December 30, 2004

• Tsunami Update

  
  

   

  
  

   

  
  

   

  
  

  - Official Thai Government Casualty List

  
  

   

  
  

  I have noticed a bunch of traffic to yesterday’s post which provided a link to a running list of the injured and dead from Sunday’s tsunami which hit Thailand. If you have a friend or a loved one and want to check this list, click the link to that post which links to the site, or click here to be taken directly to the official Thai site. Once you are at the site, type in “USER” for username and “PASSWORD” for password, without the quotation marks.

  
  

   

  
  

  Also since there seems to be a lot of traffic coming from one site, if someone could tell me which one, I will link back to it so that those who regularly read my blog may be able to access relevant information at that site as well.

  
  

   

  
  

   

  
  

  - The Next UN Scandal

  
  

   

  
  

  It seems to be turning out that President Bush and a handful of other leaders have elected to work independently of the UN. This is a good idea considering the institutionalized filtration system that operates in the UN whenever money is involved. Of course the UN leaders are not delighted about this, but between direct involvement from the US, Australia, Israel, the UK and others, along with low-overhead non-profit relief agencies, something might actually get done on the ground.

  
  

   

  
  

  Well, that is if local officials allow that help to reach their people. Already reports have come out that suggest some leaders in the suffering countries, including Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Thailand might be setting things up to skim some off the top, by asking for supplies, but no doctors or other human personnel, even though local doctors and such say they are in desperate need of human relief as well as supplies. Though this doesn’t prove anything improper is destined to take place, it certainly raises my eyebrow. Given the track record of countries such as Thailand, for example (whose officials decided not to activate a tsunami alert because they feared it might discourage tourism), this could be a very real problem. Indeed one of the biggest shocks was the discovery Thai officials decided against any form of warnings for the above reason. The irony is that their decision will exact a far greater toll on their cherished tourist industry than earning the respect and trust of the tourist industry by warning of a possible tsunami. The Singapore Press quotes one official as saying,

  
  

   

  
  

  “The very important factor in making the decision was that it’s high (tourist) season and hotel rooms were nearly 100-per cent full. If we issued a warning, which would have led to evacuation, (and if nothing happened), what would happen then?

  
  

   

  
  

  Business would be instantaneously affected. It would be beyond the Meteorological Department’s ability to handle. We could go under, if (the tsunami) didn’t come,” said a source who attended the meeting.

  
  

   

  
  

  Also see Wizbang for more on this.

  
  

   

  
  

   

  
  

  I also had mentioned a few charities I know from experience and interaction have been present in the tsunami-damaged countries for many years with a well-established track record with the local population as well as with independent auditors, due to its great financial accountability and extremely low overhead.

  
  

   

  
  

  The charity I recommended last time was World Vision. I highly recommend anyone wishing to give to the relief effort investigate this group. I know several people within this organization, and they are very passionate and effective in what they do.

  
  

   

  
  

  I’m also going to recommend another organization as well this time though. Compassion International performs a slightly different function than does World Vision. Together their individual focus is indispensable. While World Vision focuses on building infrastructure and teaching the townspeople how to improve it, maintain it and so forth, Compassion is more focused on the education and welfare of children, providing both general help to children in a community and linking individual sponsors to individual children in need. As a sponsor myself, as well as a volunteer, I can also with much confidence recommend Compassion as a group that will see to it the needs are genuinely met. If you are not interested in directly sponsoring a child, you can also donate to their tsunami disaster relief fund, which will help to assist children affected by this tragedy.

  
  

   

  
  

   

  
  

  

  
  

   

  
  

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  • 11:40 pm
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