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If you have any access to the Internet and see this post from the quake area Please let us know if you are OK...
"No Active" is the default in Foo.
I just thought perhaps this enormous disaster warranted perhaps active status.
From memory the Friday Word Games do.
But checking on Google News, any search for Australia brings on cricket news and other sporting news. So tried Australia Earthquake alert and still no news. I wonder if the earthquake there is going to cause a tsunami here and we are all alerted and waiting, there must atleast be a rudimentary report on it in Australia, but i cant seem to find it.
And some other news agencies are reporting that Andaman & Nicobar Islands is the place of the impending earthquake.
And people are being evacuated even as i write here. But somehow i feel that this is a dud.
No other place/country outside India is collabrating with the story.
People living within two kms of the coastline in Tamil Nadu, Andaman and Nicobar, Kerala, Pondicherry, Andhra Pradesh and Lakshadweep have been asked to move to safer places in the interiors. The central alert said a number of foreign experts were suggesting that another tsunami may hit the Indian Ocean today afternoon in the event of an earthquake of high intensity which may occur near Australian region.
I am 1 of the 1s planning a trip across SE Asia and beyond over the next few months.
My plans at the moment are still to go ...
Shak
Our friends were saved but I feel strongly for the 200 of my coyntrymen, over 2000 swedes and many, many others who are still missing and of course the tens of thousands who have lost their lives and their families.
Well done Google.
But....
I tried the first link (Red Cross via Amazon). They wanted my email address to open an account so I provided it. But, no, that email address was already used in the past so I have to provide my other account details which I don't know. OK, so they offer to send it to me if I provide them with my email address and the last five digits of the card I last used with them. Heck, I've got over 10 cards, I can't remember which one I used. So they want me to open a new account. I can't be bothered. There must be another charity that makes it easier.
I go back to the Google page and pick Save the Children. They want my postal address etc. Fair enough. Being in the UK I don't have a "state" and their drop down menu requires a state. It is a cumpulsory field. I can't be bothered choosing something unusual like "International Armed Forces" from their drop down menu so I leave.
I return to Google to try another one... and another. It takes me half an hour to finally make a payment. Would everyone have the time in their lunch break?
Suggestion: A small box in Adsense where we can type in an amount and have Google send the money directly may prove to be very succesful. To get around legal implications of collecting for a charity it could perhaps be a Redcross Paypal account that we authorise Google to make payment to.
(But do still keep the link on your home page - others may have less trouble than I did)
I spent some time awhile back in Phuket with a family there. I lost touch with them a few years ago and I regret so now. I hope that they are all okay but their home was relativly close to the shore...
I did not think that a disaster of this magnitude was possible in the modern world with all of our warning systems and technology. I will never doubt the power of Mother Nature ever again.
Anyhoo, anybody know of any charities using Paypal (non-religious, preferrably).
Thanks!
Red Cross: [redcross.org...]
Unicef: [unicef.org...]
I'd also like to be able to donate anonymously as I feel my donations are diminished when they send all the junk mail solicitations.
Ebay is mentioning a few for this disaster:
[pages.ebay.com...]
[google.com...]
In fact, the one we donated thru uses WorldPay.
You can light a candle in memory of the victims (although it does not seem to be compatible with FireFox).
You can light a candle in memory of the victims (although it does not seem to be compatible with FireFox).
My five year old daughter donated her christmas money, making me a very proud father. Good life lesson for her, to show she can make a difference even on the other side of the planet.
PayPal will waive all fees in relation to the donation, so that UNICEF will receive 100% of the amount you donate.
-B
According to TV News sources this morning, many regions have had little, if any, relief trickling in. That's not too surprising given the logistics of it all.
News reports also speak of folk’s just blocks inland from the disaster areas who, in all outward appearances, are not phased by the death and destruction so close, will serve to diminish the inflow of funds as well. I realize that 'life goes on', but this one has me stunned. Maybe I was expecting throngs of local peoples rushing to assist.
With the notoriety this event has taken on, I doubt there is any need to link to any charity organization. In fact, MSNTV mentioned yesterday NOT to link and if you are donating to beware the differences when clicking links to make donations thru. Such to say, donate only thru secure HTTPS servers and NOT to donate ANYTHING thru an ordinary HTTP route.
Also, it seems the Bloging Community is the real Internet story to come from all this. I've seen numberous individuals ( various networks ) discussing the depth to which the blogging community has gone to provide almost any assistance they could and are right in the middle of it all.
Hats off to the blogs involved for having the strength to see the potential and for excercising that strenth so well.
Turns out I was having to process credit card donations from the public, on the go for 7 hours non stop with at least a further 20 other people doing the same with still no end in sight.
people were giving £50 - £100 a time with two donations of £1000 and £2000 a pop.
I reckon I must have put through around £14500 myself today with the others doing about the same which is a touch under £300K a day, mega money.
Really brings it home to you about humanity being just one family.
People you've never met in places youve never heard of are being given life saving help from people in all walks of life thousands of miles away.
All of whom couldnt be more diffrent than them and who are not rich and will go without to help.
From the City types to the pensioner offering a £5 it made me (even more) proud to be English.
(Nooooooo I sound like a Guardian reporter (Sharp intake of breath) )
"Tsunami Relief
We urge you to make a donation to this fund to help the survivors of this major catastrophe.
[dec.org.uk...]
Please consider doing this on your sites, especially if you have high traffic. This will encourage people to donate by making it easy for them to do so. "
[edited by: lawman at 12:45 pm (utc) on Jan. 2, 2005]
From the City types to the pensioner offering a £5 it made me (even more) proud to be English.
In the UK, Scotland is putting it's usual generous percentage into this too but this is not about individual nations, it's about the World community responding as a whole.
[book-worm.org...]
No offence meant.
With the notoriety this event has taken on, I doubt there is any need to link to any charity organization. In fact, MSNTV mentioned yesterday NOT to link and if you are donating to beware the differences when clicking links to make donations thru.
Do you have the link for that MSNTV article pedanticist? I can see that linking is probably redundant as they're mentioning places to donate on TV all the time, and some of the sites have suffered outages as a result. But I'd like to see their reasons for suggesting we don't link at all.
