"INDONESIA HAS BEEN FLATTENED" JOKES TO THE LEFT DD:

[whynot]

You've probably heard about this already. But. I guess you can stand to hear about it again.

HEY. HEY SOUTHEAST ASIA. CAN YOU LIKE. CALM YOUR SHIT DOWN. RING OF FIRE, CAN YOU TAKE A CHILL PILL, THAT'D BE GREAT. JFC.

1) VOLCANO, specifically Java's Mt. Merapi has claimed at least 33 lives, 17 injured, but WAIT! THERE'S MORE!
2) EARTHQUAKE roundabouts the Mentawai Islands, which caused a
2A) TSUNAMI. At least 311 people dead, 400 still missing. 20 villages leveled and approx 20,000 people displaced, because nature loves to kick Sumatra in the teeth.

This all happened in under 24 hours. I BELIEVE THE CORRECT PHRASE IS "WHAT THE EVERLOVING FUCK." I called my parents asking if our peeps in Yogyakarta (by Merapi) are okay - they're okay! - so yaaay. Also I guess Jakarta flooded the other day? As did West Papua. EVERY TIME I TURN AROUND, INDONESIA, YOU ALWAYS BE BLOWIN UP IN MY FACE.

PHILIPPINES, YOU ARE NOT OFF THE HOOK EITHER. I SEE YOU WITH YOUR SUPERTYPHOON OF 110 MPH WINDS. There were much fewer casualties with the supertyphoon because for the most part, people were on top of their shit with the warning systems, early detection, and evacuations. Food security's gonna go down the shitter a bit because the northern Philippines is the country's rice basket (the stairway to heaven in Banaue, natch), and that's the general area where Juan/Megi stormed through. The Merapi evacuations, eh, could've been better.

BUT LOOK AT YOUR LIFE, INDONESIA'S TSUNAMI WARNING SYSTEM! LOOK AT YOUR CHOICES!:

Indonesia's [tsunami early warning system], completed in 2008 with German aid, has since fallen into such disrepair that it effectively stopped working about a month ago, according to the head of the Meteorology and Geophysic Agency.

The system, which uses buoys to electronically detect sudden changes in water level, worked when it was completed, but by 2009 routine tests of it were showing problems, said the agency chief, who uses the single name Fauzi. By last month, he said, the entire system was broken because of inexperienced operators.

"We do not have the expertise to monitor the buoys to function as intended," he said.

As a result, he said, not a single siren sounded after Monday's quake. [source]

SO THAT HAPPENED. OR DIDN'T.

Surfaid International will take your donations to tsunami relief in Australian dollars. You can also call 1-800-257-957.

Do you guys know of other ways to help out? Other sites to donate to? Surfaid International is the only website I've found that has a specific focus on the Indonesian double whammy. Other websites just have like general donations to the organization. Like, there are some of those here, I guess...

ETA: mercredigirl posts links to some relief efforts we can donate to.

[originally posted at http://whynot.dreamwidth.org/39340.html | comments]

Comments

[roque-clasique.livejournal.com]

IT'S CALLED THE END TIMES

no joke

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

SOMETIMES I WONDER

SOMETIMES I DO WONDER

[jaimeykay.livejournal.com]

my reaction was WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK.

Dude. IDEK.

I AM LIKE

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

[animus-wyrmis.livejournal.com]

I feel like lately I am just sitting here going HEY WORLD OMFG CAN YOU STOP EXPLODING LIKE THIIIIIS.

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

I would just like to relocate my archipelagos away from the edge of tectonic plates, move 'em out into the middle of the Pacific plate maybe.

[animus-wyrmis.livejournal.com]

Man, for all that we can do, I wish we could DEAL WITH NATURAL DISASTERS better. D:

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

It is SO FUCKING TYPICAL, introduce a technology and then there is no follow-through on training or long-term maintenance. THEN WHAT IS THE FUCKING POINT. COMMUNICATION AND EDUCATION, WHERE IS ITTTT

[animus-wyrmis.livejournal.com]

I know! GUYS THIS SHIT SAVES LIVES, SO FUCKING PUT IT IN USE.

[zempasuchil.livejournal.com]

Yesterday I was like, omg there's a windstorm in the midwest! And then I saw THIS news. It's awful, it's really awful, and incredibly sobering, and yeah this year I wonder if it really IS called the end-times. please stop exploding, world. I'm glad your family and peeps are okay. <3

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

MY COUNTRIESSSS
SOMETIMES IT IS LIKE DISASTER BINGO OR SOMETHING. Why is it that every time my homes are on the news, IT IS ALWAYS FOR DISASTER? A PLANE JUST CRASHED. A FERRY SANK. LAND SLIDES.

I swear there are other things that happen there. D:

[layne67.livejournal.com]

3 natural disasters one on top of the other, that's awful :(

I'm glad your relatives are okay.

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

Yeah me too. Were you affected by the floods?

[layne67.livejournal.com]

Hee, no floods here in Malaysia. Not yet anyway. But the rainy season has started and urgh, I hate driving in the rain!

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

OHHHH I totally thought you were in Jakarta for some reason. Haha, never mind me.

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

and lol omg your icon is perfection XDDDD

[luciusmalfoy.livejournal.com]

So good your folks are okay. But yeah.

I have had many watercooler convos recently where it is like Indonesia what the fuck.

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

Talking about the weather in Indonesia can lead to quite an action-packed conversation, yes!

[lexhibition.livejournal.com]

INDONESIA

WHAT

WHAT

WHAT ARE YOU DOING???

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

THE GERMANY-INDONESIA TSUNAMI EARLY WARNING SYSTEM

IS A STUPID BITCH

[emerald-embers.livejournal.com]

Crapping hell, I didn't know about the Philipppines - I'll text my mum to check up on my aunties, hope they're okay!

(I don't know them very well personally, but I have an uncle with three ex-wives in the Philippines, and I'm sure they'll be okay but I'm pretty anxious now)

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

I hope they're okay too! I'm pretty sure they are, in fact. XD Juan/Megi seems to have been handled relatively gracefully, and if your aunties live more in the south of Luzon, then they're probably even more okay.

[maerhys.livejournal.com]

Holy hell. DDD: Thanks for the info, sweet.

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

The more you know!

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

I'm glad to hear the family and friends are as well as can be expected and accounted for. I'm very sorry.

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

Me tooooo. I'm still poking around trying to find relief efforts, but there is very little outpouring. There is no momentum.

[anjali-organna.livejournal.com]

I'm glad your relatives are okay! This is just...ugh tectonic plates, man. They're extremely cranky right now, apparently.

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

FO SHIZ

...

What do you think of a help_indonesia? Would fandom bite? November's busy a busy month for fangirls.

[anjali-organna.livejournal.com]

Possibly? Although I think November is bad for Americans because of Thanksgiving anyways. Unless people would use the break to do fannish things... And then there's NaNo as well.

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

True, but not everyone is in the USA. Hmm, and not everyone is doing Nano. And, idk. I'm waiting for better ways to donate to relief efforts and charities to come up so bidders can actually have something reliable to donate TO.

Unless that's the bidder/participant's responsibility to find their own charity? But I mean, I do want to make sure it's out there though.

[anjali-organna.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, I know for the non-Americans it won't be an issue at all. I think you're right in making sure that there are good ways for people to donate, because people can be lazy.

Aaanyways, I am in, if you do organize something!

[gabby-silang.livejournal.com]

IKR???? DDDDD: Calm the eff down, region, CHILL OUT RIGHT NOW. Have you heard from family, etc? Mine was south enough of the typhoon to be okay this time but auuguughguguhgugugh.

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

Yeah, my people are okay. Glad yours are too!
What do you think of a help_indonesia? My concern is that there doesn't seem to be a lot of relief efforts we can contribute to, though. There's no aid momentum...

[gabby-silang.livejournal.com]

Is there not? Auuuugh. I know the Red Cross still has a decent presence in the area, ever since the tsunami back in 2004, but I'm not seeing anything new on their site about this month's crisis. The Mercy Corps (http://www.mercycorps.org/erynncarter/blog/22488) has some movement, but again, donations would be general to the org rather than this specific situation. AUGH ANNOYING. Back during the giant flooding in Manila, local orgs put together some good sites to donate through, a lot by phone and social media. I'll hunt around and see what we can find, and ask my dad, who might have some connections.

SO FRUSTRATING. :(((

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

Local is totally the best way to go. The problem here is the same problem with the aid back when the tsunami happened: it is piling up at drop-off points. The disaster has so destroyed infrastructure, roads and stuff, that all this perfect good aid is kind of just sitting there.

...Not that this should be a reason for us to not help, right? :-/ Maybe instead of organizing a help_indonesia because omg time, I should just idk auction myself off? :-/////// Would that be too self-centered of me?

IDKKKKKKKKKK

[copper-on-mars.livejournal.com]

I'm glad your relatives are okay, and hope it's the last time Earth's innards' misbehavior takes lives. :(

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

Me too, and I doubt it, but I hope we're better prepared next time! And have an actualfax functioning warning system!

[marycontraire.livejournal.com]

HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE ALL IN ONE DAY WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE UNIVERSE/WHOEVER WAS IN CHARGE OF INDONESIA'S TSUNAMI WARNING SYSTEM

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

THEY ARE ALL FIRED FROM LIFE D:

[dayadhvam-triad.livejournal.com]

wtf at the not-working tsunami sirens >( >( >(

I heard about this from one of my f-listers who lives in Indonesia. She and her family are safe, but--dear god. It's just awful. :(

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

So typical, so typical. It's always the long-term planning and maintenance gonna screw you over.

What do you think of a help_indonesia? I wish there were more charities and relief efforts that people can clearly donate to though.

[dayadhvam-triad.livejournal.com]

Hmm, tbh I'm not sure. A lot of the help_[] comms worked best spontaneously from widespread knowledge of disasters--but so far I feel like there's been so much less publicity about this than I would've thought that having a help_indonesia wouldn't bring in as much charity as it did for, say, help_haiti. I don't remember it posted at ontd_political, which is my usual source of news--I wouldn't have known at all if it weren't for the posts by you & my other f-lister. I think it might be better just to try and determine which charities/relief efforts are best suited, and maybe contact the LJ/DW staff to see if they might put that into their next lj_news/dw_maintenance post. (Idk how many people read those? I always do, but I dunno if that would be a problem based on how many people pay attention to those posts.)