sunshine and rope swings

1.20.2005

do something.

"Indonesia has been struggling to determine the death toll from the Dec. 26 disaster, with its ministries putting out sharply different counts.

The Health Ministry on Wednesday said 70,000 people previously listed as missing from the tsunami were now counted among the dead — which increased its total count to around 166,000.

That figure would bring the disaster's overall death toll in 11 nations around the Indian Ocean to more than 221,000.

However, the Indonesian Social Affairs Ministry puts the country's death toll at 114,978 dead. That ministry's statistic is used in The Associated Press count of 162,228 dead, based on government figures issued in all 11 nations."

-- this is horrible. and the numbers keep going up. because those listed as "missing" eventually go over to the "dead" list. can you even imagine how many people are dead? if the new indonesian figures are correct, every single female living in atlanta would not be enough to equal the death toll in asia.
so here is my point. there are people who are alive. people who lived in worse living conditions than you or i have ever seen...and that was before the tsunami. think about them now. if i could go over there and do something big and worthwhile i would ship out tomorrow. however, i don't think i have any of the skills they need right now (disaster relief, infrastructure, economic re-building, etc.). but, i can donate some $. i'm trying the $5 a week approach. each week i'm donating $5 to a different aid organization. what's $5 a week to me? a cider at a bar...4 cokes at ga state..a bag of potato chips and dip....not much. so go give your $5 for this week. you can afford it. and if you can't, you should be willing to make it happen. b/c natural disasters don't select by country status, GDP, religion, or anything else. this isn't about some 3rd world country enacting some chain of events to cause this.

jel | 11:28 AM | Comment(s) 0 comments

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