Posted on 12/31/2004 9:06:24 PM PST by Pharmboy
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - Knowledge of the ocean and its currents passed down from generation to generation of a group of Thai fishermen known as the Morgan sea gypsies saved an entire village from the Asian tsunami, a newspaper said Saturday. By the time killer waves crashed over southern Thailand last Sunday the entire 181 population of their fishing village had fled to a temple in the mountains of South Surin Island, English language Thai daily The Nation reported.
"The elders told us that if the water recedes fast it will reappear in the same quantity in which it disappeared," 65-year-old village chief Sarmao Kathalay told the paper.
So while in some places along the southern coast, Thais headed to the beach when the sea drained out of beaches - the first sign of the impending tsunami - to pick up fish left flapping on the sand, the gypsies headed for the hills.
Few people in Thailand have a closer relationship with the sea than the Morgan sea gypsies, who spend each monsoon season on their boats plying the waters of the Andaman Sea from India to Indonesia and back to Thailand.
Between April and December, they live in shelters on the shore surviving by catching shrimp and spear fishing. At boat launching festivals each May, they ask the sea for forgiveness.
AP-ES-12-31-04 2245EST
Why didn't the sea gypsies share this knowledge? They could have saved a lot of lives.
…they decided not issue a warning because they thought it would hurt tourism…
That is so true, except they will reappear in another country. ;-)
Perhaps all those European tourists "sunning and drinking champaign" just yards from the piles of the dead right now should have more care and concern.
I'm sorry, but say that Disney World had a disaster occur. Would someone be keen on riding "It's a small world" while they were still fishing bodies from the water in the ride? I don't think I'd drain the resources of the natives by complaing about room service.
Heck, the bodies will be washing up for weeks down there. I know they don't want to hurt the tourist industry, but the reality is that place is an "ocean tomb" right now.
That warning was posted right here in Free Republic before the waves hit. I wonder if any FReepers over there got the word in time.
bump!!!
What the scientists were saying is that the Pacific was where the tsunamis were and the Indian Ocean has not had any so they ignored the (potential) threat. I think they have changed their minds now...
Thanks for the links...you saved me a googling. Happy New Year!
Full details of warnings posted here: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1311970/posts?page=13#13
.
There is a story on Fox about a young 8 year ol girl named Tilly who was on the family on the beach with her family on vacation. She saw the waters receding and told her parents that they had to run, that there was a tsunami coming. This was on Phi Phi island, and the parents told everyone to run. The beach was empty when the wave hit.
I saw that story posted here this morning. Smart girl.
Not 100% sure, but that looks like the lagoon at Ko Phi Phi. If you are standing there and can see the wave coming it is a long way to high ground. From what I remember there is some high ground on either end of the island with the middle being quite low and only hundreds of yards across.
The wisdom of 'witch doctors' and other such 'primitive' types have been sidelined always. I'll bet the next time some old lady takes a look at the animals going for higher ground people will listen eh? My grandmother can personally tell when a monsoon rain is about to hit with her knee. It's almost like a little barometer *LOL*
It takes the village elders.
Hours before it happened? The models have to include the fact that the earthquake was 9.0. But the earthquake itself was originally modeled at 6.8, then 7.8, then 8.5, then 8.9, then 9.0. These revisions didn't happen in minutes - the tsunami models were made long after the waves struck. Don't forget that the 8 PM EST on Saturday is not a day before the quake - it was already Sunday over there. Too late. The waves took only a few minutes after the quake to hit Sumatra, and a couple of hours to reach Sri Lanka and India. The quake was still thought to be in the 7s then - way too small to generate a significant tsunami.
That is NOT what it says here.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1311970/posts?page=13#13
Original model was charted at 8.0
Confirmed with Australia and Japan.
As I posted, they did not have advance warning of the tsunami, and incidentally the first indications of the destruction came from across the Indian ocean.
You are right however that American authorities thought the quake was in the 8s, not the 7s, when the waves struck.
The "elders" - those few people who remember how our political system came to be and why it was designed as it was - tell their brothers "when you see your freedom being sucked away, you should run for the mountains."
Very few people listen to the elders here in America, either.
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