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.