Texas company in Thailand to help retrieve bodies

[rainbow4321]

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D879IRAO2.html


A Texas emergency services company has established an operations center in Thailand to help recover bodies following Sunday's devastating earthquake and tsunami waves in the Indian Ocean.

Houston-based Kenyon International Emergency Services Inc. specializes in disaster response ranging from mortuary and memorial services to recovery of personal effects and transport of the dead to their families.

Spokesman Lowell Briggs said the 11-member team of forensic dentists, disaster management experts and mortuary experts will be in Phuket, Thailand, by the end of the week. The operations center is in Bangkok. The company has more than 1,000 specialized contract workers, such as police officers, morticians and archaeologists, standing by to fly to Thailand as needed.

Kenyon has responded to more than 260 disasters since its inception in 1929 on behalf of airlines, governments, industrial companies, railroads and private organizations. Services range from cataloging and returning personal effects — as Kenyon did for families of victims killed on TWA Flight 800, which exploded off Long Island, N.Y., in 1996 — to mortuary services and identification and retrieval of remains.

[GetTheRightVote]

1. I hope more emergency groups like this one go over to assist

:kick:

[rainbow4321]

9. Medical Companies Donate to Quake Victims

http://www.baytownsun.com/wire.lasso?report=/dynamic/stories/Q/QUAKE_DRUG_DONATIONS?SITE=TXBAY&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- From antibiotics and pain relievers to bandages, hospital supplies and cash, pharmaceutical and health care companies are lining up donations for victims of Sunday's devastating earthquake and tsunami in southern Asia and eastern Africa.


Pfizer Inc. of New York, the world's biggest drug company, said Wednesday it will donate $10 million to relief groups operating in the affected countries. Health care giant Johnson & Johnson of New Brunswick announced an initial cash donation of $2 million and was sending wound care, pain relief and personal care products. Abbott Laboratories of Abbott Park, Ill., also was giving $2 million in cash, plus $2 million in products such as child nutritional supplement PediaSure.

Whitehouse Station-based Merck & Co. Inc. pledged an initial contribution of $250,000 to the American Red Cross, plus donations of medicine, while Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. of New York committed $100,000 through the Red Cross and said it will be shipping antibiotics and other products to the region


Kaiser Permanente, one of the country's biggest hospital systems, said it would send some of its 5,000 doctors to help and would donate $100,000 to the American Red Cross. Some companies said they were planning major donations of their products but were waiting for direction from the United Nations or private relief groups such as Project HOPE and AmeriCares to avoid waste. Those included drug makers Wyeth, Schering-Plough Corp. and medical supply maker Becton, Dickinson and Co.

[MissB]

2. What a horrible job

One of the CNN reporters today was standing in front of a courtyard of bodies. The bodies were covered in sheets or something like that and were being sprayed with some sort of disinfectant solution.

It was a hot and humid day. I cannot imagine that it isn't a breeding ground for some nasty diseases.

[grumpy old fart]

3. If only the U.S. would use its troops and $$ for responding to tragedy...

instead of starting illegal wars of aggression and causing death and destruction.....would make for a world where we could honestly ask, "why do they hate us", instead of one where the answer is so obvious.

[Liberty Belle]

4. I wonder how much Kenyon donated to Bush?

Somehow I doubt it's a coincidence that this major job went to a Texas company.

[pop goes the weasel]

5. the article implies

that the company has been hired by a private entity.

[NYC]

6. I'd like to know which private entity.

I would like to know who is ultimately paying. Could it be the American taxpayer?

[zann725]

7. Exactly my thoughts! Wouldn't be surprised if

at least one person in Buscho had 'affiliations' with, or stock in this company.

Hate to be cynical, but...

[truthpusher]

8. I can't wait to see what people are going to say that read the headline...

...and not the story. My first reaction was Bush is behind this and it's even more disgusting than usual. But after reading a bit, it looks like the Texas connection is only a coincidence....or is it ;)

[flordehinojos]

10. with bush everything is a quid pro quo. i scratch your back, you scratch

my back ... i read that the 35 million dollars he is sending as aid is a CREDIT LINE (and doesn't that mean that the money will have to be paid back by countries which have just been destroyed and almost obliterated?) And, since with bush everything is a quid pro quo, i wouldn't put it past him to demand manpower payback of the kind that would have some of the nationals in those countries join the USARMY to help fight the war in Iraq...there is no such thing as a free ride or a free lunch with bush.