New Year's Eve
Dec. 31st, 2004 07:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ciroccojFYI:
By Paul Tait
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Normally exuberant New Year celebrations were tempered by thoughts for victims of south Asia's tsunami as several major cities canceled parties and Australia led a global minute of silence.
Sydney, the first major city to start New Year celebrations, went ahead with its annual News Year's Eve fireworks displays Friday, but revelers who flocked to the harborside city center were urged to remember the nearly 124,000 people who died.
The Asian disaster cast a long shadow over global festivities, particularly in Europe. Europeans made up most of the more than 2,200 foreign tourists dead and more than 6,000 missing.
Sweden, Norway, Finland and Germany planned to fly flags at half-mast to start 2005 as a mark of respect for their many dead and missing, who had left Europe's cold, dark winter for Asia's sunshine and golden sands.
Paris put black mourning crepe on the trees lining the Champs Elysees to pay homage to the victims. Thousands of Parisians traditionally rally on the tree-lined boulevard in the center of the French capital on New Year's Eve.
Sydney ushered in 2005 with its fireworks displays along its postcard-perfect Harbour, one especially for children at 9 p.m. and the other set for midnight.
Sydneysiders and a global television audience of millions were asked to observe a minute's silence in remembrance of tsunami victims before the first display.
Revelers fell silent around the Harbour and parents held their children before the quiet gave way to the clash of fireworks and music at 9:01 p.m.
"This gives an opportunity for mums and dads to help to explain what happened to their children," a spokesman for Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore said.
The first of the fireworks began just three hours after Australian navy ship HMAS Kanimbla steamed out of Sydney Harbour bound for Indonesia's devastated Aceh region, carrying emergency supplies, helicopters and engineers.
PARTIES CANCELED
Australian party-goers were also being asked to dig deep for charity. A giant appeal for donations to an Oxfam tsunami relief fund flashed up in lights on the pylons of the Sydney Harbour Bridge next to a huge disco ball.
City officials hoped to raise $3.9 million.
"As the year 2005 commences, it is time to extend the hand of friendship and assist our Asian neighbors in their time of need," Sydney mayor Moore said in a statement.
Around the world, party plans were dropped or toned down. In Sri Lanka, where more than 28,500 people died, the plush Hilton Colombo hotel canceled an end-of-year dance.
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra shelved a party with tennis stars, including Russian Wimbledon (news - web sites) champion Maria Sharapova, and tinsel was stripped from hotel foyers.
Thailand called off outdoor celebrations in memory of its 4,500 victims and Malaysia decided against official festivities.
In Singapore, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong called for muted New Year celebrations and a fireworks display over the Marina Bay area was canceled. A minute's silence was to be observed just before midnight on state television and at outdoor parties.
In Hong Kong, where disgruntled residents are used to marking public holidays with anti-government protests, political parties across the spectrum decided to postpone a New Year's Day march and instead planned to raise funds for tsunami victims.
In Europe, a number of Italian cities abandoned plans for major New Year's Eve parties, opting to send the money saved to charities helping the victims.
Among cities that canceled parties were Bologna and Turin. Naples, Bolzano, Padova and Benevento called off traditional firework displays.
Near Berlin's Brandenburg Gate, where a million people typically throng on New Year's Eve, flags were flying at half-mast as Germany faced its worst post-war disaster.
Norwegians were urged to celebrate with moderation and the media in Norway reported that the country's richest man, billionaire Kjell Inge Rokke, had canceled his fireworks show.
The Mediterranean island of Cyprus canceled celebrations, deciding that the money that would have been spent at New Year parties in the capital, Nicosia, and the port town of Limassol should be donated toward relief funds, the town councils announced.
Nicosia urged members of the public to assemble in a candlelit vigil for victims at the stroke of midnight.
Here's a link to the article
The death toll has gone past 120,000, and it's estimated that more than a third of the victims were children. I can't even imagine that high.
In case anybody wants to donate, here's a bunch of links:
Mercy Corps
Unicef
World Vision
AmeriCares
Direct Relief International
By Paul Tait
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Normally exuberant New Year celebrations were tempered by thoughts for victims of south Asia's tsunami as several major cities canceled parties and Australia led a global minute of silence.
Sydney, the first major city to start New Year celebrations, went ahead with its annual News Year's Eve fireworks displays Friday, but revelers who flocked to the harborside city center were urged to remember the nearly 124,000 people who died.
The Asian disaster cast a long shadow over global festivities, particularly in Europe. Europeans made up most of the more than 2,200 foreign tourists dead and more than 6,000 missing.
Sweden, Norway, Finland and Germany planned to fly flags at half-mast to start 2005 as a mark of respect for their many dead and missing, who had left Europe's cold, dark winter for Asia's sunshine and golden sands.
Paris put black mourning crepe on the trees lining the Champs Elysees to pay homage to the victims. Thousands of Parisians traditionally rally on the tree-lined boulevard in the center of the French capital on New Year's Eve.
Sydney ushered in 2005 with its fireworks displays along its postcard-perfect Harbour, one especially for children at 9 p.m. and the other set for midnight.
Sydneysiders and a global television audience of millions were asked to observe a minute's silence in remembrance of tsunami victims before the first display.
Revelers fell silent around the Harbour and parents held their children before the quiet gave way to the clash of fireworks and music at 9:01 p.m.
"This gives an opportunity for mums and dads to help to explain what happened to their children," a spokesman for Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore said.
The first of the fireworks began just three hours after Australian navy ship HMAS Kanimbla steamed out of Sydney Harbour bound for Indonesia's devastated Aceh region, carrying emergency supplies, helicopters and engineers.
PARTIES CANCELED
Australian party-goers were also being asked to dig deep for charity. A giant appeal for donations to an Oxfam tsunami relief fund flashed up in lights on the pylons of the Sydney Harbour Bridge next to a huge disco ball.
City officials hoped to raise $3.9 million.
"As the year 2005 commences, it is time to extend the hand of friendship and assist our Asian neighbors in their time of need," Sydney mayor Moore said in a statement.
Around the world, party plans were dropped or toned down. In Sri Lanka, where more than 28,500 people died, the plush Hilton Colombo hotel canceled an end-of-year dance.
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra shelved a party with tennis stars, including Russian Wimbledon (news - web sites) champion Maria Sharapova, and tinsel was stripped from hotel foyers.
Thailand called off outdoor celebrations in memory of its 4,500 victims and Malaysia decided against official festivities.
In Singapore, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong called for muted New Year celebrations and a fireworks display over the Marina Bay area was canceled. A minute's silence was to be observed just before midnight on state television and at outdoor parties.
In Hong Kong, where disgruntled residents are used to marking public holidays with anti-government protests, political parties across the spectrum decided to postpone a New Year's Day march and instead planned to raise funds for tsunami victims.
In Europe, a number of Italian cities abandoned plans for major New Year's Eve parties, opting to send the money saved to charities helping the victims.
Among cities that canceled parties were Bologna and Turin. Naples, Bolzano, Padova and Benevento called off traditional firework displays.
Near Berlin's Brandenburg Gate, where a million people typically throng on New Year's Eve, flags were flying at half-mast as Germany faced its worst post-war disaster.
Norwegians were urged to celebrate with moderation and the media in Norway reported that the country's richest man, billionaire Kjell Inge Rokke, had canceled his fireworks show.
The Mediterranean island of Cyprus canceled celebrations, deciding that the money that would have been spent at New Year parties in the capital, Nicosia, and the port town of Limassol should be donated toward relief funds, the town councils announced.
Nicosia urged members of the public to assemble in a candlelit vigil for victims at the stroke of midnight.
Here's a link to the article
The death toll has gone past 120,000, and it's estimated that more than a third of the victims were children. I can't even imagine that high.
In case anybody wants to donate, here's a bunch of links:
Mercy Corps
Unicef
World Vision
AmeriCares
Direct Relief International
