Festival City Rotary Newsletter March 19, 2013

Posted by Vincent Hill 
on Mar 19, 2013
 

The Rotary Club Of Festival City

President:  Dianne Yundt

Minutes of the meeting of March 19, 2013

Club email:  festivalcityrotary@gmail.com

Club website: www.festivalcityrotary.ca

Guests: Peter Gray is our guest speaker. Leticia Figueiredo is our exchange student.

Announcements:

  1. Dinner of the Month: Elaine Nicholson of Hibernia Street won a dinner for four at Fosters.
  2. Board Meeting: 7 PM this Thursday at President Dianne’s home.
  3. Rural Urban Night: Stratford Rotary Club hosting the event April 11. $25 pp.
  4. Rural Urban Night: St Mary’s Rotary Club hosting the event April 12. $25 pp.
  5. 9th Annual Stratford Rotary Golf Tournament: Monday June 3 at the Stratford Golf Club. Light lunch and dinner included for $125 pp. For info and registration contact Lynn McCone at 519-273-0550 or lynn@goligerstravel.com
  6. District Assembly: Medway High School Saturday April 20, 9AM-3PM. Register in advance.
  7. District Conference: Sarnia Holiday Inn June 6. Register by April 1 and receive a $25 voucher towards the purchase of Rotary items.
  8. RLI: May 4 in London (parts I, II, III)
  9. Rotaract Inaugural Dinner: Wednesday May 29 at the Arden Park. Meet the members of the new Rotaract club, and enjoy a fine meal and program. This club is a joint venture of the Stratford and Festival City clubs. Program to be confirmed. Price will be about $40 pp.
  10. Splash Pad: Jack West reported that design drawings have been completed for submission to the City. The splash pad committee is awaiting results of their applications for grants from the TD bank and Libro.
  11. Spaghetti Dinner: Thanks to all who helped make last night’s dinner a success. Please return all funds and unused tickets to Randy Matthews so that he can determine the financial results of the evening.

Guest Speaker: Jack West introduced Peter Gray, VP and senior hydrologist for MTE. Peter reported on his visit to Sri Lanka, Thailand and part of Indonesia following the December 26, 2004 tsunami. Peter was there as part of a team sent by World Vision and CIDA to assess the effect of the tsunami on the communities in these areas. He was there in May and June of 2005. Pictures which Peter showed were of areas not usually seen on TV or in the papers since they were taken in areas away from the tourist beaches. Earthquakes often last about 30 seconds. This one lasted 20 minutes during which a portion of the ocean floor dropped. The first wave to reach shore was about 10 metres high in Sri Lanka and travelled 2 kilometres inland. Twenty minutes later a second wave 30 m high arrived. The tsunami killed 1 in 20 in the affected areas. It destroyed the livelihood of millions of people. In fishing villages the majority of people who died were women and children because the men were on their fishing boats at sea where the tsunami did not affect them. The tidal wave filled in over 30 000 wells and contaminated the soil with salt water. Photos showed a landscape scoured by the tsunami often leaving just foundations and tree stumps. Peter took photos of a ship sitting on land 5 km from the sea.

Peter was thanked by Sam Theocharis.