My sympathies to those in the many countries affected including India, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Seychelles and Thailand. The death toll will surpass 10,000 with hundreds of thousands homeless. Water borne disease will be a major problem. People, houses, cars and buildings were destroyed and swept out to sea. It was the largest earthquake to hit the earth in forty years. The seabed along the plate boundary may have dropped ten metres (30 feet) in a matter of seconds. A tsunami early warning system covering the Indian ocean, as implemented in the Pacific, would have reduced the death toll.
BBC News Coverage
Red Cross Appeal (up shortly)
My mother left her brother's resort "Khao lak Paradise Resort" in Phang-nga, Thailand just 30 minutes before the wave struck. Now everything is gone, the tourists and bungalows have been swept away. She has told me that one staff member who was there survived...he said the water started to recede and that everyone went down to the beach to look, it was like that for about 10 minutes and then there was a roar. I'm so glad my Mum is OK, my uncle who owns the resort and lives close by also left with his children before the wave hit...but some of our family friends are missing.
Sunsanee, Melbourne, AustraliaOut on a boat all day so missed the resort I was staying in being completely destroyed. Then was just about to get into the water to dive when the tidal wave struck. If we'd been under water we'd have been wiped out. Incredible scenes of destruction as we tried to return to our beach: hundreds of people stranded on remote islands; long tail boats submerged and overturned; whole trees drifting in the water; helicopters and coast guards trying to get to the injured; and the eeriest thing was sandals and flip flops floating in the water.
Matthew Ward, Raley Beach, ThailandThe death toll in my state, Kerala, has risen to about 300. The most devastating one was at a church in Velankanni where more than 2000 people were in morning prayer session when the tides struck. About 300 deaths are estimated in Velankanni itself and about 500 in the state as a whole. The water is found continuously flowing towards north and has now started to rise in its level.
Jinesh K J, Trichur, Kerala, IndiaI just return from the beach area and as I write this the whole of the city is still to get over the nightmare with masses of bodies along the Govt hospitals, truly mind boggling experience and the state authorities are groping in the dark over the relief measures given to battered families alongside the coastline. The City itself would have more than a 500 people dead.
R.N. Srinivasan, Chennai, IndiaBodies were lined up along the road running along the beach in Batu Ferringhi, Penang, Malaysia. The sirens of emergency vehicles have been wailing all afternoon. Many local people were probably enjoying a Sunday at the beach when the waves hit.
Robert Juhl, Batu Ferringhi, Malaysia
