The current news at Yahoo now has the death toll at 7200. Phi Phi island had 200 bungalows washed out to sea. My family and a couple of friends stayed there a few years back. I wonder if this thing is going to keep causing problems farther “downstream”?
A newscaster on the spot said that everything (and everyone!) swept out to sea was “sucked under,” and that there is no debris visible on the surface of the water, as of yet.
!!!
Actually, what I meant by my question, will Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, etc get hit by the ripple effect a little bit later, or has that danger already passed? Still very scary, nothing I ever worried about as a diver. I assume on the surface the thing is just a big swell until the wave gets into shallow enough water to break (IIRC wave amplitude can get to maximu of 1/2 the depth before breaking).
British dopers, maybe you can help me?
I’m anxious to know about a friend of mine who’s in the region, but I don’t know where exactly. I don’t have a current e-mail address for him.
He is British - is there anywhere online I can put my mind at rest? I don’t have contact details for his family, but I will be e-mailing former colleagues to find out if they know anything.
This is from a recent message:
Death toll now exceeding 10,000. My friend’s friend is missing in Phuket.
Martha, there’s a British Foreign Office number they keep putting up on the TV. Next time it comes round, I’ll post it here. In the meantime I’ll look for it online.
Here’s one number from the Foreign Office website: 0207 008 0000. If you’re calling from the US you should dial 011-207 008 0000.
Correction: from the US, dial 011-44-207 008 0000. It’s likely to be very oversubscribed at the moment.
The heartening part of this is that he would have had to be within 200 metres of certain parts of certain coastlines to have been in danger.
Thank you, jjim. I’ve been looking on the Beeb and the FCO website, and decided I’d call if I don’t get any news from friends and e-mail in the next day or two. I might also try the embassy here too (Dominican Republic).
I know it’s more likely than not that he’s safe, but I want to make sure.
Sorry, I didn’t realise you were in the DR.
This is horrible
I wish there was something I could do to help.
Isn’t there someone on these boards that lives in Sri Lanka? Their nick is right on my fingertips …
You can: donate to the Red Cross or other charities that are mobilising to help out. If you haven’t got the means to donate money, you could always donate time to fundraise.
Looked it up, it’s False_God
Mods, any ideas of how someone could get hold of him?
Wow. One of my favorite birthdays was spent in northern Sumatra, and I’ve been going to Phuket and Phi Phi for years. Two of my favorite places on earth. I’m wondering if my favorite hotel on Phi Phi is even there anymore.
Just before Christmas, a coworker was thinking of going to Phuket, but he went to Bali instead. I recommended Phuket. He probably won’t be asking me for any more vacation advice.
How does one pronounce “Phuket” anyway?
Not like it looks! Most people say “poo-ket,” but I also hear “poo-kate.”
(Phi Phi, however, does sound like “pee-pee.”)
Could a Mod possibly change the thread title to something more fitting, please?
When this first caught my attention it was as I flicked through channels (checking quickly that all the channel formats were available as part of my job at the cable company), and the name Phuket caught my ear… obviously, however, it’s much more wide-spread than that.
It wasn’t until after I posted that the scope of the catastrophe became apparent to me.
Another doper in that part of the world is GQ moderator xash. He replied to an email I’d sent him around 4AM, before the quake occurred. Hopefully he was in a safe spot.
xash is, I believe, in Bangalore, which is hundreds of miles inland.
Anybody know what (if anything) happened to Singapore?