Wednesday, December 29, 2004

Tsunami

I am extremely moved and shocked by the dreadful death toll from the Massive Asian Tsunami.
Our beautiful Doctor Claire is indeed honeymooning in the Maldives.
Three weeks of carefully planned and much wanted holiday scuba diving. As yet we still have no firm confirmation that she's ok but we are hopeful as apparently everyone has been accounted for there. I still feel anxious though. Another doctor from India had a worrying time when she couldn't contact her family Boxing Day. Her baby son is over there with his Grandparents. Eventually they were all accounted for but she says a whole Island has been swept away and looks like it never existed. The news report a loss of 7000 there but she says it was a massively packed place with people and the estimations are well under. She says more like 35,000 people were there in mud huts and make shift houses. There was a huge fishing community there with a huge network of houses and streets...Now all gone.
I came home today and donated online. What else can I do for these people? I used Unicef as they're good reliable people always there to help but the Red Cross are excellent to donate to as well.
Reading the survivors accounts and appeals for the missing is heart wrenching.
Pales into insignificance the appeals like Band Aid... Although excellent. These people need our help and fast.


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