Last night I was talking with Keith Pleas. Keith is a developer that I’ve known for more than a decade now. He worked on the help system in Windows 95. He also owned a furniture shop where he imported from around the world, particularly in the Asian Pacific. So, he’s well connected in that part of the world.

Last night he told me that we haven’t even heard how bad the tsunami was. He told of one island where 20,000 people used to live. He said he heard that only 600 lived.

Today the death toll was increased to 116,000 (thanks to Memeorandum for the link). That’s a number that’s beyond my comprehension.

One of Keith’s friends, Susi, who lives in Bali and travels frequently to Indonesia, has started a blog: the Aceh Aid Bucket Brigade.

You know, I started out the week by being insensitive. A boor. I said that blogs had missed the initial story. They had. The mainstream press had gotten the original story first. But blogs, like Susi’s, are now helping build new kinds of relief networks and news networks.

By the way, Susi reports that Continental Airlines is opening its doors wide. Corporate giving is really important at times like these. It’s where corporations can show they are important parts of our society. Congrats to eBay, Google, Amazon, Apple for linking to relief efforts.

Microsoft is late to this party. B

…excerpt from: radio.weblogs.com…

GlobeLens – GlobeBlog
Here are some people blogging from the island of Sri Lanka off the Indian coast. It was arguably the worst hit country in the tsunami disaster.

Tsunami update: Microsoft responds, bloggers organize, video torrents
A quick roundup of items related to the tsunami disaster. Image: mannequin in pile of wreckage in Thailand, shot by blogger and NBC correspondent Kevin Sites who is on assignment in Asia covering the story. (Link)

*Following up on a previous BoingBoing post, an anonymous Microsoft employee says:

Responding to this: “Reader J. Hahn says, “I am particularly impressed with Amazon.com…‘s Red Cross donation counter that proves Americans are not ‘stingy.’ Also, as a Mac user, I was proud to go to the apple.com… site and see not one product ad on their front page – just links to aid and donation sites, and Microsoft had not one mention of the disaster.”

Most of Microsoft’s efforts regarding Tsunami relief is focused internally. MS offers a dollar for dollar charitable donation match to all FTE, and is doing everything it can to expidite the process of trying to get the money to where it will do the most good.

* Tsunami Outreach: Bloggers Without Borders’ first international project launched last night. Link (Thanks, Sean)

Boing Boing: Tsunami account from Burning Man gate manager
I don’t know who or what to acknowledge for my presence. That will take a lot of soul-searching. I am certainly among the luckiest people in Thailand right now. According to local news it looks like my town had a SURVIVAL rate of 60%. Please think of what you value. Look around, have you given a hug to someone recently? Anyone? If everything you had were taken away, who would you turn too? In the end it is each other, not the things, that make the world spin. I won’t ever forget that.

This morning I’ve been seeing photos and reading accounts of the terrible earthquake
that hit Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India, Thailand and others. The death toll is
up to 23,000 people. Here’s a round-up of what I’ve found (mostly through Scoble,
BoingBoing, WorldChanging
and Waxy):

• Photos
  of the after-effects of the tidal wave.
• Evelyn Rodriguez got
  slammed by the wave, but she’s okay.
• Michael Dobbs talks about being
  swept out to sea.
• More
  photos of the wave hitting Phuket and the
  aftermath%2

…excerpt from: www.darrenbarefoot.com…

Tsunami Relief
Like so many others around the world, we at Google are following the devastation caused by the earthquake and tsunami that has hit many parts of Asia and east Africa. Below are a few sites already set up to provide information and handle donations for victims throughout the region. Our thoughts are with everyone who has been affected.