Biggest earthquake in 40 years hits Southeast Asia

[Giancarlo]

As far as tripledoc's copy and paste, my personal point stands. I will post more updates on the issues later but I will provide no more responses to tripledoc and people who respond to him.

[Tripledoc]

Immanuel Kant
HISTORY AND PHYSIOGRAPHY OF THE MOST REMARKABLE CASES OF THE EARTHQUAKE WHICH TOWARDS THE END OF THE YEAR 1755 SHOOK A GREAT PART OF THE EARTH.

This is the Article refered to in the guardian article. Remarkably he says that eathquakes a fairly common in the Indian Ocean. I thought that various people have said that they are not.

http://evans-experientialism.freewebspace.com/kant_earthquake01.htm

[Alexander's Horse]

The loss of life is compounded by the fact that local people in many places cannot swim because of taboos about the sea.

The diabolical part was people were attracted to shoreline by unusual sea activity before the big waves hit - women and children were collecting stranded fish. There is a massive death toll amongst seaside villages.

[Alexander's Horse]

Here is an example of a powerful local legend which stops villagers swimming in the sea.

Nyai Loro Kidul

In Java it is belief that the right to rule was given to them by Nyai Loro Kidul, the mermaid Goddess of the South Seas. Nyai Loro Kidul, as legends tell us, married the king of Java in the 16th century. Before returning to the sea she taught the king how to gain power of the spirits, so he could rule Java wisely. Since then all rulers of Java have considered her their divine ancentstress.

Nyai Loro Kidul is believed to have been the mortal daughter of a king of Java in ancient times. When her mother died, her father remarried unwisely. The new stepmother was very jealous of her and with the aid of an evil wizard, poisoned her stepdaughter's bathwater so that her skin erupted in painful sores. The poor princess was banished into the forests, she wandered there for a long time until she came to the south shore of the island. While she rested there a voice called out to her from far beneath the waves "Come and rest here" the voice told her. "Here you shall be a mighty queen, regain your beauty, and rule the green ocean forever".

The princess threw herself into the sea, where she was transformed into the radiant goddess Nyai Loro Kidul.

The Javanese still honor her today. As a seductive mermaid queen her powers reflect on the mysterious hidden forces of the ocean. Local people know better then to swim in the waters of the south shore of Java, where the goddess is said to reside. It is told that she looks for mortals to serve her under sea realm and is especially enticed by young men wearing green bathing trunks.

To appease the goddess, people leave offerings of coconuts, clothes and fingernail clippings at the oceans edge, all of which are eagerly accepted by the powerful sea.

http://sbrandt.dk/sterretje/goddesses2.htm

locals were amazed to see friends of mine surfing on her home beach.

[Dis]

Sri Lanka refuses Israeli support.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4130599.stm

[Dis]

United Nations backs down from its comment that the U.S. is stingy in reliefe efforts.

http://reuters.myway.com/article/20041228/2004-12-28T190549Z_01_N28706943_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-QUAKE-UN-DC.html

[Dis]

and this article

http://www.thestandard.com.hk/stdn/std/Business/FL29Ae08.html

Vice-President Yusuf Kalla, who made an aerial reconnaisance of the western coastline and outlying islands said he saw no signs of life in Meulaboh, a town with a population of 40,000.

[Urban Ranger]

Death toll at 55,000 and rising

The US promises another 20m in disaster relief. The Hong Kong Red Cross raised 20m in a single day for emergency aid.

[Theben]

Death toll figures are now around 52-57,000.

Sad to say but a lot of people still aren't accounted for. And disease is just around the corner. This disaster can easily top 100,000.

For those of you who haven't made a donation yet they really could use your help. I'm going to see what I can do tommorrow.

[alva]

phucket,crapi,phi phi,bangkok. These people knew about the english language ahead of time.

Been to all those places, especially krabi and Phi-Phi are absolutely beautifull.

we have all this infrastructure in place to warn people about impending disasters however. Well the super caldera and the fault line in Kentucky can still nail us.

Apparently, the US 'knew' about this but wasn't able to notify/warn the gouverments of the countries that were hit. Whatever that may mean.

[Zkribbler]

Has anyone else noticed there's no news about the American military base on Diego Garcia?

The Maldives just north of hit got hit hard. Their international airport was flooded out.

[Alexander's Horse]

Deigo Garcia military base unaffected by tsunamis

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200412/s1273118.htm

[Dis]

Originally posted by Alexander's Horse
Deigo Garcia military base unaffected by tsunamis

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems...2/s1273118.htm

ahh I was wondering about that. we have many high priced bombers over there. Not that I care soley about material posessions . But those are my tax dollars at work.

[Dis]

and the criticism of Bush has begun.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32337-2004Dec28.html

[Zkribbler]

Lieutenant Colonel Bill Bigelow, a spokesman for US Pacific Command in Hawaii told the newspaper the US base was apparently safe.

"There are no reports of any damage there," Lt Col Bigelow said.

This could mean that no reports of any kind have been received.