Quake

First things first, we are all safe here in Cambodia -- which was totally unaffected by the tsunami -- surrounded by friends and family.

As most of you probably have heard, a quake of truly biblical proportions struck off the western coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra early this morning.  This quake, reported to be between 8.9 and 9.0, is the fifth largest in recorded history.  It created a 20 foot tidal wave that, suddenly and without notice, crashed across beaches in eight separate countries from India to Thailand.  Tales of devastation are coming in from everywhere.  In Phuket and Kho Phi Phi, beachfront bungalows filled with sleeping tourists were swept out to sea.  In Indonesia, helpless divers were raked across the razor-sharp coral and then tossed back out.  In Sri Lanka and on the eastern coasts of India, thousands of dead are being laid out upon the beach and covered with sarongs in makeshift open-air mausoleums. 

The death toll is currently near 11,000 150,000 and will certainly grow.  In perspective, this is 4 60 times the casualties of the 9/11 bombings.  Many of us have friends or co-workers who were in the affected areas at the time.  There is no word of their condition. 

Click here for a list of organizations accepting donations for the victims of this tragedy.

Comments

[Dick Baker]

Glad you guys are all safe, and hope Derek and Erica have found a suitable substitute for the former beaches of Thailand.

The EWC today had a fundraiser for our Tsunami Relief Fund, attended by over 1,000 and featuring performances by students and some pros, mostly from the affected countries. Ended with a huge friendship circle and condolence expressions in the languages of six of the affected countries. It was genuinely uplifting, and for many at least some salving of a feeling of helplessness in the face of such suffering so far away and yet so close.

The situation in Indonesia particularly is truly a horror -- with the toll now over 100,000 in Indonesia alone. One EWC student lost her mother and two sisters, another his uncle and aunt. It seems that, like 9/11, everybody knows somebody. The only (possible) redeeming quality is that some of the political differences (like the secessionist war in Aceh) have been scrapped at least for the moment. And U.S. troops have been welcomed as life-savers in deepest Islamic Aceh -- imagine. Or try to figure out which one is the true image and which the mirage.

Envy you your Odyssey, something that few have the resources and the adventurous spirit to undertake.

Best to all the family. And keep safe.

Dick Baker
Hunkering in Honolulu