MADRAS, India, Monday, Dec. 27 - The world's most powerful earthquake in 40 years erupted underwater off the Indonesian island of Sumatra on Sunday and sent walls of water barreling thousands of miles, killing more than 13,000 people in half a dozen countries across South and Southeast Asia, with thousands more missing or unreachable.
Some perspective.
There is Redskins/Cowboys, and our own griping/sniping.
And in the real world, there is this.
(Incidentdally, I spent 1999 - 2001 working with many developers from the Tata Consulting office in Chennai, also known as Madras. Our people stayed at the sea-side resorts that were drowned.)
Thank you Welch. I almost mentioned the tsunami in my Smack thread.
This is very sad. I'm sure none of these people deserved this.
God, the death toll has risen to over 21,000.
500 MPH tidal waves heading towards land is something I couldn't have ever imagined happening.
RIP to all of the victims.
Tsunami Waves Kill Over 21,000 in Asia Aid Workers Rush to Areas Devastated by Tsunami Waves; Millions Homeless
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (Dec. 27) -- Rescuers piled up bodies along coastlines devastated by a tsunami that obliterated seaside towns in Asia and Africa, killing 21,000 people in nine countries. Hundreds of children were buried in mass graves in India, and morgues and hospitals struggled Monday to cope with the catastrophe.
The death toll rose sharply a day after the magnitude 9 quake struck deep beneath the Indian Ocean off the coast of Indonesia. It was the most powerful earthquake in the world in four decades.
Walls of water sped away from the epicenter at more than 500 mph before crashing into the region's shorelines, sweeping people and fishing villages out to sea. Millions were displaced from their homes and thousands remained missing Monday.
"Death came from the sea," said Satya Kumari, a construction worker living on the outskirts of the former French enclave of Pondicherry in India.
"The waves just kept chasing us. It swept away all our huts. What did we do to deserve this?"
The governments of Indonesia and Thailand conceded that public warnings came too late or not at all. But officials insisted they could not know the seriousness of the threat because no tsunami warning system exists for the Indian Ocean.
Officials said the death toll would continue to rise, and the international Red Cross said it was concerned about waterborne diseases.
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (Dec. 29) - Cargo planes touched down with aid Wednesday, bearing everything from lentils to water purifiers to help survivors facing the threat of epidemic after this week's quake-tsunami catastrophe. The first Indonesian military teams reached the devastated west coast of Sumatra island, finding thousands of bodies and increasing the death toll across 12 nations to more than 76,700.
The international Red Cross warned that the toll could eventually surpass 100,000.
Town after town along the Sumatran coast was covered with mud and sea water, with homes flattened or torn apart, an Associated Press reporter saw on a helicopter overflight with the military commander of the island's Aceh province. The only signs of life were a handful of villagers scavenging for food on the beach.
Western Sumatra suffered a double blow in Sunday's disaster, shattered both by the most powerful earthquake in 40 years and perhaps the deadliest tsunami in recorded history, which wreaked destruction across a dozen nations.
...and as of Thursday evening the count is over 100,000...maybe will hit 200,000 as more aid workers get into more places.
Several agencies collecting donations. Doctors Without Borders is asking for mental health professionals (for instance, social workers) just to counsel the rescuers.
I think: this is about 50 times the deaths on September 11...beyond words.
Yep, the latest I heard this morning was over 120,000...100,000 of which were in Indonesia.
RIP 21
"Nah, I trust the laws of nature to stay constant. I don't pray that the sun will rise tomorrow, and I don't need to pray that someone will beat the Cowboys in the playoffs." - Irn-Bru
I just came back from near Lincon Center, watching a movie with my daugter, the crew-rowing Yankee fanatic. Police are beginning to set up the barricades for the New Year's Eve celebration.
"Happy New Year" just doesn't fit.
*
Also makes me wonder if I shouldn't do something more humanly useful than write computer programs...
