Originally posted by spitfiremkv
can't believe nobody comments on that...typical american attitude: **** the rest of the world, we don't give a damn!
Here you go.....
U.S. offers aid to quake victims; at least 3 Americans among dead
By Associated Press, 12/27/2004 06:36
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WASHINGTON (AP) The U.S. government is offering to help Asian nations struck by a massive earthquake and devastating tsunamis that killed more than 20,000 people, including at least three Americans.
''The United States stands ready to offer all appropriate assistance to those nations most affected,'' White House deputy press secretary Trent Duffy said in a statement Sunday.
State Department spokesman Noel Clay said U.S. officials were working on ways to help. ''The United States will be very responsive,'' he said, offering no details on plans for relief and assistance.
Clay said three Americans were killed two in Sri Lanka, one in Thailand and a number of other Americans were injured. Clay did not have details or identities of the dead and injured.
The overall death toll climbed dramatically Monday, and many thousands more were missing, homeless or out of contact. Sri Lanka alone increased its estimates to more than 12,000 people killed.
President Bush expressed his condolences over the ''terrible loss of life and suffering,'' said the White House statement issued aboard Air Force One. Bush was traveling from Washington to Texas, where he was beginning a post-Christmas vacation at his Crawford ranch.
The 9.0 quake, the world's most powerful in 40 years, struck deep beneath the Indian Ocean, off the Indonesian island of Sumatra. That triggered tsunamis that sent 20-foot walls of water thousands of miles. Those crashed onto beaches in eight Asian countries, which also included Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar and Bangladesh, and in the African nation of Somalia more than 3,000 miles away.
White House officials said U.S. relief efforts already were under way to help people in Sri Lanka and the Maldives, a string of 1,192 coral atolls off the southwestern coast of India. They said the United States also will work with the United Nations, non-governmental organizations and other concerned states to provide relief.
''Certainly, our thoughts and prayers are with those families and loved ones who have experienced a loss of life,'' the officials said in the statement.
The State Department issued advisories warning Americans to avoid travel to Sri Lanka, the Maldives and the southwestern area of Thailand. U.S. citizens in those areas were encouraged to leave as soon as safe transportation was available.
BTW,
I have friends and business collegues in both Thailand and Sri Lanka. I'm sure they're comforted to know an obscure BBS is worried about them.
