.

There likely will be a lot of damage from Hurricane Gustav. To donate funds for the victims of Hurricane Gustav, call 1 800 Red Cross. They are there in Louisiana on the ground taking care of those hurricane victims.

Unfortunately, in an election year, it is difficult to keep politics out of anything. That includes Hurricane Gustav.

President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney did the right thing by not going to Louisiana during this hurricane and the evacuation. Anytime a president goes to a city, local government and police resources are strained because of security and other matters. Officials in Louisiana were using those resources to prepare for Hurricane Gustav and did not need the distraction.

Presidential candidate Barack Obama said the same thing and stayed away from Louisiana during Hurricane Gustav. He knew they did not need the distraction and that there is nothing he can do anyway.

John McCain is not at his convention because of Hurricane Gustav supposedly. John, let me reassure you. They do not need you in or around Louisiana with a concerned look on your face because you think it will win you votes. You are running for President. You are not President. There is nothing you can do.

They had to evacuate the nursing homes in Louisiana. Don’t distract them by showing up. They might think you belong in one of those evacuation buses. Go back to your convention. Have your party.

The new James Bond (Daniel Craig ) is helping a group of Diasaster Victims in Pyin-kha-yaing town a small fishing village in the country of Myanmar, with fishing boats after they where destroyed by Cyclone Nargis in May. Mr. Craig is handing over around 13,000 Dollars so he can purchase kayaks for this group of Disaster victims when there small fishing vessels were destroyed by cyclone Nargis.

His representative came to Myanmar and said he will pay for 25 fishing boats, and our committee brought the representative to that village,” a member from the fishery rehabilitation committee told the publication.

It will cost about 15 million kyats (about 12,345 dollars) for the fishing boats made locally, he said.

Katrina Aid Today is a national case management consortium which will provide disaster case management services to disaster vicitms. It was created by The United Methodist Committee on Relief. They just received $24.5M in federal funding to add to the more than $66M they received from foreign nations and non-profit agencies.

The World Health Organization (WHO) stated that $5.8M in disaster relief has yet to be released to the disaster victims.

The World Health Organization has been closely monitoring the situation and estimates the amount needed to be $12.8M now.

Total cost for disaster vicitm relief and reconstruction of the devastated area is estimated to cost more than $1 billion.

The disaster has left at least 138,000 missing or dead.

More bodies are set to arrive in Cebu today, raising the body count of the MV Princess of the Stars victims to 259.

The bodies will be processed at the Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes along Junquera St., Cebu City and not at the Cebu International Port (CIP), where the new forensic site would be set up.

On Monday, the National Bureau of Investigations stated that it will begin identifying the disaster victims of the cruise liner, MV Princess of the Stars, which capsized from Typhoon Frank off Sibuyan Island on June 21st.

The NBI also stated that it will require the assistance of family members to provide documentation to help facilitate the idenification process through dental records. So far, only 26 of the 862 disaster victims on board, have been identified.

The cost to perform this test will cost about $60,000 per victim and will take approximately 2 weeks, according to one NBI expert.

Verizon Wireless is using text messaging to help victims of the natural disasters in China and Myanmar. Residents in central and northeastern Pennsylvania who have Verizon post-pay cell phone service can text the word “cyclone” or “quake” to 4SAVE.
They will get a text message back asking them to confirm a $5 donation to Save the Children. By replying “Y,” the donation will be accepted and appear on the next month’s phone bill.

Customers can text up to five times for a total donation of $25.

Donations will be accepted through July 31.

Relatives of missing persons in the MV Princess of the Stars sinking, braved the stench of decomposing flesh as they viewed 49 bodies, which were brought to Cebu by Sulpicio Lines yesterday.

However, only the bodies of Juvelyin Requilme Jr., 16; Esmeralda Lequi-gan, 54; Julie Mendoza, 43; crewmember Ruel Lariba and PNP 7 Band member SPO3 Adolfo Villareal were identified by the anxious family members at the Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes in Junque-ra St., Cebu City yesterday.

U.S. President George Bush says the United States will do it all it can to help the victims of the typhoon that struck the Philippines over the weekend. VOA’s Paula Wolfson reports following talks at the White House with Philippine President Gloria Arroyo, Mr. Bush announced plans to send a U.S. aircraft carrier to the scene.

When a ferry was capsized by a typhoon off the coast of the central Philippine island of Sibuyan, rescuers performing searches fear that all on board may have died as a result.

A distress signal was sent out by the MV Princess of the Star the previous night after Typhoon Fengshen hit the country.

A rescue vessel was dispatched, but had to return due to severe weather conditions. The vessel was carrying 626 passengers and 121 crewmembers.