FEMA Pulls Tsunami Game From Web Site

[tricky]

This cracked me up pretty good.....

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By LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - An online game to educate kids about tsunamis was pulled Friday from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (news - web sites)'s Web site amid worries it trivialized last month's devastation in southeast Asia and beyond.

The game, which debuted on FEMA's kids' Web site in 1998, asked players to guide a car, a starfish, a surfboard and other beach objects back to their proper places after they were scattered by a tsunami. Winners were linked to a cartoon dancing frog.

"A tsunami has just hit FEMA Beach and has rearranged a few things," the game directed. "Please put the 9 objects back where they belong to see the cyber-prize!"

FEMA spokeswoman Lea Anne McBride said the game was first scrubbed from the award-winning kids' site immediately after the Dec. 26 tsunami. But the agency later restored it after hearing complaints from teachers and educators who missed it, she said. It was being removed for good Friday because of "the current environment," she said.

"We thought that was the appropriate thing to do," McBride said.

The tsunami cause an estimated 158,000 or more deaths in 11 nations along the coasts of southeast Asia and western Africa, and left as many as one million survivors needing food and shelter.

Educators who still want access to the game and other kid-friendly disaster education materials can contact FEMA, McBride said.

A spokesman for GiveWorld, a California-based online charitable organization, said the game's motive appears innocent but risks trivializing the recent devastation. GiveWorld says it has helped raise $500,000 for the tsunami victims.

The game "makes it look like after, life can be just be pulled back together," said Upendra Bhatt, a member of GiveWorld's board of directors. "And it's not going to be that easy."

[Element4040]

Bastards, I had high score!