Tsunami Tragedy…
I’ve avoided the topic of last month’s tsunami until now. No particular reason other than the holidays, taxes, and the stomach flu. I am saddened by the unprecedented number of losses. Unfortunately, it seems my early prediction of losses exceeding 180,000 is coming to fruition.
The personal stories are almost overwhelming:
Ena Jenkins of Australia suspects that she was lost all 50 of her close relatives living in the fishing village of Tapaktuan on the west coast of Sumatra.
Ida Nurida of Naples, Florida lost 44 relatives when the tsunami hit their Meulaboh, a village of 40,000 in the Indonesian island of Aceh, the closest town to the epicenter of the earthquake that caused the disaster.
Anthony Richard of Canada has discovered 72 of his relatives are missing and presumed dead. “You have to understand they live meters away from the water,” Anthony said. “Land is cheap near the water and the whole community was swept into the ocean. There is no help for them. They couldn’t have survived.”
Sinnathamby Ponniah of London, England reports that he has lost 100 relatives and friends as a result of last week’s devastating tsunami in the Indian Ocean. Ponniah said his son, Thanis, was the only member of his family to survive the disaster; the 15-year-old managed to cling to a tree as his mother and sisters Yasintha and Yasotha were swept away with other family members.
Anthony Yogathas and his wife of Croydon, England expect their family’s death toll to exceed 100. All the relatives lived in the Mullaitivu district in north east Sri Lanka.
Yet the story worsens with seeming impossibilities only humans can foster:
In Thailand thieves disguised as police and rescue workers have looted luggage and hotel safes around Khao Lak beach. Humanitarian organizations have reported that many women and girls have been raped in the course of unsupervised rescue operations and while resident in temporary shelters. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is warning citizens to beware of one of the latest e-mail phishing scams, this one using the Asian tsunami tragedy as a ploy to bilk people out of monetary donations and steal their identity in the process.
