Hi all... I'm a little amazed this hasn't been discussed on here, and as I usually stick to the DC room, this seems important enough to post here.
I'm sure everyone knows about the Earthquake/Tsunami in Indonesia. What many may not know is this was a 9.0 quake, the 4th most powerful in seismographic recorded history, about 1900. What you also may not know, is if a quake of this magnitude hit CA, this would be the one that might have separated LA from the mainland and virtually nothing would be left standing. Only because it was a quake far out in the ocean was the devastation not many times worse.
And the mini lesson about the 9.0 number itself. A 9.0 is DOUBLE an 8.9, which is DOUBLE an 8.8. So, a 9 is 100 times more powerful than an 8.
Currently, over 25,000 are known dead. Many more will certainly be reported over time..
The reason I'm writing is as a hobbiest and a human being. I have no personal vested interest in this, other than being compassionate.
We, as a group spend untold (literally!) thousands of dollars on our little hobby. The ladies make many thousands and live a good life off the income made doing this. But, as we've seen, in the blink of an eye, you can lose everything and have your world crumble into a flooded nightmare or die a horrid death.
My hope is people will click on the link provided, to the Red Cross and make a donation. The world needs our help. This is a natural disaster of unbelievable proportions.
Please help! We can afford to spend many hundreds of $ for an hour of play, we can certainly afford a few $ to help the world, when it's needed most.
I've sent in $$.5 for now, and will do more in a week when a client pays off a huge bill! I picked the symbolic amount as that's what we spend for an hour on average. Please help! Both hobbiests and providers, I hope will help!
I'd also appreciate it if you'd check your local message boards and copy this if it's not there, as many of us don't read the national boards all the time!
Thanks!
--JB
Link to the Red Cross article about this natural disaster:
http://www.redcross.org/article/0,1072,0_312_3870,00.html
Your point is well-taken! Thank you, for the convenient link to make real-time donations! I shall do so! 
...
I think though from Physics, that using the Richter scale, the seismic waves of a 9.0 magnitude quake are ten times greater in amplitude than an 8.0 magnitude quake?
And the actual energy released from a 9.0 magnitude quake is approximately 31 times greater than that released from an 8.0 magnitude quake?
...
Both points above are minor details, since a 9.0 magnitude earthquake releases the energy equivalent of 10,000 Hiroshima-scale atomic bombs. Hence, the attendant devastation is staggering...
dc!
DC.. here's a quote from a scientist I found.. I was off but not totally..It's 10 times an 8.. but 100 times a 7.. Also, anything above an 8.5 is catastrophic and many ratings charts stop at 9..!
"The Richter Scale is a common logarithmic scale, which means that each unit on the Richter scale represents a tenfold increase in energy released during the earthquake. So, an earthquake rating a 7 on the Richter scale releases 10 times more energy than one rating a 6, and 100 times more than one rating a 5."
Richard E. Barrans Jr., Ph.D.
Assistant Director
PG Research Foundation, Darien, Illinois
Here's the part about your 31 times..:
The Richter scale is logarithmic, that is an increase of 1 magnitude unit represents a factor of ten times in amplitude. The seismic waves of a magnitude 6 earthquake are 10 times greater in amplitude than those of a magnitude 5 earthquake. However, in terms of energy release, a magnitude 6 earthquake is about 31 times greater than a magnitude 5.
As you put it, no matter how you slice it, this was an amazing thing.. Imagine a 9 magnitude quake hitting San Andreas. We'd all be staring at the TV numb over losing the west coast of California to the Pacific Ocean. And we should be grateful this one was deep and far out in the ocean! We certainly can't even imagine what this would have done if it was land based.
--JB
-- Modified on 12/27/2004 2:15:13 PM
Another suggestion is to donate to Oxfam America. They are an NGO, have very low operating costs and only 17% of every dollar raised is spent on overhead. The rest goes directly to the people that need the help the most. The Red Cross averages about 36% in overhead costs; meaning your dollar is doing less for the victims.
I already did! But I agree with you about it. Take nothing for granted. and they need all the help they can get.
Thank you for posting.
XOXO
Nikki
Since I posted the original message only a few days ago, the true magnitude of this natural disaster is unfolding. With only a small fraction of the area of destruction even briefly visited, the true picture is starting to unfold.
As of today, the deaths have well exceeded 80,000. Damage will easily reach into the many billions of $.
Help is needed and there are many agencies out there to select to help!
What I find so amazing, is with all the things terrorists and idiots like OBL try to do, nothing is stronger or more deadly than mother nature. Literally, in the blink of an eye, mother nature wrought destruction across 11 countries and thousands of miles of coastland. Kenya was hit, although not terribly damaged a full 6 hours after the earthquake. Imagine the power of something that allowed water to travel so far from a few second event to cause damage.
It's truely devastating..
--JB
Donated this morning.
Situation is real sad over there.
lets hope evrybody here can donate. even a little . every bit helps!!!