A huge earthquake measuring 8.9 on the richter scale has devastated areas in south-east asia and southern india/Sri Lanka. Thousands of people have died and many have been injured and lost their homes and belongings. Lets hope they can get their lives back on track.
God, yes, I just saw the news, it's terrible. They reckon 11,000 are dead so far and there may be some more aftershocks over the next few days. Thinking of all those who were involved or affected. xxx
This truly sounds catastrophic. I read a witness account from a resort where the sunbathers were swept out to sea and the snorkelers were swept on to land. An 8.9 sound truly horrific. I once experienced a 5.1 so this is beyond comprehension. Thoughts & prayers to all those affected by this tragedy...
Its a terrible tragedy and my thoughts go out to all those affected. The aftermath of these events on the economies of those countries could be yet another tragedy. I sympathise with the tourists effected by this but its a shame the news is focusing so much on their evacuation, I think the people who actually live in the area's hit are the people who deserve the most concern.
Not only human life is affected but also their property, homes etc and it will take them some time to recover. I think the fisheries industry may be affected too in many of those places. I think Sri Lanka and southern India got the worst of the damage and most human casualties. The death toll is now estimated at 15, 000. One of the worst scenes was a man in indonesia, carrying his dead baby daughter out of the water
We have a few members out that way and I was thinking of them yesterday. The quake was upgraded to 9.0 and as of this morning, the death toll was at 27,000 and climbingg. I hope all our friends and those we don't know are okay.
:cry: a parent should never have to suffer the pain of seeing their children die- the pain must be excrutiating. i feel bad when i see my daughter get cuts/scratches- i can't even imagine what that father must have felt at that time. while i feel bad for all those affected, i am relieved that our country wasn't affected by the tsunami, being as it is just a few hours away from indonesia.
My mind is still unable to grasp the tragedy of what happened. Earthquakes of that magnitude always seemed reserved for cheesy disaster movies.... and the death toll keeps climbing and climbing. As an American, all the "tragedies" of our country in the past few years (Columbine, 9/11, etc.) seem petty and meagre compared to what has happened with this tsunami.
paper todays said 24,000 and counting... india 7,000 and lanka 12,000. Sucks for news today... I was sick y'day n didn't get the news untill afternoon.. I was literally shocked.. -TkdWarrior-
Yes and its a shame that this tsunami disaster will not get half as much media coverage as 9/11 did. :bang:
The death toll is now close to 50,000. I have a couple of friends in Malaysia. Haven't heard from them yet.
It's a bit different. This is a natural disaster, 9/11 was an act of terrorism. My friend went to Thailand for Christmas. He sent a rather casual email saying - "Hi guys, hope you are all having a great chrimbo. The island that I am on has just been devastated by a massive tidal wave. I'm alive though. Have a good new year." And Jet Li is missing.
Please refer to this thread: http://www.martialartsplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?p=383201#post383201 I'm putting together a list of places online people can donate, worldwide, to send aid for earthquake/tsunami relief. If you know of others not listed, pleas add them. Thanks
... and perhaps toping the worst Top 10 natural disasters list http://mnw.eas.slu.edu/hazards.html Thank you Ann for beginning that thread ... I hope we all can do our part in contributing to the relief effort.
My brother lives in Kuala Lumpur. He says Malaysia wasn't affected and he didn't feel the earthquake at all because Indonesia acted as sort of insulation against the waves/force. A couple of people have died in Malaysia but that's just in the far north. Unfortunately, I've just heard about some European family friends (once removed...) who were holidaying in Thailand with their three kids. They lost one of their children and their baby because they were on the beach at the time. I just can't begin to imagine that.
It was the day after christmas and early in the morning so many people would have been sleeping at that time and unaware of the threat.
horrible, they reckon the toll is going to reach 100 000. and then theres the disease, the poverty, the starvation... this is surely the worst natural disaster in human history.
