Monthly Archives: December 2006

Tsunami torn Aceh is still in trouble –and now, devastating Flash Floods

Asia

Today, from IDEP, in Bali Indonesia, with whom I worked very closely during the aftermath of the disastrous tsunami two years ago. This is urgent and not on their website yet:

 

IDEP’s Emergency Response to
Flash Floods in Aceh & North Sumatra

Dear Friends of IDEP,

Two years after the Indian Ocean tsunami devastated the province, Aceh is struggling with a new disaster.

Torrential rains over the past week have triggered flash floods and landslides which have forced around 300,000 to flee their homes on the island of Sumatra, with Aceh and North Sumatra provinces the worst hit.

As of yesterday reports showed that about 100,000 people were stranded by floods which have claimed at least 110 lives. Water levels, which rose to as high as five meters in some places, have been receding, but today the sky was dark again with clouds. We pray that the rains will not start again.

Officials say a combination of heavy rains and widespread unregulated deforestation are to blame for the flash flooding. By removing dense vegetation the ground is less able to absorb heavy rainfall, creating torrents of water that quickly overwhelm river systems.

About IDEP’s current response activities in the area



IDEP’s emergency response partner Yayasan Bahari’s rescue team have have been working around the clock for several days now. Today they found about 70 bodies.

They have been concentrating on Search and Rescue and evacuating as many people as possible from the still isolated regions while getting emergency supplies to thousands of stranded people who are short of water and food.

They are focusing on Tamiang Hulu which is next to Kuala Simpang / Sigli, Tamiyang / Pulau Tiga Aceh, Northern Sumatra, where three sub districts are still completely isolated. Whole villages have been swallowed by flood waters with residents escaping to find refuge on higher ground or trapped on the roofs of their houses. Roads leading to many of the affected areas are blocked due to both flooding and landslides, which is making access extremely difficult.

Today IDEP received a pledge of support in the form of urgently needed donated boats – however we need to repair or buy motors for them, which will cost about $1,000 US per motor x 2 boats we will be looking into options on this tomorrow – if anyone is able to help with this please contact us immediately.

How you can help…

IDEP is urgently seeking immediate support for family support kits, temporary shelters, field kitchens, water an sanitation supplies as well as distribution and search and rescue logistics.

For emergency supplies IDEP is working with our partners CV Sarawsati (CVS) who helped us with supplies and delivery for the 2005 Tsunami, as well as the Jogyakarta and West Java Quake responses earlier this year. CVS can supply us with aid kits such as the following immediately should support be available…

To make a donation please go to our website: www.idepfoundation.org/idep_donate.php

Currently, IDEP can accept donations by two means:

1) Online Credit Card Donations through the National Heritage Foundation

Visit www.idepfoundation.org/idep_donate.php and select the ‘On-line Credit Card Donation’ option. You will be directed to the National Heritage Foundation website where you can process your donation through their secure site. Donations are accepted on our behalf by the National Heritage Foundation in the USA which is a registered 501-(c)(3) charity. Donation made through NHF are tax deductible in the United States.

Don’t forget, when you register your donation on our website, if you wish to earmark the funds for a particular project please indicate the project name.

2) Wire transfer to our bank account

Our bank account details:

If you are wire transferring funds please notify IDEP by filling in our donation registration form  on-line at: www.idepfoundation.org/idep_donate.php or emailing donate@idepfoundation.org. Please indicate the amount, the originating currency (i.e. US  dollars, UK pounds, etc), bank name and city from which the transfer was made, your name (as you would like to be listed on the donor list), and the date of the transfer. A receipt will be sent once the funds have arrived. Also, if you wish to earmark the funds for a particular project please indicate the project name.

Thank You so much to everyone who can help make this emergency response possible and for any support you are able to  provide.

Mad River to finally open this weekend

Vermont

While Jay Peak, in it’s very own weather zone, is boasting snow (only 60 miles north of us) and Denver is getting another 30 inches on top of the coupla feet they got last week, poor little Mad River Glen (the reason we live in Vermont) is finally going to open this weekend with a minimal base and minimal snow on top of that. Most of the other resorts around here are suffereing as well, but now that the cold has set in at least they can confidently make snow. Mad River actually has some snow making equipment as well, but oh, how I hate skiing on that. There are about 2 inches of snow in our front yard and I just can’t take it any more. I’m going to put in my old tele “rock skis” and go ski around the yard, grab the mail and then get back to work. No point in going out into the woods as there’s never as much snow in there as there is out in the open. For that, I can’t even justify snow shoes, though flip flops would be pushing it….

Congrats to Alison Bechdel: Time Mag’s #1 book of the year

Community Cheerleading

“LOCAL GIRL DOES GOOD”

Okay, can’t be helped. She lives very nearby. So that means to me, she’s a local yokel. Although, as I don’t know her, I suppose that merely makes me a fan. (blush)

Alison’s book, Fun Home, which I have blogged about, recommended and given to number of friends is on top of Time Mag’s 10 Best Books for 2006. I dont’ read Time, but I do peek at her blog occasionally which is where a typically hilariously titled post when she learned about this.

But it’s not just Time. It’s on a LOT of lists. From another of Alison’s posts:

  • The Times (London) said Fun Home was one of the 10 best books of 2006—books! Not “graphic books,” not “memoirs” (not that there’s anything wrong with that), just Books. Crikey! Sarah Waters’ Night Watch is number 3. Fun Home is number 10.
  • Salon has posted an excerpt and an interview with me.
  • Time and Entertainment Weekly have both included Fun Home in their ‘best of the year’ round-ups. I think they’re on the newsstands now.
  • Medusa…I mean Amazon.com has picked FH as one of the Top 50 Books of 2006 (it’s #44 on the list), and one of the 10 best memoirs.

    I also heard it discussed on this episode of On Point.

    I’m sure this is a VERY abbreviated list.

    • Doug Reilly: LIVESTRONG

    Community Cheerleading

    Doug Reilly, along with his family, has fought an invansive cancer for a number of years. This never stopped Doug from being one of the smiliest guys at TechEd, answering posts on ASPAlliance listserver from the hospital and writing and sharing so much with so many through many ASP communities. Doug passed away today, quietly and peacefully, at home with his wife and children at his side. His wife Jean has been keeping his blog updated with his status and even today, somehow, she took the time and love to share with us this very very sad news. Even still, this evening she added another post about arrangements.

    While does was still physically strong, he was cycling and fundraising for the LIVESTRONG foundation. He never let up and he truly lived strong right up until the end.

    We will truly miss you Doug. Thanks for everything.

    I’ve written some more about Doug over here on my DevLife blog.

    The falls behind my house

    Vermont

    There are some beautiful falls that I can get to from my backyard, though they are a little off the beaten path.

    I finally brought my camera back there yesterday. It’s really hard to capture the full impact of the falls which are about 20 or 25 feet high, fall into a beautiful small pool of water and then go down a stream to meet a larger stream. So in addition to these pics, I took a short video. The high quality video is 24 MB, the low quality version is about 4MB.

    Go Red for Women: Burlington Feb 9th

    Purely Personal

    is the American Heart Association’s campaign to raise awareness of the fact that women get heart disease and heart attacks, too! We need to educate ourselves. A friend of my sister’s had clear signs of a heart attack in her early 40’s (along with a family history of both her father and grandfather dying from heart attacks in their 40’s and the fact that she was already on heart medicine), but the obvious warnings were ignored by her doctor because she was a women and women don’t get heart attacks. She called 911 when she was having her heart attack and they basically told her to take some indigestion medicine. She managed to get someone to take her to the hospital where doctor’s had to immediately perform open heart surgery on her, which saved her life. So, I’m definitely a big supporter of this campaign.

    There will be a Go Red for Women luncheon in Burlington on Feb 9th. A dear friend is one of the local Chairs of this and I am sponsoring a table of 10.

    You can learn more about the Burlington event here, if you’d like to participate or donate a silent auction item.

    Vermont.NET’s Next Meeting: All the tools we love

    dotNET

    The January 8th VTdotNET meeting is shaping up with a LOT of people demoing their favorite tools.

    Here’s the roster so far:

    VTdotNet’ers show off Developer Tools We Love
    Chris DeGuise: ReSharper (20)
    Dave Burke: CodeSmith (20) 
    Rob Hale: Beyond Compare (10)
    Bret Griswold: Code Charge Studio (10)
    Julie Lerman: SnagIt, PureText, TimeSnapper & 2 PowerToys(15)
    Mike Soulia: XMLSpy (xpath features) (15)
    Bob LoCicero: NotePad++, ExamDiff, SyncToy, XmlNotepad & Toad Free Modeller (15)

    It’s going to be fast, furious and fun!

    Thanks to Altova for steppinig up to sponsor the pizza and soda for the meeting.