Not only did I think 15mil was pathetic, I found the lack of action by this current administration to be appalling. Only when they were put on the spot did they add more to the 15mil. Where has the president been in 4 days? His delay in making a simple statement says a lot about this current administration. With such weakened relationships around the world, Bush should have been one of the first to make a simple statement offering the true feelings of Americans, that of compassion and willingness to help. I'm sorry but his ambivilance and absence says it all.
I have been following this story closely from the beginning and have heard of Americans in Thailand having enormous trouble with the people at the American embassy. While representatives of every other country were at the airport to help their natives with passports, travel arrangements etc, American embassy contacts were in the "VIP lounge". These poor Americans who not only lost all of their belongings but loved ones were EXPECTED TO PAY FOR THEIR PASSPORT PHOTOS AND DOCUMENTS!! Most of them had nothing more than a little clothing on their backs, no money...nothing. Luckily, one couple who had escaped the tsunami with their credit cards actually paid for all the people who could not.
I am sickened by the global delay in response to this entire situation. It has been 4 days and most of the areas still do not have any relief teams at all. I understand it can take time to organize teams to cover areas as large as this. However, I assume that disaster relief teams are trained and ready within 24-48 hours minimum. Also, the lack of any military assistance from many countries even going in to evaluate and assess the situation is baffling. Why is it taking sooo bloody long to get the ball rolling on helping these people??
I am a little disturbed as well by the Indonesian government blatantly neglecting to even assess the situation in Sumatra. Why did it take 3 days for news to come forth about the most severly devastated area? I speculate that because Aceh has been struggling to become a free nation, that the Indonesian government is intentionally neglecting the entire area and delaying response to be rid of their political problem. Many survivors are likely sick and dying from lack of water, food and shelter by now.
I have been following this story closely from the beginning and have heard of Americans in Thailand having enormous trouble with the people at the American embassy. While representatives of every other country were at the airport to help their natives with passports, travel arrangements etc, American embassy contacts were in the "VIP lounge". These poor Americans who not only lost all of their belongings but loved ones were EXPECTED TO PAY FOR THEIR PASSPORT PHOTOS AND DOCUMENTS!! Most of them had nothing more than a little clothing on their backs, no money...nothing. Luckily, one couple who had escaped the tsunami with their credit cards actually paid for all the people who could not.
I am sickened by the global delay in response to this entire situation. It has been 4 days and most of the areas still do not have any relief teams at all. I understand it can take time to organize teams to cover areas as large as this. However, I assume that disaster relief teams are trained and ready within 24-48 hours minimum. Also, the lack of any military assistance from many countries even going in to evaluate and assess the situation is baffling. Why is it taking sooo bloody long to get the ball rolling on helping these people??
I am a little disturbed as well by the Indonesian government blatantly neglecting to even assess the situation in Sumatra. Why did it take 3 days for news to come forth about the most severly devastated area? I speculate that because Aceh has been struggling to become a free nation, that the Indonesian government is intentionally neglecting the entire area and delaying response to be rid of their political problem. Many survivors are likely sick and dying from lack of water, food and shelter by now.
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