And, sadly, yet another reason why people hate Americans
While I've been fooling around all day - continuing to paint my house, listening to music, and making absurd blog posts about Devo and Wesley Willis and who knows what all - a tragedy has been unfolding that dwarfs the damage caused by 9/11 and Katrina. Namely, the South Asia earthquake.
Perhaps I'm the ugly American on this one. While I've been in my own little world, the news networks have apparently been covering this - presumably non-stop.
It appears that this is truly traumatic:
A powerful earthquake flattened entire villages of mud-brick homes, triggered landslides and toppled a 10-story apartment building on Saturday, killing more than 18,000 people as it devastated a mountainous swath touching Pakistan, India and Afghanistan.
The casualty toll from the 7.6-magnitude tremor rose sharply Sunday as rescuers struggled to dig people from the wreckage, their work made more difficult as rain and hail turned dirt and debris into sticky muck. Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan, Pakistan's chief army spokesman said early Sunday that more than 18,000 had been killed — 17,000 of them in Pakistani Kashmir, where the quake was centered. Some 41,000 people were injured, he said.
"The death toll is gradually rising," Sultan told The Associated Press. He said authorities had counted the bodies....
The earthquake, which struck just before 9 a.m. Saturday, caused buildings to sway for about a minute in the capitals of Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, an area some 625 miles across. Panicked people ran from homes and offices, and communications were cut to many areas.
Most of the devastation occurred in the mountains of northern Pakistan, where the dead included 250 girls crushed at a school and 200 soldiers on duty in the Himalayas.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake was centered about 60 miles northeast of the capital, Islamabad, in the forested mountains of Pakistani Kashmir, and was followed by 22 aftershocks, including a 6.2-magnitude temblor.
"It is a national tragedy," Sultan said earlier. "This is the worst earthquake in recent times."...
India's government offered condolences and assistance to Pakistan, a longtime rival with which it has been pursuing peace efforts after fighting three wars since independence from British rule in 1947, two of them over Kashmir.
"While parts of India have also suffered from this unexpected natural disaster, we are prepared to extend any assistance with rescue and relief which you may deem appropriate," Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in a message to Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf....
The United Nations sent an emergency coordination team to Pakistan.
President Bush offered condolences, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the United States was ready to help.
"At this difficult time, the United States stands with its friends in Pakistan and India, just as they stood with us and offered assistance after Hurricane Katrina," Rice said in a statement....
Chapomatic says the following:
[T]he Bam, Iran Death Trap Standard style of construction, mud and stone, was part of the problem. VOA News (via Google) reports that the Indian PM called Musharraf to offer aid, an unthinkable gesture a short time ago. I expect an aid offer from Afghanistan, which would of necessity be small but symbolic and indicative of how times have changed.
Delhui is shaken:
War in Afghanistan, War in Iraq, London attacked, Hurricane Katrina, and now a 7.6 earthquake in Pakistan (and parts of Afghanistan and India as well), that has killed an estimated 18,000....
Ever get the feeling we've pissed Someone off?
Scott Knitter is also affected:
I'm just floored by the latest CNN breaking news, that the death toll
from the earthquake in Pakistan and India has soared from something
like 3,000 to 18,000.
Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
May the souls of all the departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
There is now a blog devoted to this quake - http://quakehelp.blogspot.com/.
Comments
People in the other parts of world also want to live as happily as you do here in US and they want liberation as you enjoy here in US, but unfortunatly only thing preventing them for achieving those goals are US policies. US supports democricy but not in muslim countries. you have ties with suadi kings and parvaiz musharraf who is a miltary dictator whom president bush called best friend. People dont want him but US aiding those all people who are crule to them this is what brings the hate towards US, nothing else. So i hope you will research about it and will write some thing about human rights in those countries instead of relying CNN use internet to see true picture