egafd.com

Ummm ... no.

An earthquake has bugger all to do with man's activities, carbon dioxide emissions, the alignment of the stars or that strange pain my Auntie Ethel felt in her left left big toe five days ago.

Sadly, it's one of those things that happens from time to time. It's called tectonic plate movement - you might want to look it up. That it caused such death and devatsation is hugely regrettable.

Feel free to scroll down to the botton of http://www.numberwatch.co.uk/2004%20December.htm for a more elegant riposte than I can muster.

Our thoughts and prayers must be with the survivors, and our hopes must be that everyone will rebuild their lives as quickly and as painlessly as possible.

I know in these PC days there is no such thing as an accident, and I'm sure that the parasitical lawyers are already circling the fetid corpses looking for rich and juicy pickings, but this was pure chance. Sometimes, shit does happen ...

Mike

Mikey is quite correct here, but I do think Buttsies post should mean something.
The amount of damage mankind has done to fuck up this planet, its only a matter of time before nature bites back

To all those harping on about how there is no God or if there is one, why does he let things like the Earthquake happen.

Remember We aren't living in Paradise here. He threw mankind out of Paradise, so bad shit is always going happen to good and bad people, that's just the way things are in our non-paradise world.

Friday

I'll agree for the moment earthquakes are caused by what you put forward
but anyone that thinks that the 2 atomic bombs & all bomb testing especially underground hasn't had an effect on the earths crust is having themselves on

cheers
B....OZ

God, as the organised religions have it, does not exist, anyone with half a brain knows it.
We've had disasters, plagues and pestilence since the year dot, this is not going to change EVER
However, if we relate the word GOD to anything, remember we are all our own gods. You cannot live other peoples lives for them, you can only guide. Remember though, you are your god and ones own abilities to improve your own life should never be underestimated.

One word on pollution and damage to the planet: INDUSTRY

No amount of whinging or buying Toyota Prius's is gonna save the planet from the hands of the chemicals industry... Unnatural products fill the shelves of supermarkets and our cupboards at home.. Where do the waste products go? From shampoos to food, it's rife... this I suppose we can have a say in. So don't whinge and don't feel guilty, just change.
Of course, this is just the tip of the Iceberg. We cannot claim responsibilty for the pollution chucked out of chemicals by factories, or the subsequent damage caused by use of WMD's etc (and often many of the ingredients are shared with household products - this is FACT) How much pollution is caused by the manufacture of a new "green" car, or any of the other throw-away disposable products that are pushed at us? It's pollution at that level that's causing major damage, and the sad fact is that the chemicals companies more often than not are heavily inviolved with big politicians and vice-versa..
Though Ken Livingston and other would like you to believe that, because you haven't upgraded your Volvo 340 to a SMART, or by having a classic car, or participating in amateur motor-racing, YOU are PERSONALLY responsible for wrecking the planet it just isn't so.
And what a tiny, if massively over-populated, island like the UK, can do about this "global warming" when the major continents are giving it the finger, indeed "god" only knows....

www.credence.org

All the energy released in all of the atomic testing ever carried out is insignificant when compared with a single large earthquake and has the best part of bugger all to do with movements in the earths crust.

On the subject of religion we should never forget the ever present danger from it as events like those on September 11 2001 showed us. Religion has had and continues to have a seriously bad influence on society. Society without religion is like a manic without a chain saw.

You have a compelling point of view and I'd be interested in reading your pamphlet.

You're so right though - earthquakes never happened in the pre-industrial age. And neither did climate change, floods, storms, plagues, famine and disease - it was one big happy love-in before the internal combustion engine came along. It's probably the fault of GM crops. Or PCBs, dioxins, DDT, cholesterol, binge drinking, the MMR vaccine or radiation from mobile phones.

Down with "industry". They're all baby killers.

Mikey

Pauls right, the nuclear tests would have not caused any real issues. The recent earthquake, approx 9.0 in magnitude, would have released the same energy as around 9,500 Hiroshima bombs all at once.
The US tested fewer than 1000 bombs over aprox 20 years, they simply wouldn't be noticed by the crust

Yes I think that mankinds raping and pillaging of earth, polluting of air and dumping of waste in the sea is a totally different matter to this, but it will probably in the next couple of hundred years cause so much hardship and mass death to certain areas of the world.
But this sort of freak of nature ? earthquake followed by Tsunami has been going on since the dawn of life and will continue to till the planet reaches it?s sell by date, that it has caused so much devastation and killed so many innocent people will all pale into insignificance if we ever get the dreaded ?Super Tsunami? because then no matter what defences or early warning systems are in place MILLIONS will be wiped from this world within hours:


crofter

I am not understanding this fully...if you do not believe in God..why does it sound like you're mad at him? In fact, why would you bring up a supreme diety at all, if you do not believe? Its strange, how a big disaster brings all discussions of God to the forefront.

I am not an overly religious person at all and basically believe the God created the world...it evolved and continues to evolve and left us to our own devices. Nature itself is perfect, man nad his actions are not.

Example? I'll bet a few weeks after the tsunami, you'll see plants growing back. After every mudslide or tornado, don't we see nature starting over again almost immediately? Even after a manmade screw up like Exxon Alaska oil spill or Union Carbide plant disaster, we saw nature coming back as soon as we left it laone, did we not?

I believe it is a stretch to blame the tsunami on global warming or atom bomb testing. You mean if everyone turned in their Hummers, we'd forgo these kinds of disasters in the future? Some of these third world nations have VERY dismal records in environmental clean-up and disposal of toxic waste...much worse than the more wealthy nations, but because of their lack of wealth or small size, they get a pass by the "green" crowd. NOt that it has anythign to do with what caused the tsunami.

I also don't like the idea that somebody brought up the notion that only disasters like this happen to poor, impoverished areas. Would these folks feel better if only wealthy people were killed? In the states, we saw the 9/11 incident happen in a wealthy part of New York City. We also see...almost every year...the brushfires in affluent areas of northern California take out huge homes in a very expensive place to live. We also saw many lavish homes and yachts destroyed in about 4 hurricanes in Florida this past summer. Hey...cleaa warriors...the rich DO get hammered by disaster too. This was a silly argument.

I also take offense that the UN relief man from Norway, made astatement that the US relief effort was "stingy" to use his own words. Excuse me, the US has pledged 15 million USD so far. France has pledged 144,000 (USD) so far...now...again, because us yanks are slow...WHO is stingy?

-Brickboy240