Biggest earthquake in 40 years hits Southeast Asia

[Chemical Ollie]

The "Estonia" ship disaster ten years ago was the worst civilian catastrophy in the history of Sweden. You have to go back to the Napoleonic Wars to find something even close in numbers of Swedish citizens dead on one single day.

But this earthquake could be much worse. 1500 Swedish citizens are still missing in Thailand, and that's only the organised tourists, not counting the freelancing backpackers. There are lots of stories of people who saw their families disappear into the water. The tourist kindergarten was playing on the beach when the first wave hit.

[Ted Striker]

Anyone wants to donate money can do so here:

http://www.mercycorps.org/home/

[Ted Striker]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker


Five

Six

[Az]

50,000, the news say now.

[Sikander]

Originally posted by Last Conformist
@VJ: Just 'cos you're a paedophile it doesn't follow Fez' relatives are.

Though it would explain a lot.

[Sikander]

Originally posted by Hueij

It was exactly a year before this one, Dec 26 2003...

BTW, I heard on the news that these tsunamis had a speed of over 400mph when they hit shore. How can anyone survive a 30 ft wall of water with that speed?

I don't think they are traveling that speed when they hit the shore, much of that energy is used to raise the water up as the wave presses against the sea bed.

[Alexander's Horse]

The saddest part is all the little children lost.

[Pekka]

Wow.. Chemical Ollie, so many Swedes missing still? That's a big number.. some of them will turn out fine though, but with that number.. our numbers are way more down, at least 200 missing, but even if it is like 40 dead, you know it's the biggest one for us since the war. We've been fortunate. But of course it doesn't compare to .. the overall at all. But just mentioning.

What a horrible disaster.

[Pekka]

But in this horror moment, there have been many brave rescue attempts, some succesful, some not. It makes me think humans are good after all, putting their lives at risk, not even thinking twice about it to help some stranger in stress in the moment of worst chaos. Stories of people picking up injured stranger and carrying them in their backs or towels or anything they could use to safety, and at that point not knowing if it was in fact safety, in the greatest hurry just stopping and picking someone up. Of course not all were picked up, but some were...

[Berzerker]

I'm sorry for all of you with family and friends in the area, I just realised how international this site is.
My Sis was really into scuba diving and she's been to that region several times until a case of the benz ended her hobby.

[Chemical Ollie]

Originally posted by Pekka
Wow.. Chemical Ollie, so many Swedes missing still? That's a big number.. some of them will turn out fine though, but with that number.. our numbers are way more down, at least 200 missing, but even if it is like 40 dead, you know it's the biggest one for us since the war. We've been fortunate. But of course it doesn't compare to .. the overall at all. But just mentioning.

What a horrible disaster.

There are about 20 000 Swedes in Thailand for Christmas holiday. Only 2000 Finns. A large part of the Swedes were living on the beaches that were hit.

The official Swedish body count is at a pathetic 3. But the officials only release numbers on bodies found and identified, and most of the bodies will never be found. They were washed away into the ocean and have already become fish food.

[Pekka]

Same here, we have official numbers at 1 dead. But they know for sure there are more, from the stories of parents or kids etc who saw them going into the sea etc. There is a correlation in numbers though,, you had 20 000 visitors and 2000 is the number they're now looking at to solve.. we had 2000, and 200 is the number we're looking to solve now, so that's .. 10% exactly in both cases.

Some stories are tough, many people have been at the beaches when the waves came, and had to run to upper grounds, grabbing something when teh wave hit, and then continuing to run and again grabbing, climbing into a tree in the meanwhile, running, and with every wave few dropped from the escape.

[The Mad Monk]

Floating mattress saves 20-day-old baby from drowning

PENANG: While thousands of people lost their lives when a tsunami hit the region, a 20-day-old baby survived, thanks to a floating mattress.

When the tsunami hit the popular Miami Beach in Batu Ferringhi here at about 1.15pm, S. Tulasi was sleeping in a room behind her father’s western food outlet along the beach.

“We were all caught off guard when the wave hit us. I was thrown several metres away but managed to hold onto one of the posts but my 12-year-old daughter was swept by the wave,” said A. Suppiah.

Suppiah, 55, said his wife, Annal Mary, 40, braved the strong wave to open the room door to save their baby.

“I thought I had lost both my daughters but thank God the mattress was floating in about 1.5m of water and my baby was crying. My other daughter, Kanchana somehow managed to get to her feet and run to safety,” said Suppiah who injured his right ankle.

Suppiah, who has been running the outlet for the past 10 years, said the wave caused about RM30,000 in losses.

“I don’t know what to do now. My livelihood depends on tourists staying in the hotels around here and daily visitors. I hope the Government will allow me to continue doing business here,” he added.

For ice cream seller, A. Subramaniam, the safety of a few hundred picnickers was his main concern when he saw an unusual wave moving towards Teluk Bahang beach.

“I had never seen such a wave. I knew something was wrong as the wave was dark and as high as a coconut tree,” he said.

Riding a 200kg motorcycle loaded with ice cream, Subramaniam said he rode on the sand and screamed to the picnickers to leave the place.

“But many of them just stood and watched the coming wave. The first wave was not that strong but the second one was very powerful and lasted about five minutes,” he added.

Subramaniam said he managed to prevent a 16-year-old girl from being swept away by the wave.

“Fortunately enough, the people there ran to safety before the second wave came. But when I rushed to Batu Ferringhi, I saw many people being swept by the wave,” he said.

His son, Kugilan, 14, who was selling ice cream in Tanjong Bungah, said he saw several children being swept by the waves.

“Their parents tried to pull them but the waves were very strong,” he said. – Bernama

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2004/12/28/nation/9759091&sec=nation

[Gangerolf]

A couple of friends of mine were in Khao Lak in Thailand. One of them is still in the hospital down there, the other one is physically unharmed.
That place got annihilated... 700 dead so far.

But in this horror moment, there have been many brave rescue attempts, some succesful, some not. It makes me think humans are good after all, putting their lives at risk, not even thinking twice about it to help some stranger in stress in the moment of worst chaos. Stories of people picking up injured stranger and carrying them in their backs or towels or anything they could use to safety, and at that point not knowing if it was in fact safety, in the greatest hurry just stopping and picking someone up. Of course not all were picked up, but some were...

The human race isn't all bad

[dannubis]

no, they just are when they have nothing better to do