Monday, February 02, 2004
Special Links: Tsunami Help
On the 26th of December, 2004, one of the worst natural disaster in history occured. The death toll as of this writing is more than 200.000, while the number of those left injured and/or homeless number more than millions. The nations and areas affected are still struggling to get back on their feet. There may not be much that we can do for them, but please don't forget about them too soon.
Granted, I do have a vested interest since one of the areas affected is the birth island of my parents. And it is arguable that there has been too much cumulative attention given to the issue to the point that the disaster has become a mass-media commodity. But there is a point where it no longer becomes commercial enough to warrant commercial mass-media attention (and arguably that time has arrived now), and I wish to support those that still dedicate themselves to the issue despite of its un-trendiness.
There are other disasters. There are other areas needing help. This definitely does not mean much. This is also not the most I can do.
On exploring the aftermath, I have found the following sites usefull.
the SEA-EAT blog
Centralized international info blog covering the whole disaster area. These guys are still very much active, though their attention has focused mostly on the poorer areas affected (areas like Sri Lanka and Suriname if I'm not mistaken) (which is a good thing I might add), citing that enough attention has been given to Indonesia and Thailand (although I might add that not all areas of Indonesia get equal attention...).
Surf Aid International
A non-profit set-up by some surfers aiming in a sense "to give back to their favorite surfing spots." These guys are among the first to set up shop in Nias after the tsunamis struck (even before the national red cross and the US military). Before the disaster their primary focus for aid was the Mentawais, a few islands south of Nias. They maintain a (mostly) weekly update of how they're doing there.
NiasIsland.com
A community site set up by some Niasi webmasters where anyone (as far as I can tell mostly other Niasi) can post. Nias is my both my parents' birthplace.
tsunamihelp.info wiki
Managed by the editors of the SEA-EAT blog mentioned above. The site began as a Wikinews article, but after increased server activity due to the tsunami, they decided to move to their own server, to ease up the burden on the main Wikinews server, I think. Or something like that. Anyway during January the updates were still strong, but lately things have slowed down a bit. I guess people just move on...
IndonesiaHelp.org and IndonesiaHELP.blog
Two blogs set up by Indonesians. These too have slowed down their updates. Guess its better to use forums getting more hits and/or media attention...
Wikipedia
Wikipedia: Impact of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake on Indonesia. The main Wikipedia article concerning the tsunami-quake has gotten so large that the community have decided to split it into several dozen pages and turn it into a category. Another interesting sub-page is the humanitarian response page. Some have cited these Wikipedia posts as citizen journalism in action.
BBC News
Asia Quake Disaster: In Depth. One of the last major media that still keeps a daily track on the happenings surrounding the disaster areas. I've also heard somewhere in radio that Netherland's Radio Welleg Ombruch has also begun to create a weekly segment, but I haven't managed to search for their web presence yet.
this article is part of the links section of fERDI:)'s mind-Dumpster.
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But I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system, and expound the actual teachings of the great explorer of the truth, the master-builder of human happiness. No one rejects, dislikes, or avoids pleasure itself, because it is pleasure, but because those who do not know how to pursue pleasure rationally encounter consequences that are extremely painful. Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure. To take a trivial example, which of us ever undertakes laborious physical exercise, except to obtain some advantage from it? But who has any right to find fault with a man who chooses to enjoy a pleasure that has no annoying consequences, or one who avoids a pain that produces no resultant pleasure?
But I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system, and expound the actual teachings of the great explorer of the truth, the master-builder of human happiness. No one rejects, dislikes, or avoids pleasure itself, because it is pleasure, but because those who do not know how to pursue pleasure rationally encounter consequences that are extremely painful. Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure. To take a trivial example, which of us ever undertakes laborious physical exercise, except to obtain some advantage from it? But who has any right to find fault with a man who chooses to enjoy a pleasure that has no annoying consequences, or one who avoids a pain that produces no resultant pleasure?
But I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system, and expound the actual teachings of the great explorer of the truth, the master-builder of human happiness. No one rejects, dislikes, or avoids pleasure itself, because it is pleasure, but because those who do not know how to pursue pleasure rationally encounter consequences that are extremely painful. Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure. To take a trivial example, which of us ever undertakes laborious physical exercise, except to obtain some advantage from it? But who has any right to find fault with a man who chooses to enjoy a pleasure that has no annoying consequences, or one who avoids a pain that produces no resultant pleasure?
