Hopeful images and stories from the tsunami

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

For those of us who have had enough of dead bodies being posted over and over to try to shock and horrify, here is a thread of the rescues, the hope, and the goodness of humanity after the tsunami.

Melawati, center, is helped by hospital staff members upon arriving at the Malaysian International Tuna Port in Penang, northwestern Malaysia, Monday, Jan. 3, 2005. A Malaysian tuna ship rescued Melawati who drifted for five days in the Indian Ocean after last week's tsunami swept her out to sea from her home on Sumatra island, an official said Monday. The 23-year-old woman was spotted alive Friday while clinging to an uprooted sago palm tree in waters near Aceh province, said Goi Kim Par, mamager of the Malaysian International Tuna Port. (AP Photo/Str)

Melawati is carried away by hospital staff members upon arrival at the Malaysian International Tuna Port in Penang, northwestern Malaysia, Monday, Jan. 3, 2005. A Malaysian tuna ship rescued Melawati who drifted for five days in the Indian Ocean after last week's tsunami swept her out to sea from her home on Sumatra island, an official said Monday. The 23-year-old Indonesian woman was spotted alive Friday while clinging to an uprooted sago palm tree in waters near Aceh province, said Goi Kim Par, manager of the Malaysian International Tuna Port. (AP Photo/Str)

Mohamad Asraf (L), 2, and his parents Mohamad Rodzi (C) and Khatijah Sahidan (R) pose in front of a hospital ward in Penang. Mohamad Ashraf was submerged in the water for several minutes before he was rescued by his mother.(AFP/Tengku Bahar)

Unidentified British tourists await repatriation in a temporary shelter set up in a convention centre in Colombo. Thirty six stranded British tourists were rescued in Sri Lanka thanks to a mobile phone with one of them and technology that could pin-point the user.(AFP/File/Sena Vidanagama)

A family is reunited after being rescued from an island resort off Krabi, southern Thailand a day after a tidal wave devastated the coastline.(AFP/Roslan Rahman)

The relief agency Oxfam load supplies bound for Sri Lanka and Indonesia on to a cargo plane at East Midlands Airport near Nottingham, England. A 'phenomenal' two-day surge in donations in Britain has raised the equivalent of 38 million dollars for the victims of the tsunami disaster in Asia, charities announced.(AFP/Steve Parkin)

Volunteers of the leading Pakistani charity Edhi Foundation pack medicines for victims of tsunamis in Karachi.(AFP/Aamir Qureshi)

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

Muslim women collect donations in an umbrella following a prayer service for the victims of the earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Aceh Province, Sunday, at Al Azhar Mosque in Jakarta, Indonesia.

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

President Bush (news - web sites), seeking to bolster America's humanitarian image after the Asian tsunamis, called on January 1, 2005 for flags to be flown at half-staff next week to honor victims of the disaster. A day after he raised the U.S. aid contribution to $350 million from $35 million, Bush used his weekly radio address to emphasize the need for private relief donations for devastated areas where massive waves killed at least 124,000 people and left 5 million others homeless. In this photo, an American soldier helps load a bag of foodstuff that will be donated to the tsunami survivors in Sumatra on January 1, 2005.

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

Pakistani naval soldiers upload relief food for tsunami hit areas on a ship at Karachi port. Foreign troops airdropped food and set up clean water as the massive aid effort took shape to help millions left homeless and hungry from Asia's tsunami disaster, whose death toll crept towards 150,000.

[MineralMan]

Thanks for posting these photos. They illustrate the worldwide cooperation to aid the victims of the tsunami. Perhaps it will be the start of something good.

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

Two elephants clear debris in Indonesia's tsunami-hit city of Banda Aceh January 3, 2005. Eight days on, hungry and sick survivors of the Indian Ocean tsunami are waiting for food and medicine in growing desperation as a multinational aid operation tries to reach remote towns ravaged by the waves.

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

You are welcome. These are the photos that break my heart. I would rather focus on the good than complain that the 'MSM' isn't showing enough dead bodies.

[TBall]

I'm sure this story has been posted on FR, but I just read it and thought it was incredible.

http://www.detnews.com/2004/nation/0412/29/-45717.htm

[Iowa Granny]

Thanks for posting this positive stuff.

[daisyscarlett]

Thanks for the link to the orphanage story, I had not seen that before, very inspiring.

[elfman2]

Cool story, thanks!

[daisyscarlett]

Thanks for this thread...here is a photo I found..

Debrashi stands with her two cats in front of a relief camp in Portmot, 15 miles south of Port Blair, the main city of India's remote Andaman and Nicobar archipelago, January 2, 2005. Wild animals seem to have escaped the Indian Ocean tsunami, adding weight to notions they possess a 'sixth sense' for disasters, experts said Thursday. Photo by Jayanta Shaw/Reuters

[1smallVoice]

Another great story is that President Bush naming his father, brother and even bill clinton to head up relief efforts and the reports that US military ships are being welcomed. This is indeed a great President!!!!

Now I am ready to give, but not to the UN or Red Cross!!! Any Ideas, I thought perhaps to the Salvation Army......

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

Annal Mary kisses her 20-day-old baby Suppiah Tulasi, who survived the weekend tsunamis at her restaurant in Penang resort island, northwestern Malaysia, in this Dec. 29, 2004 photo. When the waves hit, Tulasi's parents were flushed out of the restaurant they owned on the beach of the northwestern resort. Tulasi, not yet a month old, had been taking a nap when the calamity struck. She was found hours later floating on a mattress inside the restaurant

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

Television image released by a Thai news agency January 2, 2005 shows a Thai man carrying an 18-month-old Kazakh boy who was found alive in Khao Lak on January 1, 2005 almost a week after a tsunami devastated Indian Ocean shores and killed 129,817 people. According to the Thai News agency the boy was discovered floating on a mattress in the sea in Thailand's Khao Lak resort. The boy was handed over to the Kazakh ambassador after his parents were believed to have been killed.

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

In this photo provided by Grace Home Orphanage, Eric Parkinson, a lawyer from San Luis Obispo, Calif., and a founder of the Grace Home orphanage on the northeastern coast of Sri Lanka, is seen here July 30, 2004, with residents of the orphanage near Trincomalee, Sri Lanka. Living in the bungalows on the 7-acre, beach side complex, which was formerly a five-star hotel, may have saved them from the tsunami that thrashed much of southern Asia. The orphanage was swamped - beds, mattresses and clothes were washed out to sea. But the children there escaped when they were evacuated.

[facedown]

Great post! Here's another one:

Boys play at a refugee camp in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. The number of people living in refugee camps in the tsunami-ravaged Indonesian province of Aceh has risen to more than 270,000, the government said.

[facedown]

Just found this one too:

An Indonesian survivor is carried towards a medical tent by a US Navy medic upon arrival Monday January 3, 2005 at Banda Aceh in northwest Indonesia. US Navy's Sea Hawks helicopters have been shuttling back and forth to far-flung areas in the largest relief operation since the Vietnam war following last Sunday's earthquake-tsunami catastrophe in Asia that killed more than 150,000 people, with Indonesia suffering the most number of casualties of more than 80,000 people.

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

This is the stuff that kills me. They don't have a home, all is gone around them, but bless their hearts, they saved the dog.

A man carries his child and dog across a river as they flee an area devastated by the quake-triggered tidal waves on the Indonesian island of Nias, off the coast of northern Sumatra, December 30, 2004. Asia's tsunami death toll soared above 125,000 on Friday as millions struggled to find food and clean water and the world mobilised for what is shaping up to be the biggest relief effort in history

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

A boy eats food, donated by aid organizations, along with pet dog at Pattinapakkam, near Madras, India, Friday, Dec. 31, 2004. As the death toll from the earthquake-tsunami catastrophe soared to 117,000, nations donated US$500 million (euro370 million) toward the world's largest-ever relief effort. The death toll in India is above 7,300.