8.9 quake hits S. E. Asia

Gresham · 12-26-2004, 08:45 AM

A huge earthquake rocked S.E. Asia, thouasand believed dead from the initial quake, and the 20' tidal waves that followed. Most of the population centers are at sea level. I can hardly fathom what the poeple of that part of the world are going thru right now. I can't get ahold of the people I know in that area.

Please send your positive energy and thoughts to the victims, this is horriable.

The people whom did survive are going to have a real hard time now eaking a meager living from the ocean, reefs were totally wiped out in many areas. Entire fishing villages gone.

Craig Manoukian · 12-26-2004, 09:36 AM

My prayers are with them Gresham!

beamer · 12-26-2004, 02:58 PM

My prayers are also with them Gresham. I can't even begin to imagine what they must be going through. We truly need to count all of our blessings.

I hope you are able to make contact with your friends real soon!

Cindy

Birdlady · 12-26-2004, 03:45 PM

Ray Popp is over in Jakarta, Indonesia...

I did post on another thread to post if he is OK...I hope all is well there. I also have a very good friend with an Uncle there also.

bob_8228 · 12-26-2004, 04:14 PM

ppl,
i'm from "that " area...malaysia to be exact and fortunately, some 350km south of Penang (where it has been hit most. it's a tourist heaven but it happened in the early morning (around 8-9 am) so the loss of lives was low.
if it was around midday, it could have been thousands. most of it are property damages...cars, boats, walls, etc.

Birdlady · 12-26-2004, 04:26 PM

Bob, glad you are safe this day! The news over "here" is quite disturbing....Hopefully it will turn out to have been less destructive than initially thought.

beamer · 12-26-2004, 04:29 PM

Yes Bob, I'm glad you are safe!

Cindy

Gresham · 12-26-2004, 06:41 PM

Don't think theres much chance of that BL, most of the population centers are @ sea level on the coast. double to triple the official estimate of loss of lives, poor people have a way of slipping thru the cracks. In Mexico they had a gas explosion in the early 90's that killed 200 or so as is told by the officials. Locals estimate over 2000 killed.

bob_8228 · 12-26-2004, 08:42 PM

thanks ppl, as i've said the damage to my country is small (for lack of a better word, as death is never small). but places in thailand in indonesia (where the hit is direct) have been catastrophic.
the only saving grace was it happened early sunday morning when most ppl were in bed. to think that i was there just 4 days before it happened. and surprisingly, this was the first major quake, tsunamis, etc. that we've had more than a hundred years. to put on record, it's the first time we've had 3 metre waves on our shores.

OldandNew · 12-27-2004, 02:03 AM

Hey all, birdlady in particular, I'm fine. We didn't even feel it in Jakarta. However, I have frends in Bangkok and Chang Mai who did in fact not only felt it but who has some damage to their homes, minor, but some.

I guess Java is on a different plate.

Thanks for thinking about me.

As for the loss of habitat to people, most of that is replaceable in days. It is amazing how quickly bamboo and leaves quickly become home again. Really, in many places, that is home. Maybe it is goo, so that when desaster hits, you don't lose much.

Believe me, most of the pictures I have seen here regarding the destruction, except that in Thailand, looks like file footage of the rainy season, which we are in the middle of and have had a fair amount of.

Loss of life?

I'm afraid I could get into a issue here that some of you just would not understand. So I won't go there. But as far as Sri Lanka is concerned, their loss is considerable, but for India, just another monsoon. Just another flood. For the resorts in Thailand, it is an unfortunate loss. But they will recover.

OK, I have to go now. I am preparing for a fishing trip, off the south west corner of Java, for you map people. Lets see what this event does to the big SWF, like yellow fin, wahoo, dorado, and if I'm lucky Sails and Marlins. Gotta drop a line in the big tank from time to time.

Cheers,
Ray

For us reef folks, what a boon. There will be considerable rubble created from this. It will also open up oppurtunities for new reef critters. This is nature folks, what Mother Nature does to a reef is not something that we should judge, but just observe, take advantage where we can, and protect where we should.