9.0 Earthquake and Consequent Tsunamis hit Asia hard

for your information, if you have any travelling friends in asia at the moment;
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4125481.stm

Is this the story you mean news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4123927.stm ? In which case I think someone in the IP Forum might have some friends he wold be concerned about.

no, that was on friday, this one just happened in the last few hours i believe, and has been felt from sumatra to bagkok to sri lanka, killing over 500.

Japan has long had a tsunami warning system, and after each major quake there, warnings about tsunamis go up on the TV screens around the four major islands there. But south Asia never did that…yet!

QUOTE: A warning center such as those used around the Pacific could have saved most of the thousands of people who died in Asia’s earthquake and tsunamis, …None of the countries most severely affected – including India, Thailand, Indonesia and Sri Lanka – had a tsunami warning mechanism or tidal gauges to alert people to the wall of water that followed a massive earthquake.

From Indonesia to Thailand to Maldives, major tsunamis hit hard. See tomorrow’s papers for front page pictures. Meanwhile, post pics here:

(CNN) – More than 50,000 people are feared dead after the largest earthquake to shake planet Earth in nearly 400 years jolted Southeast Asia on Sunday morning…

NEW YORK – AP, The magnitude-8.9 earthquake that struck Indonesia Sunday was the world’s fifth most powerful since 1600 and the strongest since a 9.2 temblor slammed Alaska 40 years ago…

reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jh … yID=644007

Photo here. click on reuters photo. awesome shot!

The news stories began like this, earlier on Sunday:
130 feared dead in south Asia tsunamis…
180 “” “” “” “” “”
then 300
then 500
then 1000… feared dead… and the day is not over yet.
By Monday morning, it is possible, total dead will be 50,000 regionwide…

Any Forumosans involved? I hope you and your loved ones are all ok. The pictures they’re showing on CNN are shocking! :astonished: :frowning:

If you check out the USGS list of recent earthquakes, there were two earthquakes in excess of 8.0 in the Australasia are within the past three days. Worldwide Earthquake Activity in the Last Seven Days

Rough times in Sri Lanka, India, Sumatra and Thailand. It doesn’t look like the last days are at hand, though.

Does anybody know where we can send donations or aid? Maybe we should have a Forumosa collection.
My friend flew to Bangkok on Friday, and was heading to Koh Phi Phi. I’m freaking out here. But I’m also worried about the thousands of people who will need help now.

Komodo diver was supposed to have taken a diving position in Phuket…Anyone know if he’s there yet?

I’ve heard there are a lot of divers missing off Phi phi and emeral cave… :frowning:

CNN reporting now: "In southern Thailand, some 200 were killed on the island of Phi Phi, between Thailand’s coastal area and the resort island of Phuket, where at least 48 were killed, according to the deputy governor. One witness said Phuket’s Laguna Beach resort was “entirely wiped out.”

The stats are getting worse every hour as the count goes up. 4500 dead now, but many villages still to count, with experts saying now the total dead will likely reach 50,000 by mid-week, when final tallies come in.

The earthquake even caused one death in Taiwan. The water level got so high that it covered the floor in his hotel, and he slipped and fell.

The news said over 3,000 people have died as a result of this earthquake.

Tomorrow’s papers will only have HALF the story. We won’t know final tally until midweek or next Friday. Meanwhile, Internet reporting:

The massive earthquake sent massive waves, up to 10 meters high, across the Indian Ocean:

west to the Maldives,

north-west to India and Sri Lanka,

north into the Andaman islands and Thailand

and east to Malaysia,

leaving more than 40,000 feared dead in seaside towns and villages.

An eyewitness on the coast of Sumatra when the earthquake hit, said: “Basically the waters just drained out of the bay” as the tsunami gathered steam…

An eyewitness on Phuket, said: “Suddenly the streets are awash and people just running and screaming from the beach. And all the windows are blown in everywhere.”

Another eyewitness was in a Phuket pub watching the cricket when it hit. “People were getting swept along still on their motorbikes on their sides. There were cars that had been picked up by the storm surge and they were getting pushed down the road.”

On the island of Nias, a surfing mecca for Australians off Sumatra’s west coast, 75 bodies had been recovered. An Australian boat captain, Edward Shiels, who was on the coast of Sumatra when the earthquake hit, told Channel Seven last night: “Basically the waters just drained out of the bay.”

Map shows the epicenter of the magnitude 8.9 earthquake (00:58:50 UTC on Sunday, December 26, 2004). Apparently, this is the one which caused the tsunamis.

Map taken from the CIA’s World Factbook

Edited: For more detailed maps, please refer to Expedia Maps (select “Search for a place” and “World (topographic maps)”, then enter the location).

What next? I keep on scanning the TV to see if I can spot my friend. I wish there weren’t as many blonde tourists in Thailand. I want to send money there too. These areas are the last areas on earth that need this kind of thing to happen to them. I’m sure it will take more than a week before we know exactly how bad it is…but it is already WAY too bad. How do you wrap your head around such a huge earthquake? I want to go all psycho and move out of my 11f apartment NOW>

[quote=“twonavels”]Does anybody know where we can send donations or aid? Maybe we should have a Forumosa collection.
My friend flew to Bangkok on Friday, and was heading to Koh Phi Phi. I’m freaking out here. But I’m also worried about the thousands of people who will need help now.[/quote]

I’m sure Red Cross/Crescent will take donations.

BTW, the NY Times has this about PP: The government ordered evacuation from stricken coastal areas, including 600 from the tiny island of Koh Phi Phi and the resorts on the islands of Phuket and Krabi.

I hope your friend is one of the 600 or, better yet, hadn’t arrived yet.

What a horrible time to have such a tragedy. I am pretty sure that no one I know was travelling to Indonesia, Malaysia, or Thailand for Christmas. I do know of some people who went to Boracay. I hope they are okay. I can’t imagine what people there went through when it happened…I mean, with typhoons, at least the sky is gray and stormy long before a storm surge would hit. For a tsunami, though. It is unimaginable.

The ‘’[Taiwan] Post’’ newspaper this morning front page headline says 9000 dead.

CNN just now reporting “over” 10,000 dead. And this is just day one reporting.

[ADDED TWO MINUTES LATER: Reuters reporting now: "One of the most powerful earthquakes this century hit Asia on SUnday …killing an estimated …*11,300 people] The figures go up by the hour!

Death toll hits “more than 13,000 people are dead” on CNN at noon.]

I just hope some mindcrazed TV evangelical in the USA like Pat “I am God’s Mouthpiece” Robertson or one of those other jerks, doesn’t come out and say something like:

… “Well, you see, this is what happens to those heathen Asians who do not celebrate the birth of Christ as they should but instead go out sunbathing, surfing, diving and sleeping late on a Sunday morning when they shoulda been in church praying to Jesus. This is God’s retribution on a godless Asia.”

Watch what they say in the coming days…

It’s also interesting/weird how each country’s newspapers, Taiwan too, report HOW MANY OF OUR NATIONALS died in the quake/tsunami, AS IF IT MATTERS WHAT NATIONALITY IT IS. Japan papers today say: “10 Japanese dead in Thailand” while US papers says “2 Americans dead in Thailand” and France says “No French reported dead in Thailand” and Taiwan says “1` dead, 3 injured in Phuket” … like it’s a ballgame and someone is keeping score by nationality. What is this the Olympics of the Dead? People are people. Their nationality here is unimportant.

There should be a better way of reporting this, no? Is a Japanese national really more important to Japanese readers than a Sri Lankan national? Oops, I think I just answered my own question!

While it may seem weird to you and is pretty heartless, there are a lot of us out there who know people that traveled to these countries for Christmas. Soon after numbers start to get sorted, they will start listing names. There are families who are sitting by the phone praying that someone they love isn’t one of them. Perhaps by listing the number of dead by nationality it helps them brace for the news if it comes, especially since telecommunications are pretty much wiped out for now so they can’t call their loved ones or get calls from them. It is a very scary time to know someone who was on vacation there, especially if you haven’t heard from them yet.

I’m sure that is not what they are trying to do. You need to report what happened, and we need to know how many died. It would be great if there was some website that you could go to to see who exactly died. I know the parents need to hear first, but right now, there are MANY parents who are being kept in the dark.