tsunami
December 28, 2004
This earthquake has become something extremely destructive. Current death toll: 22,000.
The quake struck around Sunday morning. I remember reading about it online and seeing the death count to be around 300. The woman and I went out for lunch and when we came back, the death count was 3000. Then a bit later that day, 10,000. It kept climbing and climbing. Video clips from home cameras have been airing in Japan very frequently. Some people at work recognized places they had been to in Phuket to only see those places completely gone. I’d be very scared had I been in one of those places.
It has struck close to “home”. There are a few teachers from work who were in Thailand at the time. I was told to listen for names of people who were supposed to be in the region so that our foreign personnel department could be contacted… just in case. Shit.
On some news sites, it says the waves traveled at 500mph. That’s faster than airplanes.
The fearful part that I see. With global warming already taking place, sea levels will keep rising. Imagine a series of tsunamis hitting this region again, only the sea level is 1 or 2 meters higher… I’m sure the death count will be even higher.
Maybe the world will unite and start focussing on what the real problems are next year. One can dream.
