Going to Sri Lanka

[Wrench]

Im going to Sri Lanka to help with the relief effort within the next couple of weeks. As a bonus I'll be able to take my camera to document the trip and all that's going on down there. Too bad I'm a noob and I'm sure I'll miss/butcher a good amount of the things I come across. My request from all of you is to offer up some suggestions, ideas or examples
of some similar situations to inspire me before I leave. I'll be taking my 10D with my 28-210. I most likely won't have acces to a computer and I wont be taking a laptop so I'll have to make sure I take enough CF cards to last me. I have 2 1gig cards, ought to be enough? Any help is appreciated! thx.

[Belmondo]

You're doing a good thing. Be safe and check in with us when you can.

Tom

[robertwgross]

Besides lots of CF cards, take lots of batteries.

Commerical AC power may be unavailable or inconvenient.

---Bob Gross---

[Wrench]

Batteries, didn't think of that. Thanks.

[robertwgross]

Your battery charger should work, as long as you have reliable power. However, so much infrastructure was devastated that you can't count on reliable power. You might be living in a tent someplace. I have an alternative charger that will operate off 12VDC, so I can plug that into some vehicle battery. However, that is inconvenient also.

---Bob Gross---

[merrrrjig]

I would go out and buy a few more batteries just in case, I would also buy a 4GB microdrive! Thanks for what you are doing!

[Wrench]

I'll be with FEMA while I'm there and they've told me that I'll be able to tap into some 110 long enough to charge up. I will be getting at least 2 more batts before I go just in case. With my 2 gigs worth of CF cards I'll be able to keep around 1000 pics, I think I'll be ok. How about lenses? My 28-210 is good all around, but i have no experience with this kind of trip so I'm open for suggestions. Thx again.

[robertwgross]

FEMA?

Wow.

FEMA is pretty good about domestic emergencies (tornadoes, hurricanes, etc). They know what they are doing with their big trailers of gear. (I've taught classes to them.) They tend to have lots of portable power and communications gear.

I'm just scratching my head trying to figure out what FEMA is going to do in Sri Lanka.

Ahhh. Manage.

---Bob Gross---

[Wrench]

Not really with the whole organization, just a few local guys, hard to explain. My neighbor and good friend works for FEMA and I got the idea in my head that I wanted to go down there b/c it would be a cool experience and I'd get to help out. Anyway, I called him up and he said that there were a group of local guys ( that coincidentally work for FEMA ) that were getting with some other relief effort groups. Long story short, we've managed to squeeze a bit of funding and equipment from the organization.

[sidster]

You know... this is a very good thing you are doing Wrench (sorry don't know
your name). Just yesterday i was getting ideas like this. I was thinking of calling
the Red Cross or Unicef to see how I could help. I mean besides donating money.

I know someone in Indonesia whom I finally got a hold of and she and her family
are doing alright. I have another friend who's in-laws live there also.

It is sad. Very sad. What's even more sad is how the US government has
offered such a lowball figure as a pledge. It is yet another childish demonstration
on part of current administration of my country :(

Figures from bbc's web-site:

- World Bank $250m
- UK $96m
- EU $44m
- US: $35m
- Canada: $33m
- Japan: $30m
- Australia: $27m
- France: $20.4m
- Denmark: $15.6m
- Saudi Arabia: $10m

Best of luck to you Wrench!

--patrick