On December 10, the beautiful country of Sweden threw a wonderful party to celebrate, once again, the annual award of Nobel Prizes. Now Sweden is engulfed by national mourning.
As many as 3,500 Swedes may have died in the December 26 tsunami. For reference, Sweden is a nation of only 9 million people–about 1/32 of the US population–while the number of Swedes dead or missing is larger than the number killed in the US on September 11, 2001.
I know that the international aid effort is being targeted to the Asian countries hit–some of the poorest nations in the world. The point of my blogpost is just to say, once again, that the tsunami’s harmful effects extended far beyond the Indian Ocean and in particular, into a country that will always have a special place in my heart.
Other tsunami links of major interest:
- Young Swedish woman blogging in English the tragedy as seen from Stockholm
- People are turning their New Year’s Eve parties into fundraisers (via Jeff Jarvis)
- Real-Life Preacher suggests that Bush donate $40 million raised for inaugural party to help tsunami survivors (The President’s inauguration party is planned to cost $5 million more than the $35 million the US has pledged to help survivors.)
- Blog of first-hand stories from survivors
- Google lists options for sending tsunami relief aid