Aid Pours Into Asia, Not Reaching Tsunami Victims

[Be Brave]

Thu Dec 30, 2004 11:17 AM ET

By Michael Perry

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Hundreds of tons of emergency supplies of tarpaulins, water purification systems, food and medicines poured into Asia on Thursday, but little was reaching injured, sick and hungry tsunami survivors.

Some survivors have seen no aid since the tsunami struck on Sunday due to the inaccessibility of the worst hit areas, cut off from the outside world by flooding and downed bridges, and the sheer magnitude of the disaster affecting many countries.

Aid started pouring into Indonesia only to stop at the airport due to a lack of fuel for trucks to move it.

Rescue workers were still struggling to reach some cut off areas and many have been too busy recovering the thousands of disfigured and bloated corpses to help deliver aid.

The United Nations admits only a fraction of aid is getting to where it is needed as the death toll rose above 120,000.

"We are doing very little at the moment," U.N. emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland acknowledged in New York. The United Nations estimates up to 5 million people need aid.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=7208411&src=rss/worldNews

[MessiahRp]

1. And sadly the Republicans are capitalizing on this

Because their boy again sat on his hands and stayed on vacation they are using the whole "We can't get aid to them anyways" lines to save his ass for his inactivity.

The EU has pledged $53 million so far, the World Bank is offering $250 million. We offered $15 million and another $20 million as a line of credit (which in the real world, credit usually means as a loan that has to be paid back).

So much for the richest country in the world. I hate Republicans. They can pay for endless war and say defecits don't matter so they spend and spend, but then those same assholes like Joe Scarborough goes on TV and says that the American people shouldn't have to flip the bill and that will hurt our economy.

There's a possibility that 500,000 or more people may end up dead from this and this is when those asses decide to act like fiscal conservatives.

GRRR. I really loathe them.

Rp

[Be Brave]

2. Not an excuse. In fact, US technology and engineering could have

facilitated things so that aid could go through. The army could do
engineering feats in war, why not this? Oh wait, maybe I'm asking too
much.

[SoCalDem]

3. What I have seen so far...warehouses elsewhere

are transferring their goods to warehouses THERE..

I know it's hard work, but they should be giving food and water to the people...not putting it in warehouses.. Some have been without food or fresh water for FOUR DAYS !!

It might have been kinder to have rounded up the survivors, and flown them or put them on ships and sent them to undamaged places more inland. Inland people could have been paid some money to care for these people until they had something to actually go back TO.

The horrible mess could have been cleaned up without having to expend so much energy and cost in caring for the now-homeless people.

[Be Brave]

4. Yeah, try going without food or water for four days. I also saw a report

about this in the news. Mind you these people do not seem to be bitter and yelling, "We're hungry and thirsty, where's the rest of the world to help us!" These people have incredible patience. They just accept their fate. So it's up to us to do the yelling.

[Historic NY]

5. Jeez, if we had a military available with heilcopters we could really...

be doing something to make a difference............:grr: