12.30.04
Indian Ocean Earthquake
As Michael Crichton points out in his latest novel, “State of Fear”, words such as “catastrophe” and “disaster” are sometimes bandied about a little to freely these days, however the effects of the earthquake off the coast of Indonesia a few days ago can not be described as anything less.
As far as I know, I don’t personally know anyone who was affected… my father and brother are both on the island of Borneo at the moment, but it was protected from the tsunamis by Sumatra (where the death-toll is nearing 80,000).
More information, including links to sites where people can make donations, can be found (as usual) at Wikipedia.
Ferdinand said,
December 31, 2004 at 1:27 am
Borneo was in fact the first thing I checked up on. Can’t trust my geography anymore. Thankfully they are safe. Nevertheless, the tragedy of it all is beyond words.
Hesam said,
December 31, 2004 at 2:53 am
It’s good to know that your family was not affected. As the death toll rises (> 117,000 people), I can’t even imagine what it would be like to have had a family member in the area. Tragic and scary.