Posted on 12/27/2004 7:18:09 AM PST by dead
More than 23,000 people were killed by a tsunami triggered by a 9-magnitude earthquake in southern Asia.
These figures are preliminary and in some cases rough estimates by local officials:
In addition, about 1300 people are missing in India's Andhra Pradesh.
QUOTES:
Indian vegetable hawker N. Arasu: "We are too scared to sleep. What if the sea rises again and takes us away in our sleep?"
American tourist Moira Lee, 28: "Our paradise turned into hell ... We saw a massive wave coming toward us and our waitress freaked out. She told us to run for our lives. So we just turned and ran for about a mile up the hill."
Boree Carlsson, Swedish hotel worker on Thailand's Phuket island: "As I was standing there, a car actually floated into the lobby and overturned because the current was so strong."
Sri Lankan hospital official: "We have got hundreds of dead that we have dealt with ... "I don't know what to do."
Marine colonel Buyung Lelana, Indonesia: "It smells so bad, fishy. The human bodies are mixed in with dead animals like dogs, fish, cats and goats,"
Sri Lanka President Chandrika Kumaratunga: "We are not well equipped to deal with a disaster of this magnitude because we have never known a disaster like this."
Narasamma, Indian fisherman's wife: "I have been waiting for my husband and brother since yesterday. Around 40 people from my village have not come back from the sea. I am not sure they will come back as I can see wrecked boats floating in the water."
Mustofa, mayor in Sumatra: "We are making preparations for the funerals. Officials are being asked to look for coffins. I am hoping there are still enough coffins available."
Note to self: if you're ever walking on the beach and the tide suddenly sucks out hundreds of yards, don't stand there marveling at it. Turn and run.
The waitress helped save their lives.
What an awesome calamity
That must have been a hell of a sight. Would have made me run for dear life.
Incredible. It's just so massive that it's hard to comprehend.
Prayers going up for all affected by this horrid disaster.
Prayers bump. Just horrible...
But the waves kept coming, stronger and bigger. He struggled to high ground with others, some of whom were carrying their dead.
I have read accounts when the same thing would happen in ancient times (such as Alexandria). The water would churn and then go out to sea exposing the sea bed and fish. Many of the residents would run out for the "free meals" just laying there. Then the water would come back in...
Such stories. It really must seem like the End Times if you are caught unawares by something as seemingly uncomprehensible (the waters being so dramatically drawn out and then surging back in). But the question can't be escaped, Why weren't more people warned? Once an earthquake occurs, certain things happen, where was the warning of tsunamis?
Thanks for the updated news.
I finally spoke with my fiancee's sister last night. We were in Phuket and Phi Phi island 4 weeks ago visiting her.
The optical shop she manages on Patong Beach was closed for the weekend because of Christmas. She had planned to go to the beach that morning but decided to go back to bed when she woke up. (Very lucky for her). When she heard the news she rushed to the beach and saw cars stacked atop each other and destruction everywhere. Her optical shop was in ruins--she would have been injured or killed if she were working in the shop that day.
Since she is from the Philippines and speaks fluent english, she went to the hospital to volunteer to translate for the western tourists. She said there were so many wounded and so much blood, it was like a war zone. She saw one room stacked with dead bodies, including many children (mostly children of tourists). When she saw that, she broke down crying and had to leave the hospital. She said there were lots of injuries and deaths on the roads as people fled. She decided to walk instead of risk an accident on her motor scooter. She spent the night in the cold shivering on a hill because they were warned bigger waves might be coming inland.
I told her the media was reporting 500 dead in Thailand. She said the final numbers would be MUCH higher and that most of the dead and wounded would be Europeans, Australians, and Americans.
I'm still stunned at what happened---especially since I almost took my vacation over Christmas instead Thanksgiving. I only chose to travel in November because Cathay Pacific ran a special promotion to Thailand at that time.
My heart goes out to the families of the dead and wounded and to the local people who depended on the tourist industry for their livelihood. It will probably be years before Phuket rebounds, if ever.
Normal running just won't cut it.
I have been to Indonesia 3 times for diving excursions, dived in the Maldives too...we boarded a live aboard in Male (the largest island) and remained at sea for two weeks visiting many of the very small islands, basically fishing villages...and all I can say, I know how fragile their communities are...the simple buildings, no infrastructure. phones or electricity...very meager lil communities...
this is so very sad.
I've heard the waters off of Honduras (Roatan Island) are beautiful. Actually terrorism was my primary worry in Southern Thailand as Jemaah Islamiyah has been trying to work with local insurgents to attack the popular tourist spots. Fortunately the CIA and Thai intelligence services have disrupted attacks before they happened.
I'm also worried about the reports of buildings swaying in Bangkok. I wonder what kind of structural damage was done since they are certainly not constructed to withstand earthquakes as the buildings here in California are.
The waters of the Andaman Sea are so peaceful and Patong Bay is normally very calm. No one would have expected a tsunami to hit. Many more would have died if they weren't nursing hangovers from too much Christmas revelry. The beaches are packed later in the day.
I just got this email message from a friend who was concerned about some family members who were there and caught up in it but amaziningly survived with relatively minor injuries.
I'm sure many people are wondering about that.
On Fox News yesterday I saw two experts, one American and one Chinese, explain that
(1) tsunamis in the Indian Ocean are rare, so people are unprepared for them (unlike people in Japan, for instance); and
(2) the kind of sensors that are used to detect seismic and tsunami activity are practically non-existent because they are logistically very hard to place in the Indian Ocean, for some reason I don't remember.
Just can't imagine the people's bewilderment leading up to this event. I guess I now know to RUN.
But when you are a tourist how do you know WHERE to run to?
All of this is so very sad and scary.
Roatan is great for diving.
Actually normal running will do just fine in almost all cases.
If you start running...or even just walking fast...as soon as you see the sea recede you have about 5-10 minutes before the wave hits. In most parts of the world that will put you either high enough or inland enough to avoid the tsunami.
I highly recommend the new Michael Crichton book "State of Fear". There are some riveting scenes in the book that deal with trying to outrun a tsunami. It's so ironic--I spent Christmas afternoon perched on some rocks, near Big Sur, watching the gray whales migrate and observing the sun as it set into the Pacific. I was closer than I should have been to the water but watched the waves very carefully and wedged myself in to the rocks tight in case the water reached me. The biggest danger would be a powerful rogue wave. I was thinking of the Crichton book and how I would be toast if a tsunami hit the west coast while I was sitting there.
I had no idea that the planet had suffered a massive quake and a tsunami was already building and heading towards the beaches in other parts of the world.
I think the only defense is to gain altitude as quickly as possible by running uphill as fast as you can. If you see the ocean suck all the water of a bay---that's a sign it's time to run like he** because the water will be coming back hard and fast.
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