Here is a horrific natural disaster in southern Asia. Do we have any punkers in these areas? Anyone planned to go there soon?

Asia quake death toll tops 15,000

Yikes! :huh:

my friend flew into indo. yesterday.
he lives in jakarta- he was okay- a little wet though.
i am still waiting to here from my other travel buddy (who i met in NYC), she lives in one of the places that got hit hard. :mellow:

Hey all
Well, I have 2 friends who are down in that region now they were the ones I was travelling with before I broke my leg, had I not got hurt I would have been down there in all that chaos :ph34r: I havnt herd from them in a couple of days so basicly Im really starting too shit here I hope and pray that they are alright but until I get an email from them there are gonna be a couple of sleepless nights :huh: I just hope all TP'ers go out and have a beer on all of our brothers and sisters that went through that all and hope none of us find ourselfs in a position like that or ever have too know someone thats going trough it.
will

:huh:

werd.
i checked the toll this morning, 44,000.

Hope everyones friends are OK, i also have a friend in india posably on the coast. still can't get in contact

Good Luck to anyone out there and everyone with loved-ones out there.

Firstly, I would like to send my deepest condolences to those who have been effected by this terrible state of affairs. It especially pains me when disasters like this strike in places where the native peoples already have so little – sadly it seems, disaster is always striking in theses types of places. If I could somehow will a little more disaster our way (toward America) – I would!

Now, lucky as I am – I have a trip planned to the LOS in March. I feel almost terribly guilty about it now though. I want to help – somehow. I’m sure there are plenty of people in the same boat as I am, and I just want to know how to handle this best.

I was thinking, perhaps, that the most orderly way to aid the cause would be to donate money and leave the volunteering to trained professionals – somehow I don’t quite trust the Red Cross and I’m hoping that someone can suggest a more grassroots/local (yet trusted) organization to donate to.

After falling in love with Thailand a few months ago, and in the meantime, strengthening my utter love for SEA – I’m completely crushed by the current state of devastation. Hell, I’m not even a religious person and I’ve been praying hard lately for some sort of relief to be sent their way.

What help I can offer, I am (so much more than) willing to give! I just want to do it properly and not get in the way, interfere, or otherwise slow down the efforts already in place.

If anyone has suggestions or leads which might point me in the direction of an appropriate organization, whether it be to donate my upcoming month in the country or simply to donate monetarily, please share!

Joan, I was just on another mesage board I'm part of and they were mentioning tons of aid organizations. It is best to donate to organizations that are large and established chairties usually, but there's stuff there that addresses the reputability of organizations.

Tsumani thread at Bust.

And at this point the best thing anyone can do is donate money to relief organizations if they can afford to.

I'm not sure I trust the Red Cross either (how much of that money goes to "admin" or "logistics?"), but from what I saw on various reports, the local efforts are scattershod and disorganized thus far... The most organized looking relief effort I saw coverage of was Oxfam.

Also, you can check out the Tsunami Help Blog for various volunteering and aid opportunities. Careful, though, this site is getting huger by tghe hour.

Oh, and this is a bit off the volunteering topic, but I found it very interesting:

Where are all the dead animals?

^ weird!

Joanie, I totally understand... I wish I could go over there to do something to help as well. :mellow: I decided that I'm going to give my christmas money, about 100 bucks or so, to an aid organization. I wish I could afford to give more.

i can't really afford it either, but i'm donating $100 as well.

$50 (which my company is matching) to Oxfam - and another $50 to Doctors Without Borders, they're a great organization and were one of the first to respond to this disaster.

good for you, jeanie - you're so sweet!

LISTEN PUNKS
spare some cash from your european-booze fund, and help a fellow human out!
don't be greedy! we have cars, homes, weed, beer - we can spare some cash!

hey, I'm giving to doctors without borders too! :kisscheek: great minds... :)

yep - especially in the face of disaster! :kisscheek:

I have been reading about this since I left monday morning, getting back into town its amazing that the death toll is already over 80,000 and looks to be reaching 100,000 shortly. It is just so devastatingly amazing to hear of such things. My thoughts go to those even though I can't even begin to imagine what its like.

Bless those of you donating money. Your generosity will go miles and miles. Too bad we don't have a Travelpunk fund that could help out those in need. I only hope they can get water and food there in time to prevent outbreaks of cholera and maleria. ugh. so sad. :no:

You know, I was thinking that we can put together a fund and choose amongst ourselves, a couple or organizations to donate to. It could be a couple of local organizations, in whichever countries we choose, that we feel could use a few hundred or thousands of dollars.

I can create a paypal account for it and when it reaches a certain amount, or on a certain day, we'll electronically send it over.

Anyone up for it? Please let me know what you think. Thanks!

I had a friend and her husband in Indo...have not heard from them yet...

I think that is a great idea Tony.... I can't offer too much right now, but if we could get a few hundred members to even put $5 or $10 in that would be great. :thumbup:

If you set it up I got some money in a paypal account I can send over.

I'll participate Tony.

Even for those who cannot afford to donate money, clothes and shoes/sandals are very much in need as well.

I'll see if I can find some more info on that....

$100 is about all i can spare at the moment - but i would totally be into a clothing drive of sorts. if you find any info on organizations to send collected items too, ray - let us (me?) know.

this is so fucked up, guys.