GEOLOGIST GAVE REPEATED ALERTS
Jonathan Leake, The Sunday Times [UK]
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-1422669,00.html



ANOTHER IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM ROBERT JERESKI ... Regarding Update On Earthquake/Tsunami Relief Operations
We are currently incorporating the U.S. Coalition for Earthquake and Tsunami Relief in Aceh, a non-profit, which will have a mission to assure the delivery of assistance to grassroots organizations conducting disaster/humanitarian relief operations. This organization will continue to exist after the current international interest in the welfare of Acehnese has subsided and will have contributed towards the building of local capacity to respond to on-going humanitarian crisis related to the conflict in Aceh. I will establish a bank account this Monday for this organization. I am willing also to bundle and forward smaller donations in order to avoid quite expensive wire transfer costs. For donations smaller than $500, please send via checks made out to "Robert Jereski" to:

2 Tudor City Place, Apt. 9AS
New York, NY 10017

We are exclusively funding the grassroots, as these organizations are the ones on which the U.N. and other international relief agencies depend and yet they are never funded appropriately or proportionately to their value. For example, while the U.N. and the Red Cross have received 10s of millions of dollars to provide relief, it was to one of our coalition members that the U.N. turned when drafting their OCHA situation report #7. There they did not quote the Red Cross or any other non-profit; they quoted Aceh Kita, one of our members which are grassroots, delivering aid and doing needs assessments on the ground. Also, when you consider funding, please consider that the international aid agencies have high overhead costs (rent, administration in high costs global north). These local organizations have low overhead and deliver much more value per donated dollar.



Below is the most recent (second) update from The Indonesian Civil Society Coalition for the Victims of Earthquake and Tsunami. The most recent OCHA (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) Situation Report No. 7 does not quote a single international NGO. The only NGO quoted is a local NGO in the coalition, Aceh Kita. This should be a sign of how credible and "on the ground" the work you are supporting is. Thank you for your support. It is critical. Please contact me if you would like to volunteer in the U.S., in Aceh, or elsewhere in Indonesia. Also, if you have contacts with S.E. Asian manufacturers of water purification systems, generators, or satellite phones or are willing to make an in-kind contribution of these to grassroots humanitarian relief operations in Indonesia, please contact me for further discussions. In Peace and Solidarity. . . . .

Robert Jereski
Director, U.S. Coalition for Earthquake and Tsunami Relief in Aceh
fmr. Exec. Dir. of the International Forum for Aceh
and fmr. candidate for U.S. Congress (Democratic challenger)
www.jereskiforcongress.com
212.973.1782

English Update 2: Refugee Spots, Site Status and Volunteer Dispatch
Jakarta, 30 December 2004
The Indonesian Civil Society Coalition for the Victims of Earthquake and Tsunami
Lhokseumawe

(Information received from Ibrahim, 30 Dec 2004, 12.44 PM)
There are 15 more identified refugee spots in Lhokseumawe with approx. 30,000 people. Most of these areas are dealing with shortages of basic food and a lack of sanitation including a large number of unburied dead bodies.

(Information received from Budi Arianto, 30 December 2004, 08.30 AM)
There are still 257 dead bodies uncollected on the streets of Tanah Pasir. The health condition of survivors is beginning to decline with the occurence of skin diseases and diarrhea. No medical teams have reached the area. Requirements: to bury corpses as soon as possible (body bags, white shroud cloths, protective gloves and masks); clothing; tents; medicines (for wounds, chlidren, cholera and dysentery treatment); blankets; stoves; water and food, baby milk and baby food; water containers, trucks to transport bodies to burial places.

(Information received via YAPPIKA)
Several sub-districts, such as Banda Sakti, Muara Dua, Dewantara, Matang Kuli, have been accessed, however very few crisis centers have been set up. Road access to Dewantara Sub-district from Northern Aceh is open to trucks and containers.

(Information received from Budi Arianto, 30 December 2004)
43,000 dead bodies is the latest official count from local authorities while only 7,000 of them have been buried. There are five crisis centers run by students, the Indonesian Red Cross, and the Indonesian Army respectively. Access by land to Banda Aceh is possible with difficulty by trucks and buses.

Our Jakarta crisis center based in the WALHI-Foe Indonesia office have so far dispatched a total of 37 volunteers to Banda Aceh and North Sumatera on Thursday, 30 December 2004. The teams dispatched comprise of doctors, paramediks, and students with knowledge of survival and Search and Rescue techniques.

QUOTE OF THE DAY ... We are not hated because we practice democracy, value freedome or uphold human rights. We are hated because our government denies these things to people in Third World countries whose resources are coveted by our multinational corporations. That hatred we have sown has come back to haunt us in the form of terrorism and in the future, nuclear terrorism. Robert Bowman, Vietnam Veteran [The National Catholic Reporter, October 2, 1998]

ASIAN $$ - PRINCE NEIL BUSH GETS MEDIA PROTECTION
Evelyn Pringle, Independent Media TV
Once upon a time Prince Neil Bush was making money hand-over-fist over in China and Taiwan and nobody even seemed to notice. When it comes to influence peddling by presidential relatives, nothing comes close to the financial activities of Neil Bush. But the comical part of this whole story is that with the media asleep at the wheel during the Bush presidency, Neil’s deals may have remained a secret for life if not for his equally shady violations of his marital vows, and his attempt to dump the wife and keep all the money for himself.
http://www.independent-media.tv/item.cfm?fmedia_id=10173&fcategory_desc=Top%20Stories%20Ignored%20By%20U.S.%20Media