OK unless you have been without TV or radio for the last couple of days
you will know about this disaster in the Indian Ocean.
There is a main charity umbrella organisation now set up to take
donations - 1 alone would do a lot in food/clean water for someone
affected. It is Christmas, even if all you can spare is a 10......
0870 -6060 900

OR online visit www.dec.org.uk to donate online

*** Further announcement - banks etc will NOT be charging the usual clearing fees for donations made by credit card***
***Lastly it was announced today that the POST OFFICE will take cash or cheques
over the counter as donations***

Well done bunny. Do you think donating via credit card line means credit card companies still take their commission? It will be a couple of days before banks are up and running to accept donations, I hear.

Good point JJ and to be honest I don't know the answer....I know
what we would all HOPE would be the answer (that they would waive it)
but....They are launching TV appeals apparently today too.

IF anyone is going to ask then perhaps they could ask if BT or whoever is giving up their slice of the 0870 call costs also

and will the recipients share of that 0870 call also be added to the donations given
(holders of 0870 nos get 1 or 2p per minute per call as well as the telephone companies)

Shocking new video footage on the BBC home page of the whole thing taking place. I am totally speechless its like nothing I have ever seen before in my life it is like no script a disaster movie could muster. Simple incredible I am totally shocked. Caught on video by somebody preparing for a wedding its just.. I don't know... words just fail me...

I feel like I should drop everything now and get over there to help out.

Aside of the admin. queries on handling charges etc, all of which are
very valid don't get me wrong, but aside of that, any cash that people
feel they can donate will in the main, go to assisting those affected.
Ultimately getting assistance to these people is the biggest issue.

Here is the footage...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/news_web/video/40672000/bb/40672255_bb_16x9.asx

Couldn't access that report, but have accessed others at
the BBC site - this is going to take many months surely to
simply put back some type of normal life/infrastructure for
many of these people. Some areas are totally dependent on
tourism, goodness knows what economic implications there will
be now for those regions.

The images coming out on the news tonight are just terrible. Makes my heart sink.

Scrip,

Just watched the link, and words can't describe the sheer horror of it all.

Come on all, we have to donate to help these people!

After seeing the new pictures earlier today I phoned up and pledged a months "wages". A heavy heart though as money really means nothing in terms of these types of events. I even phoned up and offered to go as part of the relief effort but I guess they really need professionals at times like these.

Last week I had a moan about Planestation shares but the Tsunami more than puts things into perspective ...my god it does. I bet many of us have shares that are worth nothing to us but collectively would probably raise thousands of pounds. I just wish there was some way i could donate these, without charges, in the knowledge that all the proceeds would go as aid. If anybody knows if this is being done please post and let me know.

Philcom, try these people. You would have to ask them if they had any special plans in view of the tsunami disaster.

http://www.sharegift.org/sharegift/

I have now updated the header on this thread to show the DEC website address
for online donations and also to include the fact that the Post Office is
now taking donations across the counter in cash or cheques.

UK Govt More Than Triples Donation To Tsunami Victims
LONDON (AP)--The U.K. government more than tripled its relief donation to victims of the Asian tidal wave Thursday, bringing its overall contribution to GBP50 million.

The Department for International Development said the government would add an extra GBP35 million to its already pledged GBP15 million.

Prime Minister Tony Blair has pledged that the U.K. is ready to help those hit "in any way we can."

Britons have donated GBP20 million to a tsunami disaster fund, a group of charities said Thursday, while leading English soccer clubs announced they would add GBP1 million to the relief effort.

A spokeswoman for Blair's Downing Street office said that the amount pledged was only the first phase of the government's humanitarian effort.

She said the prime minister had no plans to end his family holiday in Egypt early in response to the disaster, and added that he spoke to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan Wednesday.

The Foreign Office, meanwhile, said 27 Britons have died in the earthquake-driven tidal waves, with 21 deaths occurring in Thailand, three in Sri Lanka and three in the Maldives.

The U.K. ambassador to Thailand said hundreds more U.K. citizens may be missing, as Christmas is the peak season for visits to the southeast Asian country.

"We are talking, at the least, in the twenties of deaths, injured in the hundreds," Ambassador David Fall told British Broadcasting Corp. radio. "Missing? It is very difficult to say - scores, though it may reach into the hundreds. There could have been thousands (of British people) in Phuket and other affected areas at the time."

ttt

Thanks for that update Jeff - looks like the wheels are turning
in the political world, the logistics must be a nightmare - so many
places needing so much and yesterday - huge task.

Hope Tony is enjoying his holiday.

Hmmm yes that's one factor that has been noted by the media also,
I suppose it could be said that if the dept heads are doing their
jobs adequately the 'CEO' isn't necessarily required - but it does tend
to look just a tad better if he's seen to be around and about!

Just a tad!!

I bet its a freebie opto!

LOL Dave!

Think the best thing anyone is is able to can do is to book a holiday in the area as soon as practical and spend some cash in the local economy.

That's a good point Partridge, but it could be some considerable
time before the tourist industry can get going again.

Heard a local guy on the radio yesterday suggesting there is a misconception about the size of the affected area relative to the whole tourist area (certainly in Sri Lanka and Thailand) - think he said it was about 10%. Good luck with your efforts Bunny - now going off to hold a bucket outside my local Tesco.

Good luck Partridge
:>)

bunny

Thanks for posting the link to dec.org.uk.

I have sent off a donation this morning using that link.

The event is simply unblieveable and of Biblical proportions.

May we never forget our good fortune!

Our local Sainsbury's has a bucket at the end of each check-out desk.

Have now returned after two hours at Tesco. Been holding tins for various charities for over 25 years and never seen anything like it - had to use the bucket for coins and tin for notes. Collected comfortably over 1000. One (unprompted) message from the punters was that Tony Blair is doing himself no good by keeping low profile, hope he digs deep personally in the near future.

Pop your feet up Partridge after your hard work and I'll
get you a cuppa and a sandwich from the tea-rooms. :>)
Great to know people are still responding so generously,
yes Tony hasn't exactly rewritten the diplomatic guide with
steadfastly staying away on holiday has he!

Politically, I sit just to right of Attilla the Hun and would be glad to see the back of Bliar and the rest of his cronies. That said, he does have a right to enjoy his holiday in peace and I can't exactly see why he should feel a need to cut it short.

Hil: I knew I had someone sitting on my right hand and I'm delighted to discover it's you :))

If Blair cut his holiday short he'd probably be accused of publicity-seeking political opportunism. And what can he do to make things better, anyway?

Best keep him out of it and let the heartfelt response from the public speak.

I don't doubt for one minute that Blair hasn't got a hand on whats happening - and no im not a fan. I agree with MM that sometimes the public say it all and this time I feel this is whats happening - and my goodness with what gusto

Yes it's good to see isn't it!
So often all we hear is about the less positive stuff going on
and for once it's a real positive pulling together by people.
Will it last? Well I doubt it, last real public 'pull-together'
I think was Diana's death/funeral etc.
Sad it's always something tragic that brings out the best in people.

Keep the money comming please.

I have been in contact with friends and family in Thailand and all aid is desperatly appreciated.

Well done everyone.

Happy New year

Blair could immediately improve matters and world opinion of Britain by



































Resigning Now rather than later.

Having written the above I am also very impressed by the people of this an other countries coming together to give aid. I hope one of the gains from this horrific event (earth quake) is that people realise we all have more in common than is sometimes admitted and also that there will be genuine attempts to fund and organise the United Nations to be able help in other problem areas and, for the true advancement of those areas not for the gain of the states with largest power base.

To briefly mention methods of Contribution on-line and some benefits. I made a contribution to Medicin sans Frontiere (UK) online to their Indian ocean appeal and they pointed out on their web page that if it was not an anonymous contribution but from a UK Taxpayer, a donation of 25 would to them be worth 32-50 under gift aid charities arrangements. The web was quick, secure , and an acknowledgement was received automatically and transaction was debited to my account within 24 hours. So on-line I think is good.

I did much the same via the Oxfam site which similarly impressed me with the info given about Gift Aid - i received a nice email from Oxfam and overall the transaction went through very smoothly and securely. I read this today http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4140823.stm ....I still feel numb.

Im making a donation this month and ready to carry on for the foreseable future as i get my wages. This has to be for the long term, i urge others to join me and many others.

Here is a link to the ICRC (RedCross) portal web site:-

http://www.familylinks.icrc.org/home.nsf/home/webfamilylinks

It has links to various other sites, including the tsunami affected areas:-

Importantly, it is now listing NAMES OF MISSING PERSONS - and their other personal details and it should be an excellent site to assist in re-establishing contact with loved ones.

It says, "Select the country or region which concerns you, and click on the appropriate link." and covers

Bay of Bengal (Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand, India - and other local countries.)

Somalia, Haiti, Gulf 2003 (the Iraq conflict), Angola, Liberia - Sierra Leone, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina and 'All Other Countries'

What an amazing amount of money from Germany

Germany increases its aid pledge to tsunami victims from $27m to $670m - becoming the biggest contributor to the relief effort

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair says the UK government will spend "several hundred million" dollars on relief and reconstruction efforts in the coming weeks

BBC News

Do we know if donations Gift-Aided (28% uplift by HMG (lower rate tax) is to be part of that which HMG says is to be paid by them (ie of the 350M) or can we expect that to be part of the individual contributors uplift?

No idea namreh3 - I've just updated the header - banks are NOT charging clearing fees
on donations made by credit card.

Well done folks, they need every penny and then some!

I already use gIft aid for monthly donations, and I would recommend anyone here using that method too for their favourite charities.

It saves you having to remeMber, and they claim tax back from Prudence!!!