confirmed death toll is 44,000, completely aweful.

[Karthik1]

I am from further north Hyderabad, but I have friends and some relatives that live in Madras. I have been there a few times, I will never forget that place.

This is a time when we need to come together and help our brothers and sisters in south east Asia.

[Erin Rapacki]

My Uncle, Aunt, and cousin live in Bangkok (my Uncle manages a chemical plant over there). They had planned on going to Phuket for New Years.

I'm really glad the earthquake didn't happen only a few days later

[Elgin Clock]

Now would be a good time to release a water purification system to fight the disease that will soon come with the destruction and devastation the Earthquake/Tsunami caused the water utilities in the countries affected..

<hint hint>

Slingshot...

[David Kelly]

A couple of my co-workers I deal with on a daily basis are stationed in both Thailand and Malaysia. I don't return to work until 3 Jan, 2005 and I haven't heard from them or any of my immediate co-workers in Indy.

We can only hope and pray for the best.

Dean Kamen should send over that invention that purifies water and generates electricity. It would seem to be the best time to launch his product and gain world recognition.

PS. Does anyone know Dean kamen's email addy?

[vijay24]

I also have relatives in Madras, luckily they are alright. The death toll is horrible, but what is really scary is the hundreds of thousands (at the least) of displaced fisherman who lost their means of feeding their families. A lot of organizations are working to provide tamilian fisherman who survived with boats. Perhaps consider these organizations when donating money. When I get more info on such groups, I'll post.

[Katie Reynolds]

Originally Posted by plutonium83

...
PS. Does anyone know Dean kamen's email addy?

From: http://www.dekaresearch.com/contact.html#dean

How do I contact Dean Kamen directly?
Unfortunately you cannot contact Dean directly. His schedule makes it mpossible for him to read or respond personally to all the correspondence he receives. If you have a question, please send an email to contact@dekaresearch.com and we will forward your message either to him or the appropriate person here at DEKA. Bear in mind that we can’t make any promises regarding confidentiality of e-mail messages or letters.

[Franchesca]

I have been following this quite closely and the one thing that has stricken me the most is to know that nearly 30% (or at least that was the statistics yesterday) of the causalities have been children. It is indescribably heart-braking to see so many little ones dead and to see parents mourn their children.

I have been reading up articles online and the first thing I go to are the pictures, to me ... a picture truly says a 1000 words. And the pictures that have been taken from this tragedy are so impacting that you don't need to read up on the story to know how terrible this has been.

My mother was just mentioning to me today that we needed to get some basic stuff together and take it to the red cross. I hope that we can all come to the aid of our fellow humans and contribute in some way.

I hope that those who have family and friends in the affected area can hear from them soon. My best wishes and hopes go out to those of you who are still waiting to hear from loved ones.

Enclosed: some chilling pictures of this event.

**Warning: Do NOT view if this situation is too emotionally strong for you**

Photographs of the aftermath.

[Elgin Clock]

Originally Posted by Elgin Clock

Now would be a good time to release a water purification system to fight the disease that will soon come with the destruction and devastation the Earthquake/Tsunami caused the water utilities in the countries affected..

<hint hint>

Slingshot...

Oh no.. the session expired..
Anyways, it was basically.. this

Originally Posted by Trademark Website

Word MarkSLINGSHOT
...
Goods and Services Water sanitation apparatus and parts, namely water distillation units, water purification units, and water filtration units, water treatment equipment, water demineralization units, water softening units, for producing potable water for domestic, medical and industrial uses; associated generators, namely, powers generators required to operate such sanitation apparatus as an integral unit; and control systems, namely, interactively communicating machinery and programs, monitoring machinery and programs, diagnostic machinery and programs, and electrical machinery and programs, required to operate such sanitation apparatus as an integral unit
...
Owner(APPLICANT) DEKA Research & Development Corp. CORPORATION NEW HAMPSHIRE 340 Commercial Street Manchester NEW HAMPSHIRE 03101

So.. yeah, that's what I was thinking.. But then again.. product testing and what not is a long process, and it may not be ready yet.

Originally Posted by plutonium83

Dean Kamen should send over that invention that purifies water and generates electricity. It would seem to be the best time to launch his product and gain world recognition.

PS. Does anyone know Dean kamen's email addy?

Not e-mail address, but home phone number... (unconfirmed of course.. )

[Joshua May]

WOW, the death toll has just jumped to 120,000 according to CNN with 80,000 in Indonesia alone.