sunday's disaster in southeast asia

When I posted the end of the world is coming discussing a program on the History Channel, I did not know the earthquake in Indonesia and resulting tsunami had occurred. I'm not that cold and heartless to have written that, knowing that thousands had died in such a natural disaster. I will not remove the post however, I will not censor myself. I will post in response to events.

I want to express my condolences and sympathies to anyone who lost a loved one in the disaster, or does not yet know the fate of their loved one. What I write cannot adequately express my sympathies. Being a survivor is very hard, and there is nothing you could have done differently, there was absolutely no way of knowing this was going to happen. It will get better with time, each day will get a little easier.

I stand by what I wrote on Sunday. The earthquake and tsunami illustrate the point I was making. The quake was not the major killer, it killed less than 5,000. The resulting tsunami is what killed over 57,000, according to the New York Times. Many of the areas devastated by the tsunami are rural, and had no tsunami warning system. The residents of those areas had no idea the wave was coming until ocean level receded, as the water was pulled into the wave, just before the it hit. That only gives a person a few minutes. Another factor that contributed to the high death toll is the Indian Ocean area has no alert system, like there is for the Pacific Ocean. This is because there had not been a major tsunami in the Indian Ocean since 1883, when the Indonesian island volcano Krakatoa exploded. I'm seeing a trend of when a geologic event happens in Indonesia, it's historic.

I first heard about the quake late Sunday, on the Weather Channel of all things, and really only caught up on it this evening. I'm taking the week off from the world, relaxing, blogging, and sleeping. News? What news?