The disaster has cast a shadow on New Year's events outside the quake zone:

• In Turkey, a country frequently hit by earthquakes, plans to hold a huge party in Istanbul's Taksim square were called off by the city's mayor
• In Paris, black mourning crepe was strung throughout the city centre and along the traditional rallying-point of the Champs Elysees
• Sweden, Norway, Finland and Germany will honour their dead and missing by flying flags at half-mast throughout the night
• In London, a two-minute silence will precede a huge fireworks display attended by an expected 150,000 people along the River Thames. Read more

Source: bbc

Follow this link to read what Times of India has to say about our bloggers, Suman kumar's site is been featured in their article.

Phuket Tsunami and Phuket after the Tsunami


via www.sumankumar.com

Less than 20 Km from the place where I hail from; a town near Kanyakumari where most of the population depend on the sea for their daily bread is now under the threat of sea.

Young and enthusiastic boys from around Colachel are in rescue work.

I talked to my brother an hour ago; he told me that the Bishop of Nagercoil has conducted a mass cremation of over 300 bodies. No one wants to hear this; it’s terrifying.

The churches in Colachel and the volunteers from Tamil Nadu Muslim Munetra Kalagam are standing together in helping the victims; there is no religion or caste!

Now the fear is that, how the hospitals and local health authorities are going to control the outbreak of any diseases in the next few days?

I could see many bloggers around Chennai and other parts of India doing a better job in publishing how people can help those affected by Sunday’s tsunami than the government and other media. The advantage with bloggers is that they do not have any restrictions unlike the standard web sites that need to follow certain guidelines before publishing anything on the web. Great job guys!

Few links where you can contribute are,
The Hindu - The Hindu Relief Fund
AidIndia.org
Rupya.com

TsunamiHelp is a collaborative blog for News and information about resources, aid, donations and volunteer efforts.

Also Cheque/DD can be sent to: Prime Minister's National Relief FundAddress: Prime Minister's Office, South Block, New Delhi-110001.

People who want to help may send bank drafts/cheques in the name Indian Red Cross Society, New Delhi. One may also deposit cash or relief material at the Delhi office. The society is accepting everything except perishable items and used clothes.

Address: Indian Red Cross Society, 1, Red Cross Road, New Delhi - 110001Phone: (011) 23716441, 23716234

I have already sent a mail to Nanda Kishore S, who is distributing blankets and cloths to victims expressing my willingness to contribute. If you are also willing to donate a blanket write to nandasethuraman[at]gmail[dot]com

Special thanks to my friend Suman Kumar, who is doing his best sitting in front of his computer in Banglore.

Link from sumankumar.com

Pictures here...

(All pictures courtesy Nanda Kishore.S)

In view of the appeal by the prime minister to all citizens to donate generously to the PMNRF to help relief and rehabilitation operations, 12 banks have been authorised to receive such donations.
They are State Bank of India, Central Bank of India, Union Bank of India, Dena Bank, Syndicate Bank, Corporation Bank, Bank of India, Indian Overseas Bank, Punjab National Bank, Indian Bank, Allahabad Bank and Citi Bank.
The spokesman said the donations could be made by cheque or draft in the name of the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund and sent to the Prime Minister's Office, South Block, New Delhi-110001.
The nationalized banks will not charge any commission on preparation of draft in favor of PMNRF.
Contributions could also be sent through money orders with no commission chargeable, the spokesman said adding that the contributions to PMNRF have been notified for 100% deduction from taxable income under section 80 (G) of the Income Tax Act.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday announced an ex-gratia relief of Rs 100,000 to the next of the kin of each of those killed when tsunamis struck the Indian coast at Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Kerala on Sunday.
The ex-gratia payment will be made from the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund (PMNRF), a PMO spokesman said.

Source: Rediff.com

The killer tsunami, which took the breath of thousands around the world, unleashed its fury across the coastline of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, A.P and parts of Orissa. The costal Tamil Nadu was among the worst hit by Sunday’s tsunami spreading it’s killer wave from Chennai to Kanyakumari and the neighboring state Kerala. The latest reports from rediff.com claim that the killer wave took a toll of more than 3200 in Tamil Nadu itself, with Nagapattinam accounting for 1700 deaths.

As per the reports from my family and friends, the killer wave claimed around 400 lives in Kulachal (The southern most tip of Tamil Nadu/India) and another 400 to 500 in Kanyakumari most of whom are children. And the scene is still getting worse with many people gone missing most of which are fisherman.

Around 500 people, who got trapped inside the Vivekananda rock memorial in kanyakumari, were later transported to safety by helicopters – reports.

“ For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. ”- Isaiah 9:6

Wish Aou All a Merry Christmas.

Past 25 days have been sleepless day/nights for me, as I am yet to learn the techniques of commanding an army and the skills of a general. Yes, it’s all part of game?!? I am talking about the PC game Command & Conquer: Generals which was introduced to me by James, here’s what he has to say about my game:

“Sam’s Insomnia: They call me the dealer... It's true. I have introduced Sam to Command & Conquer: Generals... and he's not slept since! Truly international appeal - I hope he doesn't work out how to build a nuke too soon. The team responsible for Sam's insomnia has been busy working on another RTS title called Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle-Earth, and it's due out next week!” Read more... (Note: This link takes you to the entire blog content, please scroll down and look out for ‘Sam's Insomnia’)

Yes, James is right in saying that I doesn’t work out how to build a nuclear missile soon; that’s where I always fail. Hmm…if it’s not enough playing against the computer, the real talents come out when you play against a human opponent within a network. I played against Steve and James other day and I could not survive for more than 10 minutes. Fine, one also need to consider the 20 days experience I have in these games against the two year experience James and Steve has ;)

Hopefully I will get a deluxe edition of C&C Generals next week.

It's been more than a month I've updated my blog. So my target this weekend is to update the blog, add a link to james blog and add a bit of RSS feed.