Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION The Anywhere Machine 22,000+ Dead in Asian Tsunami

Tsunami Kills 22,000 in 9 Countries

Words fail. Say a prayer for the dead and survivors alike.

Heartbreaking stuff!

What really got me is that on the local news this ran after the frigging stories about people whose luggage got lost over the Christmas weekend. It's no wonder that it sometimes seems like the rest of the world hates us.

Sometimes tragedy on this scale is just to hard to really comprehend...

My prayers go out to those affected by this.

I just can't imagine it. The death count goes up every time I hear it.

I wish I could feel something about this. In the depths of my spirit.

As sad as this is, as utterly uncontrolled as this is by human hands, I cannot -- despite trying for two days now.

I can imagine many things that are far worse. I don't have to, really.

The woman who was the closest and strongest person to urge that "we" murder over 100,000 innocent people in Iraq, and torture thousands more, is about to be rewarded by becoming Secretary of State, and fourth in line for the U.S. presidency.

That military atrocity, and that preposterous reward, could have been stopped.

That is more on the order of what's tragic. And of what makes the world hate us.

I think I've lost the capacity to be horrified by the anonymous workings of natural cause and effect, the "chancellors of God," as Emerson described them.

When, that is, far worse tragedies are entirely in our power to be prevented.

Greybird, I'm suprised that one as obviously compassionate as you can't at least offer a prayer to the many thousands killed by tsunami.

While I agree that the military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq are odious (to say the very least), it is still heartbeaking to hear of thousands of peoples deaths by such a random event. And how many thousand more will have to face huge losses, disease and destitution over the next few months? My prayers are big enough to include them along with Iraqi and Afghani civilians too. Maybe you should try that too.

I appreciate and entirely regret the tragedy, milady. My head does. My spirit does not, at least not right now -- not against humanity's deliberate inhumanity.

You should offer prayers, if doing so comforts you and helps in orienting the moral and spiritual realms for you. I am not a theist, and I don't pray.

I do have to add that I'm heartened to see -- from Pov's linked story and other sources -- that some old enmities are being put aside for dealing with this disaster. In the use of military equipment and resources, especially, for trying to preserve life.

Pakistan, among others, is rising above old rivalries with India. About -- I use the British expletive sense and the literal meaning -- bloody time, I would say.

Unfortunately, this one may rival the Iraq numbers by the time you add in the epidemics which are surely to follow and the loss of livelihood for many hundreds of thousands of people.

I expect there will be no shortage of deliberate inhumanity when it comes to foreign aid - perhaps not the amounts (so far, entirely insufficient for something of this magnitude) but the sure-to-be profiteering, scams and malinvestment which accompany foreign adventures, even the "peaceful" ones.

oh my....whenever I watch CNN news or any news...the numbers of death toll keeps mounting up...as for right now, it's over 50,000! My condolences to all the people in 10 countries. It's scarier than living in Florida being barricading by Hurricanes.

My Emily is flying out to Thailand and Singapore in three weeks, its worrying on so many levels as to be almost unexplainable.

Those people have suffered and will continue to suffer for many months if not years as they try to rebuild their lives.

We can share a common sense of horror at what has happened, what, in paracticlle terms we can do to help, i dont know.

58,000 and rising as of this morning. Words fail.

We'll keep you and Emily in our thoughts while she travels, Faraway.

76,000 according the the Washington Post this morning. I can't fathom the grief.

76,000 according the the Washington Post this morning. I can't fathom the grief.

It's almost unbelievable. My mind can't wrap itself around the magnitude of this loss of life. Could this be the worst, deadliest natural disaster of our lifetime?

I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned or asked (unless it's on a different thread which I missed) Has anyone heard from IB or any of our other members that live in that region?

I'm worried for them and hope we hear from them soon.

IB is from the Philippines, a country that was not affected, he should be fine. (Even so, it would be nice to hear from him).

You know, I actually considered going to Sri Lanka and the Maldives in late December. I sure am glad I didn't go...

All this is just sickening.

I can't even imagine what it must be like over there! Not only the people who have already died, but the people who have lost everything!

When you have a personal connection, it starts to click. I wish the very best for Faraway's Emily. I also was reminded of an author I admire (news via Laissez Faire Books ):

SF writer Arthur C. Clarke survives tsunami

We cannot do justice to the enormity of the tragedy unfolding in Asia, which is in any case being well-reported elsewhere. But we thought some readers might be interested to learn that Arthur C. Clarke -- the famous science fiction writer often mentioned with Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein as one of the Big Three of science fiction's Golden Age -- is among those who survived the tsunami. For decades Clarke has made his home in Sri Lanka, one of the hardest-hit countries. In response to many inquiries he posted the following statement at the web site of the Arthur C. Clarke Foundation:

"Thank you for your concern about my safety in the wake of Sunday's devastating tidal wave.

"I am enormously relieved that my family and household have escaped the ravages of the sea that suddenly invaded most parts of coastal Sri Lanka, leaving a trail of destruction.

"But many others were not so fortunate. For hundreds of thousands of Sri Lankans and an unknown number of foreign tourists, the day after Christmas turned out to be a living nightmare reminiscent of 'The Day After Tomorrow.'

"Among those affected are my staff based at our diving station in Hikkaduwa and holiday bungalow in Kahawa, both beachfront properties located in areas worst hit. We still don't know the fully extent of damage as both roads and phones have been damaged. Early reports indicate that we have lost most of our diving equipment and boats. Not all our staff members are accounted for yet.

"This is indeed a disaster of unprecedented magnitude for Sri Lanka, which lacks the resources and capacity to cope with the aftermath. We are all trying to contribute to the relief efforts. We shall keep you informed as we learn more about what happened.

"Curiously enough, in my first book on Sri Lanka, I had written about another tidal wave reaching the Galle harbour (see Chapter 8 in The Reefs of Taprobane, 1957). That happened in August 1883, following the eruption of Krakatoa in roughly the same part of the Indian Ocean.

"Arthur Clarke, 27 December 2004"

I think it is. Here are some facts that I read in the newspaper (they sound like they're accurate):

- The Earthquake under-water was so strong, it was the equivalent of 100 Atomic Bombs going off at the same time.

- Some islands in the pacific were moved a full 12.5 miles from where they used to lay on the Earth's crust.

- Coast lines in California and Mexico have changed inches and even feet in some places.

- The Earth actually 'shook' for a moment, and it's alignment was almost thrown off, which means we would have almost had to adjust our clocks.

It's mind-blowing.

CNN has said the earthquake was the equivilant of 1 MILLION atomic bombs. That's a big difference between 100 and 1,000,000. They are also saying that scientists are projecting we lost 3 milliseconds that day because the quake speeded up the rotation of the Earth and actually changed our axis by one inch.

wow..that's frightening, isn't it? According to the news I saw this AM, the toll has reached 80K. My heart goes out to all of them in 10 different countries and hope that the people will find a strength and faith to recover from the great disaster.

Oops! Mis-type on my part, Scooter. It's just mind-blowing.

The CNN Breaking News I just received puts the total now at 116,000 with 80,000 from Indonesia alone. It may not be the greatest number of causualties from an earthquake (China lost over 800,000 people during one quake in 1565 IIRC) but it most certainly will be the greatest natural disaster of our age.

Indonesia? you mean Sri Lanka? Sri Lanka is separated from Indonesia....Indonesia is the country that's far away and least affected by tsunami...I have two co-workers whose family live in Indonesia and I asked them yesterday to see how they are doing...they told me that they were doing fine and that Indonesia is far away and showed me the map of where it is....it is blocked by Thailand and Malaysia....Thailand and Malaysia are two countries that are affected by this disaster.