PADANG EARTHQUAKE, A LITTLE HELP FROM MALAYSIA

NOT TOO SMART - Too little help, too late, with too many journalists and cameramen!

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Padang, was devastated by a powerful earthquake on Wednesday 30^th September 2009. The undersea earthquake that hit the Indonesian island of Sumatra had an epicentre only 50 kilometres away from the city, which is the largest in West Sumatra.

The Special Malaysian Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (SMART) reportedly began work at the ravaged Mariani International Hotel and Jakarta Hotel in earthquake hit Padang only on Sunday 4^th October 2009.

The 25-member team, it was reported, was sure that no more victims were trapped beneath the rubble of the collapsed Mariani International Hotel located on Jalan Bundo Kandung, Padang .

Subsequently they then began scouring the ruined remains of Jakarta Hotel to determine if there were still any victims there.

The SMART team arrived on Saturday 3rd October 2009, together with a medical team made up of 31 personnel from the armed forces, the Health Ministry and the Malaysian Red Crescent Society.

Accompanied by 22 journalists, photographers and TV cameramen, the SMART team evidently pitched tents at a clearing beside the collapsed Selasih Hospital, to be used as their operation centre.

Is this a sincere attempt to help, or just a show for the media circus?

A rescue team of 25 + medical team of 31 = 56 personnel, surely doesn't need a group of 22 Malaysian media folks as hangers-on.

22 more rescuers and medical workers would have been far more useful.

UPDATE:

PADANG: International rescuers are planning to end their operations searching for survivors of the 7.6 magnitude earthquake that hit West Sumatra province of Indonesia last week, as the first 75 hours-limit to finding disaster survivors passed.

According to a report by China's Xinhua news agency, United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) official J. Seen said on Monday 5th October 2009, that international rescuers would officially end their operation after a local government announcement later the same day (Monday).

Trahimur omnes laudis studio

We are all led on by our eagerness for praise

Palmam qui meruit ferat

Let him who has earned it bear the reward

Quidvis Recte Factum Quamvis Humile Praeclarum

Whatever is rightly done, however humble, is noble

Death, but Hope in China. Death, but only Dismay and Desperation in Burma

THE DEAD ARE DEEPLY MOURNED
MAY THOSE LEFT BEHIND FIND COMFORT AND A SYMPATHETIC SHOULDER TO CRY ON

Réquiem ætérnam dona eis,
et lux perpétua lúceat eis.
Requiéscant in pace.

Eternal rest grant unto them,
and let perpetual light shine upon them.
May they rest in peace.

THE CHINA EARTHQUAKE

HOPE

Rescue workers in China are struggling to reach nearly 60,000 people who are reported as missing near to the epicentre of the Sichuan earthquake, prompting fears that the death toll will continue to soar way past the present total which is close to 15,000.

The efficiency of the rescue work, the openness and the grateful acceptance of international aid, by the Chinese government, will, it is hoped, help to speed up the recovery of trapped victims, as well reduce the risk of the outbreak of epidemics of disease and also the risk of exposure to the elements, hunger or even starvation.

A video of the rescue work going on after the devastating earthquake in China is to be found HERE

THE BURMA CYCLONE

DISMAY AND DESPERATION

Nearly two weeks after cyclone Nargis hit the shores of the Irrawaddy Delta, the inflow of overseas aid is still being restricted and expert foreign rescue workers are still prevented from entering to assist in the rescue and other humanitarian work.

And now, threatening to make matters even worse, a second cyclone is bearing down on Burma, whilst the country is still in the midst of a gargantuan humanitarian crisis,which was initially caused by devastation wrought by cyclone Nargis, and which is being exacerbated by the evil Generals who head the inhuman tyrannical murderous military junta which enslaves and tortures the noble Burmese people.

Up to now over 128,000 lives have been lost, according to the latest Red Cross estimations (and the number is certain to rise when diseases and starvation take their toll), and it is estimated by a UK aid organisation, that between 1.6 to 2.5 million souls are now in dire need of help such as shelter, clothing, food and clean water, as well as other essential emergency aid.

To view a video, please go HERE

The international community needs to exert maximum pressure on the Junta, and if they remain intransigent, then whatever has to be done, must be done to ensure that all the required help, both in the form of manpower and materials, is supplied to help the Burmese people, with or without the consent of the wicked men who control Burma.

When the emergency is over, the Generals should be charged and brought to an international court to be tried for their crimes against humanity, then if found to be guilty, they should be severely punished.

Or even better, their own people should do unto them as they have done to their people!

Conscientia mille testes

-Conscience is as good as a thousand witnesses