MERRY CHRISTMAS ASIA

I am amazed and saddened by this tradgedy...30,000 dead and still counting. Mother nature can truly be a cruel mistress. And the timing, god damn. Then, I saw this little gem at RottendotCom:
Dec 28 1908:
An earthquake in Messina, Sicily kills 160,000. Nearly all of the city is destroyed. Countless art treasures are destroyed, as well as the Cathedral Annunziata dei Catalani.
My curiousity piqued, I did a googley and found this : List of earthquakes and this site has some good information regarding the wrath of mother nature.
And I'm sorry to say the nitpicking has already begun...The US has been accused of being stingy with relief money before the first confirmed case of cholera or exploding bloated corpse by the UN, who are probably using this catastrophy to spin off the focus of all the sex abuse allegedly perpetrated by them that's recently come to light. And, according to some internet sources the US knew it was coming and could've warned these countries, but did'nt...from Bartcop:

Subject: Further proof the US cares squat about the Darkies (WaHoPo)

Dear Bart,

Could this story be any more disgusting? My fave lines: "U.S. officials said that they wanted to warn
the countries but that there was no mechanism to do so." "If authorities had had the opportunity to move
people even a few hundred yards inland, many people would have been saved, Bernard said."

S o, at 8 PM Saturday night, the US knew that moving people a couple hundred yards inland would have
saved many lives, but had no way to tell anyone. Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India, etc. all have ambassadors
in the US. What, they couldn't find the phone number? Was Google broken? *sigh* I hate this place.

Please keep swinging the hammer, Bart.
Annika

Tsunamis' Toll Might Have Been Lessened
Experts Cite Lack of Warning System

Source is the washington post, who require you to register before you can read...fuck that.

Undoubtedly, there will be more finger pointing and recriminations before this is all over, and it won't be over for a long time...earthquakes and tidal waves have a way of lingering. I just hope the relief efforts can manage to keep up with the bullshit and profiteering.