After what I've seen today on TV, my heart just breaks and I find myself in tears. This is just horrible. One hour would have saved more than half the people killed. It's awful.

Cindy

Your link to some video is dead or redirected to avoid the "slashdot" effect .... http://media.militaryphotos.net/tsunami/

Well, thank God, the fellow in that wave (photo, here) survived...some guy on a porch nearby grabbed the guy in the wave and lifted him to safety.

News and videos - http://www.jiwa-merdeka.net

I've been rounding up a bunch of video and photos of the actual wave itself and posting them on .:DataWhat?:.

Can't they swim?

I agree with matt, it's rediculous that they al died from drowning. GET SOME WATER WINGS OU LOSERS!

CANT THOSE SKINNY LITTLE ASIANS SWIM CHRIST FUCKING GUCS!IM TIRED! SUCK MY DICK ASIAN WHORE!I KILL MORE KITTENS MASTURBATING THEN YOU SHORT QUEERS!RAWR!Ill tap ASIAN MAN ASSHOLE LIKE A KEG RAR BEASTMAN RAWARR!GIVE ME MY NEEDLE CACK BACK NOW FUVK YOU I WANT A BJ WHORe!

WHATS SO HARD ABOUT SWIMMING I AGREE WITH STEVEN MY ASSHOLE BUDDY (HE HAS A PUNCTURED ASSHOLELOLS)
BUY SOME WATER WINGS OR HAVE MY MOM BUY THEM CAUSE IM GHETTO GS COME HERE STEVEN AND OPEN WIDE!i STILL WANT A bj ASIAN HOOKERS ILL HAVE MY MOM PAY!

-MATT PALMER "NEEDLE CACK PACKED FUDGE" BROWN

ASIAN wHORE i SAid NOW!MOM BRING ME MY DOEIRTARS

What the problem with Matt Plamer & Scrawny Chinkerts ? There were lot of people died on that day ..... You still can give such comment ? I want to see you swim there if you can..... You sure fuvking drown also man. God bless you !

The people who posted comments about "why can't they swim" are both ignorant and stupid. Nothing more needs to be said.

of course they can swim... freakin A they're surrounded by water... the prob is the strength of the current! havent you heard from all those wilderness guys in AMERICA that only 3 feet of water going fast enough can knock you sideways in millisecond... dood how the hell do you swim against that? you should tell all thsoe ppl who fall into canals that they should have swam as well, wasting those rescuers' time and see what reaction you get...

try swmming with a 33ft wave hitting you with the force of a moving train. Ignorant little bastards. Fools like you make Osama justified in his actions

Bastards, let me see you swim against a water with a current strong enough to carry cars. Dumbheads.

Well lets get this thing straight? We should help as much as possible? give give give? O i see lets help out these musliums so that they live to kill us later...ya thats the right thing to do who can argue against that!
get your heads out of your ass fellow americans.
the muslium religion calls for anyone not muslium to be slain plain and simple- if you don't believe me just read the kuran. i've read some of it.
believe me if the situation was reversed see who would come to our aid! ya there are a few countries out there that would help. but that is strictly for show..after all they know were there bread is buttered.

To Just Me,

sorry for the off topic, what verse of kuran you read until gave you such perspective ?

To Dollah and ALL,

Check out prophetofdoom.net

Anybody who can read can understand from the koran that there is no middle ground for "Allah" - you either believe whatever the lone prophet Mohammed says Allah said, or you must die. This is no religion of peace; it is a cluster of situational ethics that allow its followers to lie and kill in the manner of attaining any goal by any means.
What has "Allah" or Islam ever done for anyone or any country? Let's see the proof! Just like socialism and communism, wherever Islam prevails, people are enslaved, poor, or worse, killed by the so called "clerics" who are unwilling to martyr themselves. Their sheep do that for them; if a harem of virgins is waiting, the leaders should be the first ones to strap on the sticks. And the muslim masses should be celebrating whenever one blows themselves up if they really believe what Mohammed said. But they don't and they won't. What a joke!
I have friends who are muslim, that I love, but this going-through-the-motions belief system and these "clerics" that instigate hate ruin life for many. There is no joy in Islam - it is a dead end.

Dear Just Me,

Prophetofdoom.net, theQuran.com and several other such web sites are Completely misleading and simply a back-twist of mind. I have been surfing thru islamic web-sites and 75% of the web-sites i have seen contain gibberish in the name of Islam.
I feel sorry to see western media painting ridiculously-biased picture of Muslims and Islam and intentionally creating hatred.

No need to start an argument over this. I respect yr opinion. But please do make sure that u have seen all sides of the picture (read the Whole Quran in a Proper mosque) before formulating an opinion.

From History: Islam in South Asia prevailed not because of the Sword but because of the Love and Kindness of the Sufis and Saints who travelled from Arab to this region. I am not a regular visitor of this website, wont come back again, but u can save my words and find references if u r really interested in gaining un-biased knowledge of the religion.

Laslty Sir, Jews, Christians and Muslims, v all believe in the Same God. As far as yr point of Islam-spreading-hatred is concerned, well,unfortunately, this is not true. Muslims can marry Christian (Refer: Quran & Hadiths). Under Muslim regime, minorities in South Asia, Middle East and Europe (under Muslim Rule) used to live in peace. There is so much to clarify, so much to tell, but i doubt u'll be willing to listen.

Anyways, have loads of work to do and yr mail has already frustrated me. Y do u guyz hate clerics so much? how many clerics do u know personally? Cant u ppl simply shut off the TV, the shit-filled newspapers and bogus websites and meet the muslims personally, have sum chat and get an unbiased opinion? ....
anyways ... God Bless u and guide u to the rite path. byez

When they told me amercians are ignorant lots,i didnt buy it.After visitin this blog on asians died cos they dont know swimmin...most of the people killed were fishermen..and educated(hopefully) fool like you cant understand what a tsunami means...all u can do is watch WWF and fondle yourself.

dear stupid "just me" and friends...
do you know how many people from usa died there...?

About swim capabilites in Sri Lanka.
It's true that most of the local population over there indeed can't swim. That's because the ocean is very turbulent so it's nearly impossible to swim even on a calm day. Tourists that came there swim in pools which poor locals can't access of course.

This is one sad, embarrassing set of comments.

When I read the comments from certain americans here it makes me understand why most of the planet hates you people. How can you talk about people dying the way you do? The only good thing about Osama Bin Laden is that at least the threat of being killed abroad keeps trash like you safe at home in the USA and away from the rest of us.

To the people who say "Why didn't the people just swim away?", as well as to the people who say "Those people are just fools!" :-)

I was in Hawaii in 2003, and while on the beach - a "small" 5 foot or so (I guess?) wave came to where I was - and broke right there... Let me assure you I swim *VERY* well - yet this wave (which seperated me and my wife for about 20 seconds) was *so strong* it pushed me INTO the sand on the beach floor - and KEPT me there for a good 40 seconds. I was only in an area that is knee deep or so in water.

I was completely and totally helpless - like someone was pushing me into the sand.

When I first saw this wave coming - I told my wife Joanne to run - because we both knew it was quite larger than the other waves, and it seemed to be moving faster. You just cannot outrun it... and this was a small wave by comparison - tiny even.

Bottom line, we were both ok, and I had sand all over my face (and eyes ugh) for the whole day.

That is on a measly 5 foot wave... Imagine a 30 foot wave - slamming into shore at much much higher speed - and you honestly think you can swim against that? The current of the wave would be enough to push you down and keep you down until you were dead - simple as that.

BTW: For those who say "These idiots! Dont they realize that the water was too strong to swim against?"

Keep in mind that most news organizations (cnn etc) show 'milder' videos of the disaster - which do not capture the raw enormous power of these waves which struck.

I hope that we can make more donation as can as posible. Please help the victim, everyone want to be perfect but no one is perfect. We cannot predict that thing. We hope all people over the world must have awareness about the bad thing that we don't know when and where it can be happen anytime.

Asia’s tsunami death toll soared above 126,000 on Friday as millions struggled to find food and clean water and persistent rumours of new giant waves sent many fleeing inland in panic.
400,000 terkorban --

Tiada tanda-tanda kehidupan di beberapa penempatan di Acheh

Jumlah korban di Acheh, wilayah yang paling dahsyat terjejas akibat bencana gempa bumi dan ombak besar tsunami Ahad lepas, dipercayai boleh mencecah 400,000 orang - lapan kali ganda daripada perangkaan yang diperoleh sekarang.

To the racists who are making swim comments....it's called SWIFTWATER...you(yes, even white America) cannot swim out of it!

And i agree with friends who are embarassed of some of our ol' USA peeps with idiot comments like this.

Most people in Europe didn't understand the re-election of G.W.Bush - reading the anti-muslim and "can't-swim"-comments here makes it a lot easier to grasp.
Thanks for the insight
Good luck for 2005

PLEASE, SHOW SOME RESPECT TO THE HUMAN RACE, WHERE OBVIOUSLY YOU GUYS DO NOT BELONG. IF YOU THINK THIS IS FUNNY, WHY DON'T YOU GROW UP AND TRY TO ENJOY UR LIVES INSTEAD OF WRITING DOWN SO MUCH GARBAGE???? U R PROBABLY KIDS, NO IDEA ABOUT ANYTHING, AND MOMMY IS CALLING YOU FOR DINNER, RIGHT??? YOU DESERVE YOUR GOVERNMENT. ACTUALLY I WISH U WERE THERE TO SWIMM UR WAY OUT. GET REAL. GROW UP. STOP BEING A POO POO HEAD!!!!!!!!!!!

Sven,

Stick to the issue. 120k dead and rising. I think it best to spend our energy and thoughts on how to help. Wether it be a small donation or prayer. Anything helps.

The idiot comments made by the "can't they swim?" guys were meant to get people, like you, worked up. If you waste your time on that, then you've give them exactly what they want: YOUR ATTENTION. If you insult an entire country based on the comments of two or three people, then your ignorance is no less then theirs. Remember that every country has its heroes and fools. Germany is no different. Look to the history books... you will find that Germany has had it share of fools as well. Just ask the Jewish people about it and they will name a few.

I mean, if it were just one or two knuckleheads I wouldn't give them the attention they desire. But this is a sizable minority on this thread, spewing the most hateful, heartless ignorant garbage I can imagine.

Jeezm pete's! Happy freakin' New Year!

Vincit, my dear friend,
that Germany had – and still has – it’s share of idiots and scumbags is definitely undisputed (well... at least by some *g*) but – as you might have noticed – it wasn’t Germans who posted these little wisdoms about asian whores, short queers and christian-slaying-muslim-monsters and so it seems a little far fetched to respond with an attack against dumbheads in any other country or even the universal dumbhead as such, wouldn’t it?

...apart from that: Praying instead of paying attention might be at least part of the problem.
Thumbs up for a better 2005
Outta here
S.
:)

Happy New Year to everyone. Keep your thoughts and prayers where they belong, and concentrate on what matters. Try not to let mindless children who would make the above comments get you. Sounds to me like a cry for attention that needs to be ignored. Hope everyone has a safe night tonight and is careful driving home.
Bye

The stupid comments made above were...

1) all from the same person. Look how closely they were time stamped. 2 or 3 minutes apart. I bet the person in charge of this board will find that they are posted from the same ip address.

2)probably not American. Who knows, probably some silly terrorist supporter who thought he could make more people hate Americans by posting this. Too bad he failed.

Not all of us Americans are like the bozos who posted the comments about not knowing how to swim - most of us, including me, are deeply saddened by the events in Asia, and are looking for many ways to help. Don't judge all Americans by the comments of a few.

First, responding to the attack on Islam.

Listen up. Islam is not a religion of warfare, jihad, or violence - it is a religion of peace, and is almost identical to Judaism and Christianity (With exceptions, such as we believe in Jesus and Jewish people do not (I could be wrong about this? I mean no offense if I am). But though we believe in him, we do not think he is the SON of God, which shows the difference between Islam and Christianity). The media and ignorant politicians have given Islam a bad name, as Islam is easy to blame.

Aside from the mass executions, is this not similar to the Holocaust? Was not Hitler blaming Judaism?

Anyway, now to the commonly misinterpreted thought that Muslims are ordered to kill non-Muslims. That is totally false. Muslims are instructed to live in harmony with their neighbors, peacefully, no matter what religion they are - Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, or if they are Athiest.

Also, another misconception. Muslims believe in the same God that Christians and Jews believe in. "Allah" is Arabic for "God". It doesnt change the substance behind the title.

Relating to the Osama Bin-Laden attacks of 9/11, and other recent terrorist attacks that have been executed within recent years. In NO WAY are these attacks endorsed by Muslims. One who kills others, or more importantly, one who kills himself (suicide) is not a Muslim. It is taught that if you kill yourself, then you are personally disrespecting God (I am fairly certain that this is taught within Christianity and Judaism), because you are destroying one of his creations - yourself. Now, because of this, you may question Jihad, or "Holy War" (Which in fact is an inaccurate definition - Jihad simply means "struggle"). In the time of the prohpet Muhammad (pbuh), it was necessary to spread God's word through warfare (and defense, such as the prophet meeting the king of Mecca in battle to defend the city of Medina, and then to take the city of Mecca). But who can soley blame Islam? Were not Christians part of the Crusades as well? Isnt that fighting?

One may come up with the response that Christians were fighting for their beliefs. But weren't Muslims?

To the person who said that Americans should not aid the countries who were hit because they are Muslim. First, I dont think Thailand, Sri Lanka, and India (Even though it has a large Muslim population) are Muslim countries. By suggesting to not send aid, you are inadvertently condemning people to death. Second, I am appalled and disgusted at your racism. Just because a group of people are of a different religion and culture, you shun them in their time of need? Have you no shame, no morals, no sense of human emotion? How can you be so heartless?

Well, I fear this post is too long, so I will end it here. I am sorry that I strayed off topic, but I couldnt help it - after seeing Islam attacked, I felt that I had to do something. I am sure most of you would do the same if your religions were attacked, whatever they are.

Thank you for reading this.

Most americans are saddened about all the deaths.....All over the united states there are people gathering aid for all the victoms. There will be TONS of supplies and food sent to the disaster areas!!

Sheesh, ignore the trolls already! Why even respond? You're just falling for their bait. There are real problems to deal with out there.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&oi=defmore&q=define:troll

Most of the completely ignorant comments made on this page were made by a bunch of snotty nosed boneheads who think a snack is a damn booger. And one can tell that most of the cruel comments were made by idiots who couldn't even fathom spelling the wave's name that caused such destruction. By the way, I almost drowned in approximately 3 feet of water when I tried to reach a sandbar during a particularly rough day in Florida. No, I didn't have any floaties and I floated with the current until I was able to move laterally again. However, I didn't have to contend with any debris - including trees, cars, chairs, bodies, etc. Watching several videos of the wave - which I assure you are pretty tame compared to the reported 500 MPH 3-story variety. You'd have to be one hell of an informed amateur photographer to catch that bastard.

one day it may happen again, maybe this time the eastern seaboard of the usa will get hit, or the west coast, lets see what happens then when the tsunami batters the US, can they swim out of it then? will relief reach them quicker? i don't know what anyone knows about this, but i heard that the US sent a message to Hong Kong stating that it had detected a major earthquake under the sea in the indian ocean, but the Hong Kong centre failed to relay that information to the indian ocean countries, I know it couldn't have saved all, but it could have saved some, and some would have been better than none. i don't think we can just blame mother nature for this one, humans have to learn to live with nature, we have to take some responsibilty too. Those countries thought they were safe and didn't need any tsunami warning system, but we all know after 911 and this now that ppl can be deceived from this belief that they are safe. Disaster can strike at anytime in any place.

It is sick to post those comments about people that even if thay could swim,did not made it.You stupid idiods don't you have a brain to see that how the hell can you swim in that strong flowing water.I just want to say that even if you are a American or Muslim it can happen to anybody and my thoughts go out to all the people who lost someone.Last word for those brainless people,how will you feel if it happens to you and you lose somebody close to you. AG SHAME.

Dont get so upset at these people. You can not blame someone for being un-educated. Most people have no clue about the strength and force of water unless they have experienced something similar in the past.
I was clinging for my life holding on to a barbed wire fence when I was a kid. The creek I was in went from a foot deep by 5 feet wide to a raging monster 5 feet deep and 50 feet wide. And that was just a stupid little creek.

The photos and videos that I have seen in the past week tell me that the death toll will climb to 250,000 people. I bet another 50,000 are lost to various sickness.

Over 3.000 Swedes then could not swim then also.
I can not believe this, people in Asia, human beings are going thru something so terrible it is beyond anything imagineable.
We Swedes does not only moan over our losses, we moan over every lost person in this disaster.
How can ANYONE (??!!) talk about swiming? The kids who where so small they could not swim. what about them?
I have now words over for anyone who can speak in that manner.
Send money for AID!!
BRGDS from a Swede

Finnish tv just showed some amateur clips whitch are much more better(horrible)than clips here.

Go to swinm in Niagara falls if its so easy...

Are all surfers as ignorant as you?

Why is the United States sending relief to two countries (Sri Lanka and India) who together make up 1.1 billion people who hate America? Remember Africa and how they thanked the world for relief? They gave the world AIDS. I say let Darwin's "Law of Natural Selection" dictate who survives and who doesn't. The Earth now sustains well over 6 billion people and it is quickly approaching a breaking point of anarchy or ecological disaster which can be detrimental to all life on Earth. This is why disease, famine, war, and natural catastrophies such as the recent Tsunami are necessary. Do not get me wrong. I do feel for these people however I feel more for what is best for humankind and mothership Earth as a whole. I am looking at the big picture.

The good part to all this is that the world is responding to the disaster. In Aceh people are distributing supplies in spite of the inept government beauracracy. I don't think religion or politics has anything to do with human beings responding to the suffering of other human beings.
As to the negativity posted by those kids: let it go. They don't understand cause and effect and by their ignorant actions create suffering for themselves.
I am an American and I surf on the west coast( nothing bigger than 4 meters any more). The power of the wave has as much to do with it's width( the distance from the trough behind through the crest to the trough in front ) as with the height, So a 3 foot wave that is 30 feet thick is much more powerful than a 10 ft wave that is 6 ft thick. Imagine how thick the tsunami was, a mile maybe?
If you haven;t donated already and can afford to do so , the Apple home page has links to many organizations that are helping the victims.
Happy New Year to all you fortunate ones.

juste launch a tsunami news center in french. Need translaters.
email the link: http://www.tsunamiasie.com to people who can translate from french or to french language

post your news or preferred links on the tsunami, we'll post on our blog...
thanks! :o)

Reading this fills me with grief for the western world. Such callous and un-informed ignorant comments. 100+ K people are dead. Most have nothing to do with hating the west or the USA for that matter. They are jus regular poor people who try to live their lives.
So "can't swim" / "why help" easy to say in your cosy ignorance. I would like to see those people suff half as much as this and see them quiver in fear.

Ignorance kills

Can you not track the IP's of the Americans who have written the disgusting comments during this blog thread. I am sure that if you report them to them to their ISP's (you can get that info from www.samspade.org), with their messages, then there would be good grounds for further action. They are filth, who make Osama seem like a nice guy in comparison.

If you ever lived in a tourist area you probably grew to dislike em,,,, but these tourists take the cake. Apparently they got bored and managed to ignore what was happening, so the town put up a sign which they promptly ignored. Hey I know you just lost everything in your lives, but this vacation sucks---- now get me a damn pina-colada. Unbelievableeeee !!!!
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?g=events/ts/122604indonesiaquake&a=&tmpl=sl&ns=0&l=1&e=6&t=&prev=7

Oops, they added pics so the addy is now wrong, but if you scroll through you'll see what I'm talking about. Folks hangin on the beach behind a sign saying due to the disaster the public areas are off limits.

Last comment--- I didnt read the prior comments till just now. I'm American and proud of it, fact is all countries have insensitive idiots and we have more than our share. This is a human tragedy which we all share. Ignore the idiots, you cant fix em.

Racism is not dead. The Internet can be a transforming medium or it can be ground zero for hate and intolerance. There must be a lot of people at this site that hate themselves and seek to spread that hate to others. For everyone that has made a hateful comment to what is clearly an horrific event, I say please get some counseling. Such reactions are simply abnormal.

And for all those who made such comments and dare to call themselves Christians. Please understand that you are a disgrace to the cause of Christ.

Comments like some of the ones above are either demonstrating total ignorance (in the true sense of the word) or unbelievable callousness!
No wonder the rest of the World has little love for the English speaking contingent, especially North America.
I would just love to see some of these guys dropped into some real white-water with no life-jacket or protective clothing and see just how well they can swim.
I would like to apologise to all the survivors of the Tsunami disaster on behalf of the folks here who know better and ask them to ignore the idiots!!