Asian Disaster Info

Emergency Numbers:



UK Citizens: 020 7008 0000
Source:
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/environment/story.jsp?story=596147


Swiss Citizens: +41 31 325 33 33
Source:
http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/Swissinfo.html?siteSect=107&sid=5429757


NZ Citizens: 0800 432 111
Source:
http://www.nbr.co.nz/home/column_article.asp?id=10996&cid=8&cname=News


Australian citizens: 1800 002 214
+61 1300 555 135
Source:
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,11790569^661,00.html


Israeli citizens: 025303155
Source:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=74209


French Citizens: +94. 112.43.70.61 & 01.45.50.34.60
Source:
http://www.french.xinhuanet.com/french/2004-12/27/content_61206.htm
Nouvelles Frontieres & TUI: 01.45.16.77.79
Fram: 05.62.15.17.83
Club Med: 0810.810.810
Kuoni: 01.45.61.87.70
http://actu.voila.fr/Article/article_actu_france_041227093651.kvnyh30d.html

German Citizens: +49 030-5000-1000
Source:
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1440929,00.html




Travel Warnings:


http://seven.com.au/news/nationalnews/148297

Govt issues travel warningDate: 27/12/04

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has issued a general warning to Australians not to travel to Asian areas affected by a series of tsunamis.
In a formal warning issued on Monday, the department said Australians should avoid travel to Thailand's west coast and islands, and also to the southern region of the country.
Travel to the coastal areas of southern and eastern India, particularly Andaman and Nicobar islands, also should be avoided.
The strongest warning is for the Maldives.
The department said Australians should avoid all travel to the island nation until further notice.
Australians travelling to or from destinations hit by devastating tsunami waves across Asia will be offered refunds by many travel operators.
Qantas said travellers who had booked holiday packages to Thailand's resort island of Phuket and wished to cancel would be given a full refund.
Qantas spokeswoman Melissa Thomson said the airline's services would continue as normal.
"We don't fly to any of the affected areas," she said.
She said flights to and from the Thai capital Bangkok, Denpasar and Jakarta in Indonesia, and Mumbai in India would fly as scheduled.
Singapore Airlines said cancellation fees would be waived for passengers travelling to southern Thailand, the Maldives and Sri Lanka.
"We will waive cancellation fees as from yesterday and for the next two weeks," said Singapore Airlines public relations manager for the south-west Pacific Sam Stewart.
"We will review the situation in another two weeks and if we need to extend it, we will," Ms Stewart said.
She said, alternatively, passengers could defer their travel until the end of January.
The British government has agreed to help Australians in the Maldives affected by the tsunami.
Copyright © 2004 AAP



http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/story.jsp?story=596142

Travel firms search for 10,000 British holidaymakers
By Jason Bennetto
27 December 2004
Travel operators and embassy staff were working around the clock to find the estimated 10,000 British holidaymakers caught up in the devastation caused by yesterday's tsunami.
Hundreds of travellers are thought to be stranded in some of the more isolated and badly hit parts of the region. British embassy officials and holiday tour reps have been travelling to coastal areas to co-ordinate the evacuation of the Britons.
The Foreign Office has issued warnings not to travel to the worst affected areas, while empty airliners were being sent to the region to bring holidaymakers home early.
The emergency telephone number set up by the Foreign Office to answer enquiries from those concerned for loved ones was deluged with enquiries throughout yesterday, with controllers describing the volume of calls as among the highest number ever experienced for a mass casualty incident.
But anxious relatives expressed frustration at the lines being continuously engaged. Lesley Cox, from Oxted, who has not heard from her daughter, Katy, 28, holidaying in Kerala, said: "We are desperately worried and I have been trying to get through all day, but have not managed to do so. It makes it so much more stressful, because you are then using a telephone line that she could be trying to get through on."
The Foreign Office sent an eight-strong rapid deployment team of consular to the Sri-Lankan capital of Colombo. Consular staff will attempt to land in the city of Galle in the south of the island by helicopter today and are also heading towards the devastated city of Male in the Maldives. Two empty charter flights left Manchester and Gatwick yesterday, heading for Colombo and and were also heading for the devastated city of Male in the Maldives to bring holidaymakers home. Four such flights were expected to leave for the Maldives last night.
The Sri Lankan consulate is also hoping to get a member of staff to the Maldives by today.
An emergency team from the British embassy in Bangkok is making a seven- hour journey by road to Phuket. David Fall, the British ambassador to Thailand, is among those travelling to Phuket. Keith Betton, head of corporate affairs at the Association of British Travel Agents (Abta), which represents the package holiday companies, estimated that about 10,000 package holidaymakers were in the area.
He said: "The first thing we have got to do is find all the holidaymakers and make sure they are safe and ok. This is a challenge in some areas. But within 24 hours it should become a lot easier."
He said that the holiday companies would be working through lists of clients, but that there was no way of knowing how many independent travellers had been affected.
In the Maldives, holiday representatives were telephoning the hotels to check on conditions, but in the worst hit parts of Sri Lanka, where the telephone system had been destroyed, they were having to make their way along badly damaged roads.
Travel firms spent yesterday trying to contact hundreds of holidaymakers who were due to fly from Britain to disaster-hit regions to warn them that their flights had been cancelled. They will be offered a refund or alternative holidays. A significant number, however, could not be reached on Boxing Day and are expected to turn up at the airport today.
"This is likely to continue for a number of days, or weeks," warned Mr Betton. He did, however, advise holidaymakers to contact their tour operators or travel agents for advice.
"We are just making assessments at the moment as to where it is fine to leave people and where it is important to take people out, and arranging flights to bring them home, and forward cancelling holidays for people about to go," he said.
The Federation of Tour Operators said that tour operators were urgently making the necessary arrangements to move those at risk to safety. The Foreign Office emergency telephone number is 020 7008 0000.


http://www.french.xinhuanet.com/french/2004-12/27/content_61256.htm

La France déconseille aux touristes de se rendre dans les pays asiatiques dévastés par les raz-de-marée

2004-12-27 10:08:37

PARIS, 26 décembre (XINHUANET) -- Le ministère français des Affaires étrangères a déconseillé dimanche aux Français de se rendre dans les pays d'Asie du sud et du sud-est dévastés par les raz-de-marée, leur demandant de reporter leurs séjours touristiques.
Dans la rubrique "conseils aux voyageurs" de son site internet, le ministère français déconseille formellement les déplacements pour les prochains jours en Inde dans le Tamil Nadu, l'Andra Pradesh et les îles Nicobar et Anadaman.
Il est conseillé de reporter tout séjour sur les îles de Langkwani et Penang en Malaisie durant les trois prochains jours. Pour le Sri Lanka, la France demande d'éviter tout déplacement dans la région côtière du sud et les principaux complexes hôteliers côtiers.
Concernant la Thaïlande, il est demandé d'éviter absolument le long de la côte sud-ouest du pays et sur les îles de la mer d'Andaman.
Des vagues géantes générées par le plus puissant séisme au monde depuis 40 ans ont déferlé dimanche sur plusieurs pays d'Asie, faisant près de 11 500 morts selon le dernier bilan, ravageant petits villages de pêcheurs et stations balnéaires où séjournaient de nombreux touristes étrangers. Fin



Donations to:


German Red Cross:
Key words "South Asia"
Account: 414141 at the Bank für Sozialwirtschaft, Pincode: 370 20500
Source:
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1440929,00.html

British Red Cross:
call 08705 125125 or send cheques made payable to Asia Earthquake and Floods Appeal to British Red Cross, FREEPOST, LOM18968, Sheffield, S98 12A
Source:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1417013_2,00.html



Info in Thailand:


Thai Red Cross Society:

URGENT! BLOOD GROUP NEEDED FOR HELP PEOPLE ARE INJURED " SUMATRA EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMIS IN THAILAND"
Thai Red Cross Nation Blood Centre is urgently need Blood who want like to donate blood please go to the Nation Blood Centre at 1871 Henry Dunant Road, Patumwan, Bangkok 10330
27 Dec 04 16:04 [Detail ]


Emergency telephone numbers; English-language help
Published on December 27, 2004
People concerned for the welfare of friends and relatives can call the emergency rescue centre at (076) 214 492 or (01) 643 2755.
An English-language call centre has been set up for those seeking information on missing foreign tourists at 199.
Those wishing to report
missing people should call 198.
From outside Thailand, call (international access code) 66 76 214492 or (international access code) 66 1 643 2755.
Local police stations may also be able to help. Call 191 and ask for the district police station in the area concerned.
If calling from outside Thailand, the number for the Phuket Provincial Police headquarters is (international access code) 66 76 212046. The Phuket Tourist Police can be reached at (international access code) 66 76 355015.
The numbers for Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ 24-hour co-ordinating centre for foreign nationals affected by tidal waves are 66 (0) 2 643 5262 and 66 (0) 2 643 5000 ext. 5003 and 5502.
Below is a list of numbers for embassies in Bangkok. Expect to hear a recorded message giving another number for the emergency duty officer. Remember to prefix the number with the appropriate international access code.
Australia 66 2 287 2680
Belgium 66 2 679 5454
Canada 66 2 636 0540
China 66 2 245 7032/3 or 2 245 7036
Denmark 66 2 213 2021/5 or 245 7036
Finland 66 2 256 9306/9
France 66 2 266 8250/6 or 2 266 0550/3
Germany 66 2 287 9000
Ireland 66 638 0303
Israel 66 2 260 4854/9
Singapore 66 2 286-2111
UK 66 2 253-0191/9
USA 66 2 205-4000.
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2004/12/27/national/data/national_15898214.html