Lapang Islanders in Indonesia

"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) -

“ … Here is another one. A change in what Human nature will allow for government. "Careful, Kryon, don't talk about politics. You'll get in trouble." I won't get in trouble. I'm going to tell you to watch for leadership that cares about you. "You mean politics is going to change?" It already has. It's beginning. Watch for it. You're going to see a total phase-out of old energy dictatorships eventually. The potential is that you're going to see that before 2013.

They're going to fall over, you know, because the energy of the population will not sustain an old energy leader ..."

(Live Kryon Channelings was given 7 times within the United Nations building.)


Question: Dear Kryon: I live in Spain. I am sorry if I will ask you a question you might have already answered, but the translations of your books are very slow and I might not have gathered all information you have already given. I am quite concerned about abandoned animals. It seems that many people buy animals for their children and as soon as they grow, they set them out somewhere. Recently I had the occasion to see a small kitten in the middle of the street. I did not immediately react, since I could have stopped and taken it, without getting out of the car. So, I went on and at the first occasion I could turn, I went back to see if I could take the kitten, but it was to late, somebody had already killed it. This happened some month ago, but I still feel very sorry for that kitten. I just would like to know, what kind of entity are these animals and how does this fit in our world. Are these entities which choose this kind of life, like we do choose our kind of Human life? I see so many abandoned animals and every time I see one, my heart aches... I would like to know more about them.

Answer: Dear one, indeed the answer has been given, but let us give it again so you all understand. Animals are here on earth for three (3) reasons.

(1) The balance of biological life. . . the circle of energy that is needed for you to exist in what you call "nature."

(2) To be harvested. Yes, it's true. Many exist for your sustenance, and this is appropriate. It is a harmony between Human and animal, and always has. Remember the buffalo that willingly came into the indigenous tribes to be sacrificed when called? These are stories that you should examine again. The inappropriateness of today's culture is how these precious creatures are treated. Did you know that if there was an honoring ceremony at their death, they would nourish you better? Did you know that there is ceremony that could benefit all of humanity in this way. Perhaps it's time you saw it.

(3) To be loved and to love. For many cultures, animals serve as surrogate children, loved and taken care of. It gives Humans a chance to show compassion when they need it, and to have unconditional love when they need it. This is extremely important to many, and provides balance and centering for many.

Do animals know all this? At a basic level, they do. Not in the way you "know," but in a cellular awareness they understand that they are here in service to planet earth. If you honor them in all three instances, then balance will be the result. Your feelings about their treatment is important. Temper your reactions with the spiritual logic of their appropriateness and their service to humanity. Honor them in all three cases.

Japan's Antarctic whaling hunt ruled 'not scientific'

Japan's Antarctic whaling hunt ruled 'not scientific'
Representatives of Japan and Australia shake hands at the court in The Hague. (NOS/ANP) - 31 March 2014
"Fast-Tracking" - Feb 8, 2014 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Reference to Fukushima / H-bomb nuclear pollution and a warning about nuclear > 20 Min)

China calls for peaceful settlement of maritime disputes

China calls for peaceful settlement of maritime disputes
Wang Min, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, speaks during a meeting to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the enforcement of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, at the UN headquarters in New York, on June 9, 2014. The Chinese envoy on Monday called for a harmonious maritime order, saying that maritime disputes should be settled through negotiation between the parties directly involved. (Xinhua/Niu Xiaolei)

UNCLOS 200 nautical miles vs China claimed territorial waters

UNCLOS 200 nautical miles vs China claimed territorial waters

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Four perish and one arrested after migrant cargo ship lands in Italy

Italian authorities have begun investigating what happened to a cargo ship intercepted with 900 migrants on board and no crew. At least four migrants have died, after apparently trying to escape to Europe from Syria.

Deutsche Welle, 31 Dec 2014


It was a disaster narrowly averted, according to the Italian Navy on Wednesday, that it intercepted a cargo ship with 900, mostly Syrian, refugees on board before the vessel completed its collision course with the rocky shoreline.

News agency Reuters, quoting an Italian Red Cross spokeswoman, said at least four of the migrants had died, and that one woman had gone into labor as the passengers began to be brought ashore in the southwestern Italian town of Gallipoli.

Having got into difficulties after heading up the rescue mission for the Norman Atlantic ferry disaster, the Moldovan-flagged Blue Sky M dispatched a distress signal on Tuesday, prompting Italy's coast guard to send helicopters.

A 'race against the clock'

Six officers boarded the ship, where they found no crew, but an engine locked on a course heading straight for the coast of Puglia, which is mostly rocks and cliffs. After some frantic moments on the bridge, the officers were able to unlock the engine and bring the boat under control just five miles (eight kilometers) from the mainland. They then guided the ship into the port of Gallipoli.

"It was a real race against the clock, " said coast guard spokesman Filippo Marini, adding that it was "a difficult and delicate operation, but they managed to do it." The coast guard's official Twitter account declared that a "massacre" had been avoided.

The Greek Coast Guard originally responded to the distress call, but after a very cursory check, allowed the Blue Sky M to continue on its way near the island of Corfu.

It is believed that the crew were human traffickers, who are known to jump ship when they suspect they will be intercepted by police or military. The origin and the final destination of the ship are still unknown as the Italian authorities begin the process of identifying the refugees, who are now being housed in public buildings.

One man suspected to have been involved with the traffickers was arrested in Gallipoli, according to Reuters.

The Italian Coast Guard has vast experience in rescuing scores of people fleeing conflict in their homeland via the Mediterranean Sea. More than 170,000 people have landed on Italy's shore in 2014 alone, and hundreds if not thousands more have perished in their attempt to make the crossing. That number is likely to increase as the conflicts in Libya and Syria show no sign of stopping.

es/tj (AFP, Reuters)


Related Article:


Ferry disaster survivors describe chaos and panic

Yahoo – AFP, Ljubomir Milasin, 30 Dec 2014

A survivor of the Norman Atlantic hugs her children after arriving at the
 Elefsina military airport in Athens on December 29, 2014 (AFP)

Survivors of the Norman Atlantic ferry disaster described chaos, panic, and anger as they sought to escape the vessel after it burst into flames in stormy weather Sunday.

"It was panic because there were over 400 of us who were all supposed to use the same emergency exit," Greek passenger Urania Thireou told AFP at a hotel in the Italian port city of Brindisi, after waiting 23 hours on the burning ship to be rescued.

"There were crew members around, but even they were panicked (because) it was impossible to organise so many people," Thireou said.

A photo grab from a video by the Marina
 Militare Italiana on December 29, 2014,
shows the rescue operation of passengers
by helicopter from the Norman Atlantic,
adrift in the Adriatic Sea off Albania
She said her own salvation came from feeling "anger that gave me the force to stay alive."

French passenger Philippe Moyses gave an equally emotional account of "terror" amid the disaster, during which he "looked death in the face" in a way that has deeply marked him.

"This morning I got up (after) sleeping like a log, I sat on the edge of the bed, and... I just started crying," Moyses, a 62-year-old resident of Bordeaux, said from his hotel after being among the last passengers lifted by helicopter from the burning ferry.

Thireou said the lack of coordination aboard in responding in the emergency early on was the most critical failing in the catastrophe, which as of Tuesday afternoon had claimed a provisional total of 13 lives.

"At the start, there were people who got into the biggest lifeboat," she told AFP of the amorphous rushing of passengers. "They got it into the water, but we were told afterwards that they were not rescued."

Despite that news and the bleak situation aboard the Norman Atlantic, Thireou says she quickly focused all her energy and emotions on surviving the calamity.

"I wasn't scared of dying then, (and) I understood that I had to remain positive," Thireou says.

"I was also angry, and this anger kept me alive (and) gave me strength, though I lost that courage when night fell."

Look death in the face

Moyses similarly described an atmosphere of growing dread as passengers counted hours ticking by during the long and laborious rescue operation.

"There were 30 men left to evacuate at the end," the Frenchman recalled. "There were flames under the floorboards. I nearly passed out, and they lifted me out by helicopter.

Rescued passenger of the Norman Atlantic 
accident Marko Gondolo, 40, holds his
 daughter Serafina, 5, at the airport in 
Elefsina, Greece, on December 29, 2014
"I'm completely emptied -- it was terrible. But it was when only 30 of us were left that we looked death in the face and said, 'That's it, we're going to make it out of this'," Moyses said, his eyes becoming moist with emotion again.

Moyses, one of ten French passengers on the ferry, paid tribute to the Italian military helicopter pilots who performed rescue flights in the midst of a violent storm, often at night, and at times as heavy black smoke billowed around the ship.

Thireou was also quick to thank rescuers, authorities involved, and in particular "the truck drivers aboard who tried several times, black with smoke, to hook the rescue tug's cable to the ferry."

Two Albanian sailors died when one of those cables snapped during rescue operations.

Wearing Red Cross-supplied slippers because all his luggage was lost in the ferry fire, Moyses said moves were afoot to get him outfitted again.

"I'm going with the (French) ambassador to buy shoes," he said, leaving his hotel to meet with diplomats who have assisted French nationals as they were brought from the ferry back to land.

Related Articles:



Albanian sailors killed during ferry rescue operation

Two Albanian sailors have died during efforts to tow a wrecked Greek ferry that has been adrift on the Adriatic Sea since a fire broke out on board. The official death toll from the disaster has reached 12.

Deutsche Welle, 30 Dec 2014


Police said the sailors were on a tugboat when they were reportedly hit by a rope they had attached to the charred Norman Atlantic ferry near the Albanian port of Vlore on Tuesday.

"One man died on the spot when one cable broke after it got stuck in the propeller. The other died on board a few minutes ago when being assisted by a helicopter medical team," a port authority official told Reuters.

The crippled ferry has been drifting in the Adriatic Sea since one of its car decks caught fire near the Greek island of Corfu on Sunday. The official death toll from the disaster now stands at 12.

Dutch company Smit Salvage is overseeing the operations to secure the ferry after 427 people, including 56 crew, were safely evacuated during a 36-hour rescue
mission that ended on Monday.

Martijn Schuttevaer, a spokesman for Smit's parent company Royal Boskalis Smit, said one line had been successfully connected to the ship early Tuesday, and that the priority was to get a heavier tow line attached. It was not clear if that was the operation underway when the Albanian sailors were struck.

‘Still smoke' on board

The Italian-flagged Norman Atlantic, chartered by Greek ferry operator ANEK Lines, was sailing from Patras in western Greece to Ancona in Italy when the blaze broke out on board.

According to Schuttevaer, crews were still patrolling the vessel to put out any remaining fire.

"There is still smoke," he said.

Meanwhile, authorities say discrepancies in the ferry's passenger list of 478 people are making it difficult to know how many individuals were on board, or how many of them, if any, are still missing.

Italian Transport Minister Maurizio Lupi said it was possible there were illegal migrants on board, and added that authorities were looking for a definitive list of passengers to cross-check it with the names of survivors.

Italian and Albanian magistrates ordered that the ship be seized in order to investigate the cause of the fire, which is still unknown, and magistrates in both countries are deciding together where the vessel should be towed, Italy's Transport Ministry said in a statement.

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Safety standards on passenger ships

Passenger ships are monitored regularly following international standards for the safety of passengers and crew. Minimum standards were put in place more than a century ago, after the sinking of the Titanic.

Deutsche Welle, 29 Dec 2014


When was the first convention for the safety at sea created?

The first convention originated in the wake of the sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912. An international conference was called in November 1913, aimed at creating international minimum standards for the safety at sea. A first version of the "International Treaty for the Safety of Life at Sea" (SOLAS) was compiled, and has since been repeatedly updated. The London-based International Maritime Organization (IMO) has held responsibility for the treaty since 1960; currently a 1974 version is in place. The IMO depends on mutual decisions by its members, so change often takes quite some time. The most recent amendment entered into force on January 1, 2013.

How are safety regulations monitored?

In 1993, the IMO adopted the International Management Code for the Safe Operations of Ships and for Pollution Prevention (ISM Code). The code defines what needs to be done to guarantee safe operation of a ship. Every ship owner and operator commits to compiling a set of documents known as the Safety Management System (SMS). They are bound to enforce the regulations, and check compliance. As a rule, the state under whose flag the vessel sails authorizes a recognized Classification Society to survey compliance. The Adria Norman Atlantic, which caught fire on Sunday morning, was last inspected five months ago.

When does inspection begin, and what doe monitors check?

The burning Ferry was finally evacuated
Inspection begins with the construction of the ship. The Classification Society checks building materials and components, and watches over the construction the on the wharf. Once the vessel is finished, the rescue and safety technology is tested. After the ship has been cleared, the Classification Society checks it on an annual basis. The state of the ship is thus constantly documented.

What happens after the inspection?

Port State Control gives a ship that meets all the requirements a class "A" document. If there are defects, they are noted in the inspection report along with the measures needed to correct the problems. Finally, the ship's data and the inspection report findings are transmitted to a central electronic data bank in Lisbon. If a ship does not meet the safety requirements, local authorities have the right to prevent it from leaving port. After the cruise liner Costa Concordia ran aground on rocks, numerous major shipping companies committed to stricter self inspection and higher safety standards.

How are safety standards ranked among various states that have ships sailing under their flag?

The Costa Concordia, shipwrecked
off the Italian coast
The Paris Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Port State Control takes care of that. It was created at France's initiative after the oil tanker Amoco Cadiz sank off the coast of Brittany in 1978. The memorandum has 27 signatories. Every year, the Paris MOU specifies the states' safety levels in "white", "grey" and "black" lists. According to the most recent list, published in July, France has the safest ships, followed by Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Germany ranks ninth. The poorest performing flags are the island nation of Dominica, Honduras and the United Republic of Tanzania.

How many passenger ships sank over the past years?

Insurers "Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty" document the loss of 90 passenger ships from 2001to 2012. They didn't all necessarily sink, however: the figure documents their final failure. Losses have dropped significantly in the past eight years. While more than ten ships were lost annually until 2006, that figure decreased to six ships that were written off every year over the past six years.

When a ship threatens to sink - on average, how long does it take to evacuate?

According to the SOLAS accord, lifeboats must be ready to be boarded and launched at the latest 30 minutes after the captain has given the appropriate signal. Within this time frame, they must also reach an acceptable safety distance from the ship in distress. Since 2002, cruise ships must be fully evacuated within 80 minutes. The Adria Norman Atlantic's disaster off the Greek coast shows, however, that this time frame is exceeded many times over if conditions are unfavorable.

Related Article:


Monday, December 29, 2014

Burning ferry to be towed to Italy as rescue airlifts continue

A ferry which set on fire during its journey from Greece to Italy is to be towed to Italy's mainland. One person has died, with hundreds more are still stranded on the ship in the Adriatic Sea.

Deutsche Welle, 28 Dec 2014


Italian officials said the Noram atlantic ferry would probably be taken to either Brindisi or Otranto on Italy's southern coast once towing cables could be securely attached.

Airlifts were also set to continue throughout Sunday night whilst the boat was towed towards mainland Italy.

The Italian navy said that two Italian air force helicopters, one Greek Superpuma helicopter, and an Italian plane were continuing to take part in the rescue, pulling up passengers in small groups. Other aircraft and 10 ships were also taking part in the operation in support roles.

Throughout Sunday, firefighting vessels and helicopters from Greece and Italy were sent to the scene as part of a rescue operation coordinated by Italy. Efforts were hindered, however, by extreme weather conditions.

One death

Italian Coast Guard official Giovanni Pettorino confirmed earlier on Sunday that one person had died during the rescue operation and another had been injured - both of whom were transported by Italian rescuers to the country's mainland.

The Italian-flagged ANEK Lines ferry is thought to have set ablaze after a fire broke out in the lower deck garage of the boat in the early hours of Sunday morning. At the time the ferry was about 44 nautical miles off the coast of Corfu, after leaving the Greek port of Patras en route to Ancona in Italy.

Intense heat

Hundreds were left stranded on smoke-filled top decks as the fire spread throughout the vessel. Passengers contacted Greek television stations via mobile phone to describe their horror as high winds, rain and violent seas lashed the burning ferry. Various passengers also reported that the heat was so intense that shoes had started to melt.

In total, there were 478 passengers and crew aboard the ship, around 234 of whom were said to be Greek. According to the German Foreign Office, 18 Germans were also on board.

Sunday, December 28, 2014

Meet the American Couple Saving Thousands Trying to Get to Europe

Time, Charlotte McDonald-Gibson, Dec. 22, 2014

Illegal immigrants are escorted by the officers of Turkey's Coast Guard Mediterranean
 Region Command as they arrive in Mersin, Turkey on Dec. 6, 2014. (Anadolu
Agency/Getty Images)

Christopher Catrambone and his wife have spent $7.5 million of their own money rescuing migrants

At first glance, there appears to be little in common between U.S. multi-millionaire Christopher Catrambone and the refugees risking death to cross the Mediterranean Sea. The businessman’s family live in comfort in Malta and take holidays on luxury yachts; the refugees have left their homes and they sail on dilapidated boats.

But rewind a few generations and it was Catrambone’s relatives making sea journeys from Italy and Ireland to seek a better life in the United States. Then when Hurricane Katrina struck Louisiana in 2005 and destroyed Catrambone’s home, he fled the devastation and relocated to Europe. “I myself was a displaced person,” he says, “a Katrina refugee.”

In the summer of 2014, Catrambone and his wife Regina channelled that empathy – and $7.5m of the family’s personal wealth – into an extraordinary mission to launch the world’s first private search and rescue operation. The aim of the Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) was to locate the flimsy vessels overloaded with men, woman and children trying to reach sanctuary in Europe, and save the lives of the passengers if they were in danger.

“We’re not here to save the world, we’re here to help people who are in desperate need,” says Catrambone, whose fortune comes from a business offering services to companies in conflict zones. “We leveraged nearly 50% of our savings on this project because it was that important to us. ”Now they are appealing for the public’s help to keep the operation going. Global conflicts have forced record numbers of people on perilous voyages to Europe, but rich nations have scaled back operations to save them – a situation Catrambone finds astonishing. “We’re talking about our own loss of human dignity as a society,” he says. “We ignore people dying at sea – you cannot ignore that.”

Catrambone’s Phoenix I set sail on the Mediterranean on August 25th, with the 40-meter ship carrying two remote-piloted aircraft, two inflatable boats and a crew of technical and medical experts. During their 60 days in international waters, MOAS assisted nearly 3,000 people in jeopardy at sea. While an impressive figure, that’s still just a small proportion of the 207,000 people the U.N. refugee agency estimates set sail on clandestine voyages in the Mediterranean this year. That figure dwarfs the previous record of 70,000 people who attempted the voyage in 2011, after the Arab Spring sent the first wave of asylum-seekers towards Europe.

Now, the conflict in Syria has created a refugee community of three million people, many who want to find a more stable future outside the overcrowded camps in Turkey, Lebanon and Syria. They join the tens of thousands of economic migrants trying to escape poverty, and other men, women and children seeking asylum from conflict and persecution in countries like Iraq, Somalia and Eritrea. Most leave from Libya, with human traffickers arranging passage on ramshackle boats. It is an extraordinary risk for families: this year, the U.N. estimates that 3,419 migrants died in Mediterranean – that is approximately one out of every 60 people who attempt the journey.

Catrambone has personal experience of the world’s war zones: his company, Tangiers Group, offers insurance, medical services and security analysis for firms working in high-risk environments. The company is based in Malta, which Catrambone chose as home after leaving the US because of its favorable business climate and proximity to his wife’s family in Italy.

Migration is a divisive issue in most European countries and politicians are wary of doing anything to encourage immigration even if it means leaving many to drown as they try to get to Europe. Italy launched its ‘Mare Nostrum’ search and rescue operation in 2013 after a migrant boat sunk near the island of Lampedusa, killing more than 300 people. But the Italian government stopped the mission in October, in part due to a lack of support from other European nations. Now a limited E.U. mission called Triton has taken its place, patrolling a smaller area and operating on a third of Mare Nostrum’s budget.

Catrambone wonders if political concerns have also stopped private donors from rallying to his cause. He hoped to run the first 2014 summer mission using his and his wife’s wealth and then seek private donations to cover the $490,000-a-month running costs and launch again in March 2015 when calmer seas tempt migrants to cross the sea to Europe. But appeals to foundations and companies have proved unsuccessful, so Christopher and Regina have launched a crowd-funding effort, raising around $42,000 so far.

Money has come from small donors rather than Catrambone’s fellow millionaires, whose luxury yachts he sees anchored in Malta’s Grand Harbour. “Their daily cost to sit at that marina and to run their crew and their operation would cover us for an entire month,” he says.

Catrambone says they will keep trying to raise money until March but if they don’t meet their target they will scale back their operation to a level they can afford. If they stop using the drones, they could half their costs, he says. Many more thousands of migrants are expected to attempt to cross the Mediterranean Sea in 2015 but there will be far fewer rescuers to help them if their overcrowded and worn-out boats cannot manage the journey.



Related Article:

Pope Francis visits Italy's migrant island of Lampedusa

Pope Francis met some of those who had survived the trip.
He challenged everyone to take responsibility for the
migrants' desperation.

Saturday, December 27, 2014

China and Vietnam to Address Maritime Disputes Without ‘Megaphone Diplomacy’: Xinhua

Jakarta Globe, Pete Sweeney, Dec 27, 2014

Workers wave Vietnamese national flags during a protest at an industrial zone in
 Binh Duong province on May 14, 2014. Thousands of Vietnamese set fire to foreign
 factories and rampaged in industrial zones in the south of the country in an angry
 reaction to Chinese oil drilling in a part of the South China Sea claimed by Vietnam.
(Reuters Photo)

Shanghai. Senior Chinese and Vietnamese officials have agreed to settle their maritime disputes without resorting to “megaphone diplomacy”, the official Xinhua news service said on Saturday.

The agency’s report follows a meeting in Hanoi on Friday between Chinese political advisor Yu Zhengsheng and Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, and it comes as Beijing backs off from aggressive attempts to press its territorial claims in the South China Sea.

“Megaphone diplomacy can only trigger volatility in public opinion, which should be avoided by both sides,” the report quoted Yu as saying.

“The maritime issue is highly complicated and sensitive, which requires negotiations to manage and control differences,” he said.

Although major trading partners and sharing the same nominal commitment to communism, China and Vietnam have a long history of distrust and conflict, including a short war in 1978 when Chinese troops invaded Vietnam in response to Hanoi’s invasion of Cambodia, run at the time by the China-backed genocidal Khmer Rouge regime.

Both governments, which lay claim to revolutionary credentials of resistance to foreign invaders, must also placate their respective nationalists demanding more aggressive defense of territory.

The conflict has been aggravated in recent years as China has grown more assertive about its claims in South China Sea, which set China’s sea border hundreds of kilometers south of its land mass to hug most Vietnam’s coast.

China pressed those claims dramatically early in 2014 by placing an oil drilling rig in waters claimed by Vietnam, then confronted Vietnamese vessels attempting to approach the platform with water cannon and ramming tactics.

Vietnamese citizens reacted by trashing Chinese factories (and factories they mistook for Chinese) inside Vietnam, and the government moved to warm military ties with the US and also bought two Kilo-class attack submarines from Russia as a deterrent.

Beijing has since removed the oil rig and has signaled it wants better relations with Vietnam.China has recently launched initiatives for a regional investment bank and an infrastructure fund that would position it as a benevolent driver of regional economic development.

As world honours the dead, Indonesia begins tsunami memorials

Yahoo – AFP, Nurdin Hasan, 26 Dec 2014

Women attend a prayer service at Baiturrahman Mosque in Banda Aceh, in
 the northern Sumatra island, on December 25, 2014, prior to the 10th anniversary
 of the tsunami that hit the west coast of Aceh province (AFP Photo/
Chaideer Mahyuddin)

Thousands of people held a memorial Thursday in Indonesia's Aceh province, the epicentre of the Indian Ocean tsunami, as the world prepared to mark a decade since a disaster that took 220,00 lives and laid waste to coastal areas in 14 countries.

On December 26, 2004 a 9.3-magnitude earthquake off Indonesia's western coast sparked a series of towering waves that wrought destruction across countries as far apart as Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Somalia.

Among the victims were thousands of foreign holidaymakers enjoying Christmas on the region's sun-kissed beaches, striking tragedy into homes around the world.

A tourist rides a bicycle past a poster
 ahead of the tenth anniversary of the 2004
 tsunami at Patong beach in Phuket
 province on December 25, 2014 (AFP\
 Photo/Pornchai Kittiwongsakul)
Muslim clerics, tsunami survivors and rescue workers led around 7,000 mourners gathered at Banda Aceh's black-domed Baiturrahman Grand Mosque for memorial prayers late Thursday.

Malaysian cleric Syeikh Ismail Kassim said he and several hundred compatriots attended to show support for Aceh.

"We hope Aceh people will not waver as a result of the calamity that has befallen them," he told AFP.

Aceh governor Zaini Abdullah thanked Indonesians and the international community in his address at the mosque, one of the few buildings which withstood the wrath of the massive earthquake and ensuing waves which left 170,000 people in the country dead or missing.

"The tsunami had caused deep sorrow to Aceh residents from having lost their loved ones," he said.

"Sympathy from Indonesians and the international community has helped (Aceh) to recover," he added.

He also called on residents not to "dwell in our grief, so that we could rise from adversity and achieve a better Aceh".

Kamaruddin, a fisherman who like many Indonesians goes by one name, said he attended the prayers to remember his wife and three children who died in the tsunami.

"I hope there will be no more disasters in Aceh," the 50-year-old said.

In Meulaboh, a fishing town considered to be the ground zero of the tsunami -- where 35 metre-high waves flattened almost everything -- Indonesian flags were flown at half-mast as small groups of residents held night prayers at mosques.

The main memorials were planned for Friday morning, starting in Aceh which was hit first by the waves, then moving to Thailand where candlelit ceremonies are expected in the resort hubs of Phuket and Khao Lak.

There will also be events in Sri Lanka, including at the site where a train carrying 1,500 people was washed away, as well as in several European capitals to remember foreign nationals who perished.

'Like being in a washing machine'

Many of the tsunami's victims died in dark, churning waters laden with uprooted trees, boats, cars and eviscerated beach bungalows, as the waves surged miles inland and then retreated, sucking many more into the sea.

Thailand saw 5,395 people killed by the disaster -- half of them foreign holidaymakers.

British survivor Andy Chaggar was in a bungalow on Thailand's Khao Lak when the tsunami waves struck, taking his girlfriend's life and sweeping him inland.

This picture taken on December 4, 2014 shows people visiting the Ban Nam
Khem tsunami memorial park wall in Khao Lak (AFP Photo/Nicolas Asfouri)

"I came to in the water... there was glass, metal, there were pieces of wood, bricks, it was like being in a washing machine full of nails," he told AFP on Thursday, on the same beach where he lost his girlfriend.

As the scale of the tragedy emerged, disaster-stricken nations struggled to mobilise a relief effort, leaving bloated bodies to pile up under the tropical sun or in makeshift morgues.

The world poured money and expertise into the relief and reconstruction, with more than $13.5 billion collected in the months after the disaster.

Almost $7 billion in aid went into rebuilding more than 140,000 houses across Aceh, thousands of kilometres of roads, and new schools and hospitals.

The vast majority of Indonesia's 170,000 victims perished in the province, among them tens of thousands of children.

But the disaster also ended a decades-long separatist conflict, with a peace deal between rebels and Jakarta struck less than a year later.

It also prompted the establishment of a pan-ocean tsunami warning system, made up of sea gauges and buoys, while individual countries have invested heavily in disaster preparedness.

But experts have cautioned against the perils of "disaster amnesia" creeping into communities vulnerable to natural disasters.

Related Articles:

Tsunami devastation remembered in Asia, 10 years on (+Video)

"Current" Events –  Apr 10, 2005 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

“… Mass Human Death

The final one, dear Human, is the hardest one for my partner and the one we wish to leave you with in this channeling tonight. This is the one that my partner doesn't want to even have me talk about. It's the appropriateness of mass death. For you, built in to your very essence is the honor for life, and the sorrow when it passes. It's correct and appropriate that this is there, and never let it be tempered. But the wisdom of understanding is also needed to help you get past some challenges of the Human heart.

"Dear Kryon, was the tsunami really necessary?" Yes it was. Almost 200,000 Human Beings passed over. It's an event that for you is filled with horror, sorrow, emotion, and challenge. Back in 1989, we told you of those that might have to leave the earth en masse, and here it is. Yet even my partner [Lee] asks the questions, "Why the children? Why the poorest parts of the earth? Why the seeming inappropriateness of all this death?"

And I say to you the same thing I said with respect to Terri: Do you understand yet that death is often as precious as life on this planet of many energies and lessons? They are not gone! They're all here [speaking from Kryon's perspective]. They're having a great time! They're joyful! It seems like a moment ago they leaned into the wind of birth with us beside them. We said, "How would you like to participate in an event that will change the compassion factor of the planet so that energies can move forward and provide faster acceleration of vibratory shift? How would you like to help create peace on earth through a consciousness shift within Gaia itself? And they said, "Show us the way!"

Do you understand why we are in love with humanity... that you would love the earth and the Universe so much that you would go through these things? So much of what you see is horrible tragedy, yet you're looking at the heroes of humanity as they deliver a gift that will change the very fabric of Gaia through the compassion created as a wave of humanity responds to their plight.

They knew the potentials and they went through with it. Even the children knew, for they're old souls within their divinity. There was so much compassion created at that time, in that one week, the earth has never seen anything like it in your lifetime. Billions of Humans were involved with a compassion that instantly went to the core of the planet. It went into the earth and it's still there. It changed the actual energy of where you walk and it planted a seeds that will grow that will indeed emerge later in Israel, and those surrounding Israel.

And that's what it's about. Yet some of you didn't want to hear that, did you? But they're here, with me now... and with you as well. How could you fit them all in this room, you might ask? They can fit on the head of a pin! That's interdimensional talk. They can go home in your purse or your pocket! That's interdimensional talk, too. And they've got a message for you that we've given before, but you can't hear it enough: "We did our part - now you do yours, Lighthouse! For the ones who remain are the only ones who can manipulate the tools we have helped create."

When you go home tonight, you're not going to be in a survival situation - in a tent in a tribe with no lights or clean water, with no food. You're not going to be in sorrow or despair. Instead, you go home to a warm place with plenty of food and friendship and the love of family. That's why you're the Lighthouses, because you have time for it. You've got the intellect for it. You're not in survival mode, as is so much of humanity on the earth. You have the education for it and the intuition for it. Now, do you understand why there are so many Lighthworkers in the western world? It's because your culture has created a situation where there's abundance of these things, and it allows you to lead the way in changing the energy of earth, instead of having all your time spent just trying to survive. Does this help you understand the responsibility of what you have before you?

Strike the light and send it to the Sudanese. Strike light and send it to those dark places with governments where there's corruption. Strike the light and send it to the scientists and researchers who already have the cures for the more virulent diseases on the planet, but can't begin their work due to the barriers of certain leadership and their old ways. Strike the light and send it to Israel and Palestine and get on with this solution! This is why you're here, and this is the agreement you made when you arrived and selected the culture you live in.

Achievable in your lifetime, it is. Peace and compassion will prevail. You shall see. You shall see.

And so it is.

Kryon

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Jakarta Welcomes Littoral Combat Ship USS Fort Worth

Jakarta Globe, Dec 22, 2014

The USS Forth Worth was welcomed in
 Jakarta’s Tanjung Priok port by traditional
dancers on Monday. (AFP Photo/Bay Ismoyo)
Jakarta. The littoral combat ship USS Fort Worth arrived in Jakarta on Monday as part of a 16-month rotational deployment in support of the Indo-Asia Pacific rebalance.
This port visit is Fort Worth’s first in Southeast Asia, and also marks the first visit of a littoral combat ship to the archipelagic nation.

Greeting the ship upon its arrival were the US ambassador to Indonesia, Robert O. Blake Jr.;  commander of Indonesia’s Western Fleet Command, Rear Adm. Widodo; commander of the US 7th Fleet’s Task Force 73, Rear Adm. Charlie Williams; and commander of the Destroyer Squadron 7, Capt. Fred Kacher.

“Fort Worth’s arrival in Jakarta is the first of many engagements she will conduct with regional navies while deployed to 7th Fleet for the next 15 months,” said Williams. “This port visit also speaks to our strong and growing partnership with the Indonesian Navy.”

Southeast Asia is a textbook example of a littoral region and an area where LCS is uniquely suited to operate. With its maneuverability, high speed and shallow draft, LCS-class vessels provide a regular and routine presence in the region, while gaining access to places where larger US Navy ships cannot reach.

Fort Worth is of comparable size to the warships operated by regional navies in Southeast Asia, and a major benefit of the platform is its ability to work with them during exercises like Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (Carat).

Fort Worth will return to Indonesia in 2015 as part of the Carat series.

“Fort Worth’s arrival in Jakarta is a new dawn for US Navy operations in Southeast Asia,” Kacher said. “As someone who has lived and worked in the region for the past two years, the question I consistently receive from our partners is, ‘When is LCS coming?’

“With Fort Worth now here, and additional LCSs rotationally deploying to Singapore in the coming years, I can confidently tell our partners that LCS is here for good and she’s ready to operate at sea with you,” he added.

Fort Worth will employ the surface warfare mission package for her entire deployment, augmenting her 57-millimeter gun and rolling airframe missile launcher with two 30-mm guns, two 11-meter rigid-hull inflatable boats and two six-member maritime security boarding teams.

Enhancing the SUW mission package is the embarked aviation detachment from Helicopter Maritime Squadron (HSM) 35, the Navy’s first composite expeditionary helicopter squadron, which consists of one MH-60R Seahawk helicopter and one MQ-8B Fire Scout unmanned aircraft system.

The Fire Scout will complement the MH-60R by extending the HSM-35’s range and endurance, enhancing maritime domain awareness.

“Our embarked surface warfare mission package provides us with significant capability,” said Cmdr. Kendall Bridgewater, LCS Crew 104 commanding officer. “With two RHIBs and highly trained boarding teams, LCS has the tools and skilled sailors to train and operate with our partners as we work together to ensure maritime security.”

Since departing San Diego on Nov. 17, Fort Worth transited the Pacific Ocean and visited Hawaii and Guam. Following the Jakarta port visit, Fort Worth will head to Singapore, the primary maintenance and logistics hub for littoral combat ships rotationally deployed to the 7th Fleet.

The US 7th Fleet conducts forward-deployed naval operations in support of US national interests in the Indo-Asia-Pacific area of operations. As the US Navy’s largest numbered fleet, the 7th Fleet interacts with 35 other maritime nations to build partnerships that foster maritime security, promote stability and prevent conflict.

Monday, December 22, 2014

Indonesian Air Force Eying Russian Jet to Combat Illegal Fishing

Jakarta Globe, Dec 22, 2014

A version of the Beriev plane the Indonesian Air Force wants to buy.
(Photo Courtesy of Beriev Aircraft Company)

Jakarta. The Indonesian Air Force says it will buy Russian-designed multipurpose amphibious aircraft to help prevent illegal fishing in the country’s waters.

“This Beriev Be-200 Altair is very reliable to monitor aquatic areas. The amphibious aircraft can land on the sea so it can help us catch illegal fishermen,” Marshall Ida Bagus Putu Dunia, the chief of the Indonesian Air Force (TNI-AU), told reporters in Jakarta on Monday, as quoted by state-run news agency Antara.

“President Joko Widodo has agreed with the plan to buy the aircraft,” he added.

The Beriev Be-200 is designed by the Beriev Aircraft Company and manufactured by Irkut Corporation, another Russian company. It can be used for firefighting, search and rescue, and maritime patrols. The aircraft is able to drop 12,000 liters of water or transport up to 72 passengers.

It was not immediately clear how many planes would be bought, and how much the deal was worth.

Related Articles: