December 27, 2004

Bloggers in SE Asia cover quake and tsunami disaster

Originally posted by Xeni Jardin from Boing Boing, reBlogged by ts

Image: Screencap of TV coverage in Bangkok, Buddhist monks chanting for the souls of those who died in the disaster. At present, the international death toll stands at nearly 24,000. Ron Morris in Thailand says, “Since the first tremor from the Sumatran quake was felt in Bangkok over 36 hours ago, we have been blogging the latest news about the disaster. Includes screen grabs from Thai TV and links to locals who took photos of the wreckage after the tidal waves.” Link

Cameron Sinclair of the nonprofit group Architecture For Humanity tells BoingBoing, “Two members of the WorldChanging.org crew live close by the Tsumani disaster and are reporting on whats going on: Link. As for reconstruction issues, a page is being set up at Architecture for Humanity to cover this: Link.”

Here is a photoblog maintained by a man named Fred in Sri Lanka, with snapshots of the destruction in Jaffna, where he lives and works: Link. Here’s another Sri Lankan blog maintained by “Zeus”: Link. See also this livejournal maintained by a man named Ernest who was in Phuket when the catastrophe hit. Link. Here’s a personal blog maintained by a person in Malaysia, with posts related to the event: Link. Blogger Rezwan in Bangladesh posts about a near-miss here.

BoingBoing reader Dav asks how he and other displaced Western tourists can help.

“Just since I know you guys are at the nexus of a lot of information: I’m here in Thailand on holiday, been staying on the island of Koh Samui on the east side of Thailand. We had been planning to go to Krabi (one of the places hit hard in southern thailand) in a couple of days for a psy-trance party. Now we’re thinking of keeping the flight tp Krabi and trying to volunteer to help however we can. Any ideas on how to find out if any organization would want volunteers and where/what? I tried a few sites like Red Cross, etc but didn’t notice any info on emergency volunteering and the net connection is so slow it is difficult looking around.”

Pointers to other blog coverage welcome, submit sites here.

Update: Alex Steffen of worldchanging.com says,

“Some South Asian bloggers, including a couple of my colleagues from Worldchanging, have set up a blog tracking relief efforts and how folks can contribute: tsunamihelp.blogspot.com.

“We’re also going to be posting more throughout the day on Worldchanging. This is not “just” one of the worst disasters of the decade, one where every bit of help will be needed to save lives and rebuild, it’s also a call to change the way access to basic science is shared on our planet.

Most of the tens of thousands of people who died yesterday might have been saved with better scientific, communications and warning systems.”

And here are more eyewitness blog accounts from bloggers in Phuket, Thailand: Sutton: Link 1, Link 2, and the French Photojournalism Association: Link. (Thanks, Jim Basman)