Many Thousands Reported Dead in Tsunamis in South and Southeast Asia

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Wow! I just caught on CNN that Phuket and Pi-Pi Island in Thailand were hit by tsunamis caused by an earlier earthquake in Indonesia (?). Many people dead. :eek:

I was there a few years ago, and it’s a very strange feeling looking at the news pictures, and recognizing areas that have now been scrubbed clean.

So far there haven’t been any pictures of Pi-Pi Island yet, but the reporter was saying that the island had been devastated by the waves. When I was there, Leo DiCaprio was on Pi-Pi filming the movie The Beach… many Thais at the time were upset about ecological damage caused by the film crew re-arranging trees and such on the beach to make it more photogenic. Guess that’s not an issue now.

Looks as if Sri Lanka was also hit… probably other places too. :frowning:

2

sometimes earth sucks.

Here’s to hoping the casulaties were low.

god, what an awful thing to say.

3

Holy crap. The largest earthquake anywhere for the past 40 years.

Coastal areas of India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Sumatra, Malaysia - one entire state of Indonesia is cut off - no doubt Burma, and God knows what’s happened to the Maldives. Thousands dead.

:frowning: :frowning: :frowning:

4

SkyNews here is running continuous coverage of this disaster. The earthquake measured 8.9 on the Richter scale and was one of the strongest since 1900. But it looks like most of the deaths have occurred as a result of the tsunamis, especially along the Sri Lankan, Indian, Thai and Indonesian coasts. I shudder to think what has happened in places like the Maldives, which are only just above sea level.

5

Hundreds of western tourists on scuba diving trips are missing. Many of them were in a sea cave when it hit.

Fishermen at sea next to the epicentre noticed just a heavy swell.

The fault line was 100 kilometres long and raised the sea bed by between 10 and 30 metres.

6

What a terrible disaster! :frowning:

My sister is flying out to Thailand in 19 days, they were planning to go to Koh Samui, Phuket etc. I’m just glad she decided to spend Christmas with the family.

7

holy shit. i spenr xmas in phuket last year. guaranteed to have a big group of the international crowd from shanghai there right now…

8

I am just about to travel through Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. And we were thinking of going to Kerala, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. I hope there’s something we can do to help when we’re there.

9

I’ve been listening to the news about this all day now. One of my co-workers just went back to Indonesia to visit her family for the holidays. Have to wait until Monday to find out if everyone is ok.

10

good heavens! just heard about this.

the numbers are climbing.

i hope they can get people out before aftershocks hit.

11

Good lord – 8.9! Those poor souls.

Don’t we have a Doper working in Sri Lanka?

12

My sister lives in Pattaya, which is on the other side of the peninsula… I’m hoping her side is ok.

13

I’ve been following the news on this all night; it sounds as if the damage was all on the Phuket side. I’ve heard no mention of damage on the eastern side at all.

But damn. Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand… :frowning:

14

Millions left homeless. 6,500 reported dead so far, 3,000 in Sri Lanka alone, and I expect the total to rise into the tens of thousands.

15

:frowning: While I’m glad that it isn’t affecting my sister, this is a horrible thing. Unbelievable.

16

Many of us expats go that away for the holidays, a couple of guys from my wing.

I hope they are all OK.

This massive disaster just barely bumped the airline computer problem out of the lead on Good Morning America. (Sigh.)

17

Here’s why. The force is carried deep in the sea at speeds of up to 600mph, with little or no visible effect on the surface. “… they can move from one side of the Pacific Ocean to the other side in less than one day.” When the tsunami gets into shallow water, it turns into a huge wave. It also slows down, but you’re talking about millions of tons of water coming at you. It’s like a bulldozer vs Lego.

Latest Reuters report says 6,300 dead as far apart as Indonesia and Sri Lanka.

18

Holy crap!

More than 2,000 killed 1,000 miles west of the epicenter.

One scientist said the quake disturbed the earth’s rotation.

:eek: :frowning: :eek:

19

Just e’d my Aussie friend Mark, who frequently vacations down there–he’s a schoolteacher and this is vacation time, so hope he was safe at home.

20

That’s really scary. How do you prepare for somehting like that?! Some of the most beautiful places in the world, just obliterated by natural causes. . . taking anyone in its way. ::shudder::