Posted on 12/27/2004 6:08:33 AM PST by NYer
The largest earthquake in the past 40 years and the resulting deaths of thousands from 33-foot tidal waves are being compared by an American reporter to descriptions of disaster from Holy Scripture.
"The speed with which it all happened seemed like a scene from the Bible – a natural phenomenon unlike anything I had experienced before," said Washington Post reporter Michael Dobbs, who was swimming off a Sri Lankan island when the disaster struck this morning.
"As the waters rose at an incredible rate, I half expected to catch sight of Noah's Ark. Instead of the Ark, I grabbed hold of a wooden catamaran that the local people used as a fishing boat. My brother jumped on the boat, next to me. We bobbed up and down on the catamaran, as the water rushed past us into the village beyond the road."
Officials at the U.S. Geological Survey the 9.0 quake centered off the Indonesian island of Sumatra was the world's fifth-largest since 1900 and the biggest since a 9.2 temblor hit Prince William Sound Alaska in 1964.
The temblor sparked a tsunami, a series of giant walls of water which left more than 14,000 dead in six countries, with the death toll continuing to rise.
Dobbs gives a first-person account of the dramatic event in the Post:
Disaster struck with no warning out of a faultlessly clear blue sky. ... I was a quarter way around the island when I heard my brother shouting at me, "Come back! Come back! There's something strange happening with the sea." ...
In less than a minute, the water level had risen at least 15 feet – but the sea itself remained calm, barely a wave in sight. ...
After a few minutes, the water stopped rising, and I felt it was safe to swim to the shore. What I didn't realize was that the floodwaters would recede as dramatically as they had risen.
All of a sudden, I found myself being swept out to sea with startling speed. Although I am a fairly strong swimmer, I was unable to withstand the current. The fishing boats around me had been torn from their moorings and were furiously bobbing up and down.
For the first time, I felt afraid, powerless to prevent myself from being swept out to sea.
I swam in the direction of one of the loose catamarans, grabbed hold of the hull, and pulled myself to safety. My weight must have slowed the boat down and soon I was stranded on the sand.
As the water rushed out of the bay, I scrambled onto the main road. Screams and yells were coming from the houses behind the road, many of which were still half full of water, trapping the inhabitants inside. Villagers were walking dazed along the road, unable to comprehend what had taken place.
I was worried about my wife who had been on the beach at the time I went for my swim. I eventually found her walking along the road, dazed and happy to be alive. She had been trying to wade back to our island, when the water had carried her across the road and into someone's back yard. At one point she was underwater, struggling for breath. She finally grabbed onto a piece of rope and climbed into a tree, while the waters raged beneath her.
An Italian scientist says the earthquake was so strong, it even disturbed the rotation of the Earth.
"All the planet is vibrating," Enzo Boschi, head of Italy's National Geophysics Institute said on SKY TG24 TV.
The U.S. State Department says at least three Americans are confirmed dead, two in Sri Lanka and one in Thailand.
A written statement from the White House says "the President expresses his sincere condolences for the terrible loss of life and suffering caused by the earthquake and subsequent tsunamis in the region of the Bay of Bengal.
"The United States stands ready to offer all appropriate assistance to those nations most affected including Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Thailand, and Indonesia, as well as the other countries impacted. Already relief is flowing to Sri Lanka and the Maldives. We will work with the affected governments, the United Nations, non-governmental organizations, and other concerned states and organizations to support the relief and response to this terrible tragedy."
Relief agencies say the full scale of the disaster is impossible to assess, since communications have been cut to remote areas.
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - Legions of rescuers spread across Asia Monday after an earthquake of epic power struck deep beneath the Indian Ocean, unleashing 20-foot tidal waves that ravaged coasts across thousands of miles, killed nearly 14,000 people and left millions homeless in the fourth-largest temblor in a century.
The death toll in eight nations in southern Asia — and as far west as Somalia, on the African coast, where nine people were reported lost — steadily increased as authorities sorted out a far-flung disaster caused by Sunday's 9.0-magnitude earthquake, strongest in 40 years.
Signs of the carnage were everywhere. Dozens of bodies still clad in swimming trunks lined beaches in Thailand. Villagers in Indonesia picked through their destroyed homes amid the smell of rotting corpses. Rescuers elsewhere found victims wedged in trees and littering beaches.
Some 25,000 soldiers and 10 air force helicopters searched for victims in Sri Lanka, where more than a million people were driven from their homes. Another million people were reported homeless in Indonesia.
Thai warships steamed toward outlying islands to rescue survivors, while the Indian air force used helicopters to rush food and medicine to stricken seashore areas.
At Thailand's beach resorts, packed with Europeans fleeing the winter cold at the peak of the holiday season, families and friends had tearful reunions Monday after a day of fear that their loved ones had been swept away.
Katri Seppanen, 27, of Helsinki, Finland, walked around barefoot, in her salt water-stained T-shirt and skirt, at the Patong Hospital waiting room where she spent the night with her mother and sister. She had a bandaged cut on her leg.
"The water went back, back, back, so far away, and everyone wondered what it was — a full moon or what? Then we saw the wave come, and we ran," said a tearful Seppanen, who was on the popular Patong beach with her family. The wave washed over their heads and separated them.
Fifty-eight half-naked and swimming suit-clad corpses lay in rows outside the Patong Hospital emergency room. Three babies under the age of one were among the victims. A photo of one baby was posted on the wall of victims, the little corpse in a nearby refrigerator.
Thai authorities said 35 of the victims have been identified as foreigners, but the number of Western and Asian tourists who perished in Thailand is expected to be far higher, while another 40 foreign tourists were reported killed in Sri Lanka, including some from Japan.
At least three Americans were among the dead — two in Sri Lanka and one in Thailand, according to State Department spokesman Noel Clay. He said a number of other Americans were injured, but he had no details.
"We're working on ways to help. The United States will be very responsive," Clay said.
John Krueger, 34, of Winter Park, Colo., described being inside his bungalow Sunday on Khao Luk Beach, north of Phuket, with his wife when the water filled it and blew it apart.
"The water rushed under the bungalow, brought our floor up and raised us to the ceiling. The water blew out our doors, our windows and the back concrete wall. My wife was swept away with the wall, and I had to bust my way through the roof," Krueger said while waiting to talk to a U.S. Embassy official at Phuket City Hall. "It was like being in a washing machine."
The earthquake hit at 6:58 a.m. Sri Lanka time; the tsunami came 2 1/2 hours later, without warning, on a morning of crystal blue skies. Sunbathers and snorkelers, cars and cottages, fishing boats and even a lighthouse were swept away.
"It's an extraordinary calamity of such colossal proportions that the damage has been unprecedented," said Chief Minister Jayaram Jayalalithaa of India's Tamil Nadu, a southern state which reported 1,705 dead, many of them strewn along beaches, virtual open-air mortuaries.
"It all seems to have happened in the space of 20 minutes. A massive tidal wave of extreme ferocity ... smashed everything in sight to smithereens," she said.
The quake was centered 155 miles south-southeast of Banda Aceh, the capital of Indonesia's Aceh province on Sumatra, and six miles under the Indian Ocean's seabed, and was followed Sunday by at least a half-dozen powerful aftershocks, ranging in magnitude from almost 6 to 7.3. One aftershock Monday rattled India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
At least 4,491 were killed in Indonesia. An Associated Press reporter in Aceh province saw bodies stuck in trees and others littering beaches. Dozens of bloated bodies littered the streets of the provincial capital of Banda Aceh, while on city outskirts some 500 bodies lay under plastic tents, rotting in the tropical heat.
Victims, many of whom had spent the night sleeping outside on open ground, complained that little or no aid had reached them by Monday. In the provincial town of Lhokseumawe, Dr. Tambah Taibsyah said the hospital treating some 100 seriously injured patients was close to running out of medicine.
In Sri Lanka, where a total of 6,517 people were reported killed, extensive damage will complicate efforts to rescue survivors or deliver aid, the country's ambassador to the United States said. "It's going to take time to figure out access to these areas that have been impacted," Devinda R. Subasinghe said Monday in an interview on CNN.
The waves' fearsome power was evident in the fishing community of Trincomalee, 140 miles northeast of the capital Colombo, where they tossed boats up to 300 yards inland, spearing some into buildings.
There was reports of sporadic looting in the towns of Galle and Matara in Sri Lanka, and authorities said about 200 inmates escaped from a prison, taking advantage of the chaos.
In India, independent reports put the death toll along the southern coast far higher than the officially confirmed total of about 2,300. Press Trust of India (news - web sites) news agency put the the overall death toll in India as high as 4,000.
At least 600 people died in Thailand, 48 in Malaysia, and 32 in the Maldives, a string of coral islands off the southwestern coast of India. A collapsing bridge killed 12 people in Myanmar. At least two died in Bangladesh — children who drowned as a boat with about 15 tourists capsized in high waves.
In India's Andhra Pradesh state, at least 32 Hindu devotees were drowned when they went into the sea for a religious ceremony to mark the full moon. Among them were 15 children. On Monday, bodies of women and children lay strewn on the sand.
"I was shocked to see innumerable fishing boats flying on the shoulder of the waves, going back and forth into the sea, as if made of paper," said P. Ramanamurthy, 40, of that state.
In the hard-hit town of Cuddalore, survivors huddled Monday in a marriage hall turned makeshift shelter, as fire engine sirens whined outside. Broken boats law on the shore near smashed huts with only frail bamboo frames jutting out of the ground.
The earthquake that caused the tsunami was the largest since a 9.2 temblor hit Prince William Sound in Alaska in 1964, according to geophysicist Julie Martinez of the U.S. Geological Survey (news - web sites).
"All the planet is vibrating" from the quake, said Enzo Boschi, the head of Italy's National Geophysics Institute. Speaking on SKY TG24 TV, Boschi said the quake even disturbed the Earth's rotation.
The quake occurred at a place where several huge geological plates push against each other with massive force. The survey said a 620-mile section along the boundary of the plates shifted, motion that triggered the sudden displacement of a huge volume of water.
Scientists said the death toll might have been reduced if India and Sri Lanka had been part of an international warning system designed to advise coastal communities that a potentially killer wave was approaching. Although Thailand is part of the system, the west coast of its southern peninsula does not have the system's wave sensors mounted on ocean buoys.
As it was, there was no warning. Gemunu Amarasinghe, an AP photographer in Sri Lanka, said he saw young boys rushing to catch fish that had been scattered on the beach by the first wave.
"But soon afterward, the devastating second series of waves came," he said. He climbed onto the roof of his car, but "In a few minutes my jeep was under water. The roof collapsed.
"I joined masses of people in escaping to high land. Some carried their dead and injured loved ones. Some of the dead were eventually placed at roadside, and covered with sarongs. Others walked past dazed, asking if anyone had seen their family members."
Michael Dobbs, a reporter for The Washington Post, was swimming around a tiny island off a Sri Lankan beach at about 9:15 a.m. when his brother called out that something strange was happening with the sea.
Then, within minutes, "the beach and the area behind it had become an inland sea, rushing over the road and pouring into the flimsy houses on the other side. The speed with which it all happened seemed like a scene from the Bible — a natural phenomenon unlike anything I had experienced before," he wrote on the Post's Web site.
Dobbs weathered the wave, but then found himself struggling to keep from being swept away when the floodwaters receded.
___
Associated Press reporters Gemunu Amarasinghe in Colombo, Sri Lanka, K.N. Arun in Madras, India, and Sutin Wannabovorn in Phuket, Thailand, contributed to this report.
Disaster compared to scene from Bible
Quake toll nears 23,000 Event even affected the planet's rotation
Official readings Waves swept 4,000 miles Unusual signs in sky
QUAKE AND TIDAL WAVES: DO THEY STAND AS 'SIGNS' PREDICTED TO INTENSIFY IN 2004?
Number of tornadoes in 2004 smashes records
IT CAME FROM THE SEA 'ALL THE PLANET IS VIBRATING
9.0 MAG, THE GREAT CHRISTMAS QUAKE: LARGEST ON EARTH IN 40 YEARS
PANIC IN 'THE RING OF FIRE' Bodies Line Beaches
DEATH TOLL = 23,200+ Fear of Epidemics
Villagers Fear More Deadly Waves
Epidemic Warning Issued Swedish ski ace Stenmark 'ran for life'
HAVOC IS UNLEASHED FROM THE DEPTHS: 'The quake even disturbed the Earth's rotation'
This completely boggles the mind. Such widespread devastation. It leaves me speechless.
I'm sure his mother's mobile home sustained minor damage - he'll be checking in with FEMA right away.
Personally, I never thought God would tolerate the abomination of cloning and mass stem-cell slaughter.
Anyone know how to donate to the support effort in a Christian way?
Well, actually....ultimately in the long run...it does work out - Jesus wins in the end. The Book of Revelation/Apocalypse of St. John describes the restoration of the divine image in humanity with the victorious return of Christ. A lot of nasty stuff in between though! Should be a real nail-biter!!!
Bad news for liberal secular humanists though! In spades!
>>Parma Ohio<<
And so now all of us are Frozen Poles??
yuk, yuk, yuk...
Southern Baptists can help by sending financial gifts for aid through the IMB disaster relief fund. Send gifts designated “Asia Earthquake Disaster Relief” to the International Mission Board, P.O. Box 6767, Richmond, VA 23230 (to give online, go to the International Mission Board's website, www.imb.org, and click on "Give Now" in the box highlighting this story). All funds given will go to relief efforts; none will be used for administrative costs.
This organization has existing contacts in the regions and will be the long term to see through the rebuilding proces.
Thank you to those able to contribute to this or any worthy organization. May God bless you.
>>Is this "the sign" or "the warning" that Marian prophecy groups talk about? Something everyone in the world would be able to "see." [?} Anyone up on that?<<
Are you talking about the Three days of Darkness?
That is suppose to be a cross in the sky.
The statement that ALL of Sumatra moved 100 feet is probably an overstatement by the press. It is highly probable that 100+ feet of movement occured in the vicinity of the earthquake epicenter with lesser distances laterally away from the epicenter.
I don't know if that is a particular sign in itself but it is part of chastisement.
It has been my understanding the next global cleansing will be by fire.
Here's what I found....
THE END DAYS
The Three Days Of Darkness
CONTENTS:
1. The Impending Signs
2. The Immediate Signs
3. Between the Impending Signs and the Immediate Signs
4. What to Do For Protection During the Three Days
5. The Aftemath
6. What Should We Do Now?
7. Go Back to The End Days
* These pages are compiled after a study of various quotations of Our Divine Lord, Our Blessed Mother, and a number of holy people such as Blessed Anna Maria Taigi (Rome), Padre Pio (Capuchin Priest, Italy), Père Lamy (Priest, France), Elizabeth Canori-Mora (Rome), Sister Rosa Colomba Asdente (Italy), Father Nectou (Jesuit Priest, Belgium), Sister Palma D' Oria (Italy), Sister Marie Baourdi (Carmelite, France), Marie Julie Jahenny (France), Saint Hildegard (Germany), Marie Martel (Normandy), a Stigmatized Nun in Italy - and others. (Note: This work was slightly edited in view of new revelations).
* While our Holy Church gives no official pronouncement regarding these statements, yet when several people of proven holiness and simplicity, widely separated, give similar prophecies, then the Church gives at least some credence to their sayings. As a certain priest has said, "How else is God to speak to his people, except through revelation!"
* What is written is not given to frighten, but only to warn so that we may prepare ourselves, Sanctify our lives, and offer our good works to save souls for God. In any event, Holy Church always urges us to be in a State of Grace at all times, to be ever prepared for a happy death so that we may be found worthy to enter Heaven and behold God face to face for eternity.
* A number of people have requested that this compilation be made, therefore it is humbly offered, for the glory of God.
Feast of Corpus Christi, 1966 and Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, 1996.
I. The Impending Signs
1. Increasing violent disturbances on land, at sea and in the air; earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, windstorms, cloudbursts, breaking of dams, overflowing of streams and seas, huge tidal waves, floods, unusual accidents (accidents that are not accidents) taking many lives, famines, epidemics, destruction, destitution, failure of crops, water and crops will change, becoming more polluted and less nourishing.
2. Revolutions, downfall of governments, dissensions, wars, confusion in high places, lack of respect for authority, treachery, corruption, brutalities, atrocities.
3. Breakdown of family life, immorality, adultery, infidelity, promiscuity, perversion and violence of youth, disobedience, lack of values, indecent nakedness of dress, countless sins and iniquities, people concerned only with the body, with eating, drinking, dancing, amusement, entertainment, and pleasures.
4. Flaunting and abuse of Church laws, irreverence and immodesty in church, falling attendance at church, neglect of holy conduct on Sundays, neglect of the sacraments, sacrileges against the Body and Blood of Christ become rampant, sinful pride in sham-religious activities, general apostasy within the Church, rampant heresies, many religious will fall away and take souls with them, declining religious vocation, Christian countries become lands of pagans, enemies of religion, persecution of the true faith, suppression of the Church will increase and there will be many martyrs.
5. Lack of charity, heartlessness, indifference and lack of concern for our neighbor, people turning against each other, even in the bosom of the family, people proud in their own knowledge, and turning away from God.
6. Just glance at the daily newspapers to see clearly the above impending signs.
II. The Immediate Signs
1. The night will be bitterly cold, the wind will howl and roar, then will come lightning, thunderbolts, earthquakes, the stars and heavenly bodies will be disturbed and restless. There will be NO light, but TOTAL BLACKNESS, utter dark will envelop the entire earth. This will come suddenly like a flash!
2. Not a single Demon will be left in Hell, hell will be emptied and every evil spirit will be released to roam over the earth and do all possible harm to souls. The evil ones will appear in the most frightening forms and will fill the air with pestilence and poisonous gases, there will be terrifying apparitions. Many will die from fear and despair, the wicked people will behold the Divine Heart of Our Lord.
3. "My angels, who are to be the executioners of this work, stand ready with pointed swords and they will take special care to annihilate all those who mock Me and would not believe in My revelations."
4. Hurricanes of fires will rain forth from Heaven and spread over all the earth, fear will seize mortals at the sight of these clouds of fire, and great will be their cries of lamentation, many godless will burn in the open fields like withered grass. God's wrath will be poured out upon the whole world, the chastisement will be terrible, such as never before, and will afflict the entire earth.
5. Satan will triumph in these awful days, and hell will appear to have gained possession of the world, but God will reclaim it, for even this chastisement is an act of God's mercy. He tells us not to pray against it, as it must come, but pray to save yourself and as many others as possible, and pray that these days may be shortened.
III. Between the Impending Signs and the Immediate Signs
There are predicted two other occurrences, as additional and final warnings before the terror of the three-day darkness:
THE GREAT WARNING
* A Prodigy during which time every soul will be shown exactly how they have offended God and to what extent. This will be a time of such intense personal suffering that many will wish to die, but no one will.
THE GREAT MIRACLE
* A Miracle similar to that at Fatima, a great wonder to convince many, predicted to take place on the Feast Day of a young martyr of the Eucharist but not on a holy day of Our Lady. The miracle will last for about a quarter of an hour and will be visible from Garabandal, Spain, and the surrounding mountains. Our Holy Father will see it no matter where he is at the time. This miracle will take place on a date which will be announced eight days before. Afterwards, God will leave a sign in memory of it. It can be shown on TV for the whole world to see.
THE CROSS IN THE SKY
* As late as 1965, the three days of darkness was spoken of again in a holy person in Europe: "The Divine fire and the fire of hell will arrive and last during the days of darkness indicated by all the saints. My luminous cross will appear in the sky, it will be the sign that the final events are close, and will remind all of My terrible passion, so that they will have time to reflect, for I shall not punish the world without previous announcement. All will have time to comprehend the significance of that cross in the sky, and everyone shall see it. All will know, even those who reject it, that this My cross will be the sign that a Redeemer came once to bring salvation and pardon. My cross will be honored as never before."
IV. What to Do For Protection During the Three Days
1. As soon as you perceive the disturbed signs of the very cold night: Go inside, shut and lock all doors and windows, pull down the shades, keep the doors and windows well covered, go and stay away from doors and windows. Do not look out, do not go outside for any reason, and do not talk to anyone outside. Demons will imitate your loved ones' voice to entice to go outside and kill you. ANYONE WHO LOOKS OUT OR GOES OUT WILL DIE IMMEDIATELY! The wrath of God is holy and He does not want us to see it.
LIGHT YOUR BLESSED CANDLES
* All will be black, and the only thing which will give light will be blessed wax candles; even these will not burn in the houses of the godless and scoffers. Once lit, nothing will put them out in the houses of the believers. Be sure to keep a supply of blessed wax believers. Be sure to keep a supply of blessed wax candles in your homes - also - Holy Water to be sprinkled freely around the house, especially at doors and windows. Bless yourself and others with it. Drink it and anoint your senses with it (eyes, ears, nose, mouth) and hands, feet, and forehead.
STORAGE OF FOOD
* Keep on hand a sufficient supply of food, water and blankets for those of your household and any visitors. Do not count on any utilities.
DO NOT TAKE ANIMALS INTO YOUR HOME
* Taking care of your animals by leaving enough food and water outside for them to last these days. God will preserve the property of the elect, including their animals. It is assumed that house pets may be kept inside. Animals which have been petted or cared for by a blessed person receive a certain protection.
KNEEL DOWN BEFORE A CRUCIFIX AND PRAY INCESSANTLY
* Pray with outstretched arms, or prostrate on the floor, pleading for many souls to be saved. Make acts of contrition of faith, hope and love. Make acts of Spiritual Communion. Read spiritual books.
PRAY THE ROSARY
* Meditate on its mysteries. You must think more of the Passion of Christ.
CALL UPON GOD'S MERCY
* And call upon Our Blessed Mother for He has given these times into the care of the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary (under that title). "No harm will come to those who are in the state of grace and seek My Mother's protection."
INVOKE THE INTERCESSION OF SAINTS
* Call upon the Holy Trinity, Holy Mary, Saint Joseph, Saints Peter and Paul, Saint Therese (the Little Flower), Saint Francis of Assisi, Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, Saint Conrad of Parzham, The Holy Angels, your own Guardian Angels, and Saint Michael the Archangel. The cry: "Who is like unto God?" (the motto of Saint Michael) will serve as a protection to many.
* Those who are caught traveling on the road and unable to get to shelter will die as martyrs and be taken to Heaven, if they are good. Some children and others will be taken to Heaven beforehand, to spare them the horror of these days. "THOSE WHO DISREGARD THIS ADVICE WILL BE KILLED INSTANTLY"
2. The three days of darkness have already been postponed several times by the increased prayers and the sacrifices of good people and through the intercession of Our Blessed Mother. Now they will no longer be delayed because sins have multiplied beyond measure. THEY WILL COME SOON, for in the merciful plan of God, this world must be purified of its sin. It is predicted that these Three Days of Darkness will come and no one will escape the terror of these days!"
"I will find them all."
V. The Aftemath
1. After the three days of chastisement are over, there will be no ungodly persons left, the godless will be annihilated. Seventy-five percent of humanity will be destroyed, more men than women. Everyone left on earth will believe in God with all their hearts. The devastation will be astonishingly great, but the earth will be purified. The spiritual fervor of the early Christians will return, but there will be so few men left on earth. When all seems lost, then in a twinkling all will be saved, the sun will shine again and it will be as springtime, all fair and beautiful. The Holy Angels will descend from Heaven and spread the spirit of peace over the earth, and the just will be able to start life anew.
2. Some nations will disappear entirely, and the face of the earth will be changed. There will be no more big business, huge factories and assembly lines which will sap men's souls and moralities. People will return to the land.
3. Our Holy Church will rise again, and religious communities will flower. A feeling of immeasurable gratitude will possess the hearts of those who survive this terrible ordeal and, upon the return of light, all should kneel down immediately and give thanks to the Holy Trinity for their protection, and Bless God. Then will follow the era of peace as promised by the Blessed Virgin at Fatima.
I think Earthquakes are always in the mix-
I think there is going to be a run on Blessed Beeswax Candles.
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