DAYPOP -- More than 24 hours elapsed between the 9.0 earthquake off the coast of northern Sumatra and the first appearance of the Phuket Tsunami on the Daypop Top 40. First information in my household came from Sky News, then from Scoble who monitors Crossroads Dispatches. The quiet omission in my blogroll is an indictment of the western-leaning blogosphere I watch. I have to reconsider the way I click through my incestuous bloglines. First things first: How to Help Earthquake Victims. Then offer your hands to southeast Asia. And after the updates, start reading State of Fear after you look at the totally excellent wikipedia coverage of the Indian Ocean tsunami. Even though it chronicles the devastation, the wikipedia information also gives many reasons to visit Thailand (something I intend to do soon).
First Daypop news of the quake:
- US Geological Survey -- "Most powerful earthquake in 40 years"
- BBC -- "Sea surge kills thousands in Asia"
- CNN -- "Asia quake death toll tops 13,000"
First-hand news via my bloglines came from Evelyn Rodriguez who visited Ireland last summer.
A lot of people heard about the devastation caused by the earthquake in Indonesia. I was on Phi Phi Don island off the Andaman coast of Thailand when the tidal wave hit. Not really up to posting the full story as yet, but here's some info I emailed to family members.
We were on a boat tour when the captain dramatically veered off course (we were headed to remote Bamboo Island) and was frantically talking on his cell phone. Their English was very poor so it was not clear what was going on. Long story short, we got on the beach but were too low when the tidal wave struck. It created a flash flood effect and I was in the middle of rapids containing debris, wood and all matter of building material. Ton Sai, the main village and also the pier, are completely leveled is the rumor.
I cut my knee up pretty bad and have trouble walking but nothing broken. I am fine considering the state of most of Phi Phi and the rest of the folks here in Phuket hospital.
Unfortunately, all of our stuff was on a bungalow hotel called Maprao about 40 minutes from where the boat landed so we were not able to go back and get any of our things.
Thus, currently nearly penniless, passport-less, travel insurance-less etc. at the moment. But at the hospital everything is free including email access. Unfortunately, the US embassy has not been very helpful in contrast to other embassies and we don't know much logistically in terms of loans, passports, retreiving our stuff, etc.
Tidal waves don't lap over you. They hit you with a force of a 20-stone rugby player so Evelyn needs to walk a day before she can say she's okay. -- Ed.
Although Ron Morris isn't sure he has runs a blog, his disaster coverage from Thailand is primary source material.
Evelyn Rodriguez -- Slammed by a tidal wave but okay"
Michele Catalano -- Command Post info
Robert Scoble -- "Where's the bogosphere on first-hand earthquake reports?"
Loic Le Meur -- "Earthquake and tidal wave kill more than 3000 people in southeast Asia"
Technorati -- "Phuket Tsunami"
Flickr -- "Hands to southeast Asia Group Pool"
Eamonn Fitzgerald -- "Wave Theory: fact in fiction"
Michael Crichton -- State of Fear
Wikipedia -- "2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake"
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