What to say <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />. I know a buddhist monk from Sri Lanka whos entire home village is wiped out. Western news services quote the casualty numbers and their inevitable rise. Attention is given to the number of american and european dead and missing, small yet somehow more important ( the 3000 innocents at WTC included a similar international list.) I was at a restaurant listening to the T.V. coverage. Some idiot commented they were probably all muslims anyway. I 'accidentally' sent a cherry coke and ice tidal wave down his shirt. A hawaiian family here for Christmas told me about their warning system. Tidal waves are to the islands what earthquakes are here. It's cold and raining here tonight. I gave my last emergency car blanket and some food to a transient who was obviously hypothermic and drove him to a safer shelter. Events across the world make me look around at my own little corner.

25.000 dead and still around 30.000 missing. We have waitied on stand-by but there had not been a need for search and rescue support internationally. All happened in a short while those who would live have lived rest are gone for ever. I had been following the disaster through the UN Ops. Center and I am hopeless.

There is a place on bbc.co.uk where people tell their experiences please read here.

There will be much demand on water purification. People also fleed to higher ground and I am sure they will stay there for a long while. They will need food.

The numbers of casualties is mindboggling. The force of nature is humbling. Apparently the quake was strong enough to affect the Earths rotation (don't ask me how or in what way..)
I think what strkes me most is that the names of the places that were hit, read like a holiday brochure. ..There but for the grace of God go I..

Death toll reached 55 000. All the water is contaminated with sea water and human blood. Iodine tabs and boiling water is useless. It's terrible. We have to send money there. Be generous.

I hesitate to post this observation because I don't wish to diminish the tragic aspect of this event, but others have commented on that better than I can, so I will mention the following as an addition to what has already been posted:

I find it interesting from a survival standpoint that some accounts reported that the sea receeded before the main wave hit. I read some reports that hundreds of feet of sea bed were exposed that had never been exposed before. People had no idea what it meant and it actually drew onlookers to the beach where they were exposed to more danger. Some people were gathering fish that were left stranded by the receeding water. I don't know how much time this kind of "warning" would provide, but I guess that would be a good time to run for it. Even 30 seconds or a minute head-start could improve your chances if you were able to reach higher ground or a protected area. I don't recall hearing about this kind of effect before.

The sea withdrawing is one of the known "run for your life" signs you are taught about Tusnamis

I vaguely remember something like that, but I doubt I would have remembered in time. Now I will, though. Thanks for pointing that out.

Yes, the sea withdrawing from the shore is a MAJOR danger signal that means RUN!!!

But the governments there obviously don't educate their people at all about the basic signs and dangers, in a known quake area.

First, the horrendous initial losses. Then, how many more will die from dysentery and cholera and other diseases?

How does an individual send money to help something like that so the assistance actually gets to the people that need it, and not waylaid by greedy pockets? The Red Cross? Others?

Sue

A receeding shoreline may provide as much as 5 minutes warning. This and a bunch of nteresting and important facts are included in a Nation Geographic News article, The Deadliest Tsunami in History?. I specifically found it interesting that they may only be a foot tall in the open ocean and only gain height as they reacg the shallows near shore. This can make predicting difficult. Also, it actually a series of "wave trains," with the first wave not neccessarily being the worst wave.

There's also a link to a special tonight:

Tsunami on the National Geographic Channel
Watch the documentary Tsunami: Killer Waves on the
National Geographic Channel Channel tonight at at 8 and 11 p.m. ET, and again on January 14.

On a small island where would they run to?
Inflate your emergency bullet proof survival bubble?