that's one scary sh*t!
damn and i thought seeing the twin towers fall down was the worst freaking thing i can ever see happening in our oh so crazy world today! damn! if you guys don't know yet..
text from CNN.com...
(skip this part if you know already..
CHENNAI, India (CNN) -- As dawn broke Monday across the Bay of Bengal, countries struck by tsunamis in the wake of the most powerful earthquake the planet has seen in 40 years focused on relief and rescue efforts, and said the death toll from the giant waves -- already more than 15,000 -- is expected to rise further.
The tsunamis also left thousands injured, thousands missing and hundreds of thousands homeless in Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
A Sri Lankan forecaster warned of a "remote possibility of small tidal waves" caused by aftershocks Monday.
Some of the tsunamis reached as far as 1,600 kilometers (91,000 miles) from the epicenter of the 9.0 magnitude quake, which was located about 160 kilometers (100 miles) off the coast of Indonesia's Sumatra Island at a depth of about 10 kilometers (6.2 miles).
The quake struck about 7 a.m. Sunday (midnight GMT Saturday), according to the U.S. Geological Survey's National Earthquake Center.
It is the fourth-largest earthquake since such measurements began in 1899, according to the NEIC, tying with a 1952 quake in Kamchatka, Russia.
More than 4,500 people have been reported dead in Sri Lanka. Most of them, authorities said, were in the eastern district of Batticaloa. Thousands were missing and more than a half million displaced.
In southern Sri Lanka, 200 prisoners escaped when the waves swept away a high-security prison in Matara.
Witnesses in the eastern Sri Lankan port city Trincomalee reported 14 meter (40-foot) waves hitting inland as far as a kilometer (0.6 miles).
The Sri Lankan government declared a state of emergency, and, along with the government of the Maldives, has requested international assistance, the United Nations' Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported.
The United Nations has warned of epidemics within days unless health systems in the affected areas can cope.
"This may be the worst natural disaster in recent history because it is affecting so many heavily populated coastal areas ... so many vulnerable communities," the U.N.'s Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland told CNN. (Full story)
As the sun rose, 20,000 Sri Lankan soldiers and naval personnel launched relief and rescue efforts. India sent six warships, carrying supplies, along with helicopters.
Priorities including identifying the hardest-hit areas and air-dropping supplies, along with shepherding stranded people to safer areas.
Sri Lankan authorities imposed a curfew overnight, and many residents remained concerned about the possibility of additional tsunamis.
The country has been in the throes of a civil war, and land mines uprooted by the waves were hampering relief efforts.
Some tourists, meanwhile, had been evacuated from the hard-hit eastern coasts to the capital, Colombo, on the west coast and unaffected.
At first light, many Sri Lankans ventured out to scour the debris for belongings or to search for information on missing family members.
Although India was giving aid to Sri Lanka, that country also was reeling from the aftermath of the quake and tsunamis. India's official government news agency, Press Trust of India, said at least 6,000 Indians were killed, and more bodies were being recovered.
A resident of Chennai (formerly Madras) in Tamil Nadu district -- India's hardest-hit area -- said he saw several people being swept out to sea.
Along India's southeastern coast, several villages appeared to have been swept away, and thousands of fishermen -- including 2,000 from the Chennai area alone -- who were at sea when the waves thundered ashore have not returned. (Full story)
Along the coast, brick foundations were all that remained of village homes. In Tamil Nadu state, 1,725 people have been confirmed dead, and officials feared many more died on the remote Andaman and Nicobar islands, where dozens of aftershocks were centered, but communication with the mainland was cut off.
CNN correspondent Ram Ramgopal said authorities had confirmed 2,000 deaths on those islands.
Efforts to provide survivors with food and shelter were hampered by the overwhelming magnitude of the damage.
Thai authorities said more than 400 people are dead, and hundreds are missing in Phuket.
The area provides 40 percent of Thailand's $10 billion annual income from tourism.
Among the missing were scuba divers who had been exploring the Emerald Cave off Phuket's coast.
Phuket's airport -- which closed when its runways flooded -- reopened, but most roads in the area remained closed, as officials tried to assess the damage.
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra arrived in Phuket and declared the situation "under control." He told CNN he planned to direct rescue and relief efforts overnight.
Witnesses reported guests drowned in their hotel rooms near the coast as 10 meter (30-foot) waves washed ashore.
Others reported narrow escapes -- including a Spaniard who had been aboard a boat when the wave approached.
The captain began screaming and turned the boat directly into a nearby shore, where he beached it.
As those aboard jumped from the craft and scrambled up the steep beach, they turned back to see the waves crush their boat, the Spaniard said.
for full story.. go to cnn.com
it still sends shivers down through my spine remembering the call of my uncle louie at 3pm in the afternoon while I was watching something on t.v. At first he told me that there was a powerful earthquake that just happened.. i thought it happened in the philippines... damn i almost fell of my seat... so then he told me that it was in indonesia where the earthquake happened...sending tidal waves as tall as buildings through thailand, srilanka, and india... thousands of people died and I am sitting in my living room watching t.v.... thousands of people drown while I was sitting lazily watching t.v. in my living room.. what the hell.. it is scared the shit out of me.. what if I was there.. where in some twist of cruel fate that I was diving with divers at Phuket, checking out the the popular Red Fortress in India, and swimming in the beaches of Sri Lanka.. damn.. am I just paranoid or is it a sign that we people should realize how lucky we are that we are still kicking our way through life, and we are still in pursuit of our own dreams and goals in life?.. damn we are so lucky to be still breathing... you are lucky that you are alive and still reading this to start with.. let's just pray for the souls of the people who died and thank God we are still alive...
this is a wake up call ladies and gentlemen.. i need to freakin sleep.. catch you guys later.. be safe..
ShoutOuts:
D: i didn't ask you to bid for me... what? */me wink wink .. hehe.. take it easy.. happy new year.. miss na kita ah.. ingatz...
RUSS and LORNADAHL: happy holidays din!!! ingat lang!
AIKO: happy holidays too... thanks hahaha.. masmadrama nga e with that dba? at feel na feel ang xmas dba? nax... ;p
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