The Moderate Voice: MASSIVE EARTHQUAKE In Asia: Some Asian Blogs’ Accounts
2004 decided not to go quietly today when the biggest earthquake in 40 years struck deep in the Indian Ocean, triggering massive tsunamis — wiping out Asian coastal areas and instantly drowning and killing more than 27,000 people.
In a grim reminder that the well-laid plans of holiday goers, governments and politicians hinge on a higher power, the earthquake — an estimated 9 point magnitude — struck quickly and without mercy, decimating coastal areas some 1,000 miles away in a record-setting catastrophe. Far away, yet even with newspaper accounts the Internet made it seem MUCH closer…because some local weblogs instantaneously started telling bits of the horrific story:
A first hand account appears on Thailand’s Ernest’s Whirrled’s blog:
Pong and a friend of his, Joy and I are on Phuket Island. Our hotel was destroyed in the tidal wave. We were trapped on the 4th floor for several hours. Our hotel was RIGHT ON THE BEACH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here is an email I sent to my family in California:
I was having breakfast on the front patio and saw the ocean recede which was weird then I saw a wave coming. I ran to our room screaming for Pong and Joy to get up ( They were sleeping) and go to the top floor. Water was already in our first floor room and we started climbing up the stairs. The guesthouse is only 5 stories tall. We stopped on the 4th floor and watched as the wave hit. I was scary as hell!
After about 2 hours and several other big waves coming in we walked about 5 blocks up a hill to a resort hotel. I kept telling the people there all around me that I was diabetic and lost my insulin in the waves. A police truck came by on the way to the hospital and gave us a ride to the hospital in land and up hill. I got there and the place was a mad house. But I went straight to the pharmacy and bought insulin. We then found a new hotel about 2 blocks from the hotel it is called Nipa Villa still in the town of Patong and on Phuket island. The airport is under water, there is a bridge connecting the island to the mainland in the north of the island but that has been destroyed. I don’t know how long we will be stuck here but we are OK. My friend Dino sent you an email earlier for me. I have phone contact with him and he will have any latest info.
And, later, this:
It is unreal what is going on here…I am in Patong Beach Phuket Thailand right now. …Check out the pics, this is what it looks like in the town I am in RIGHT NOW!!!