Earthquake

[helen99]

Over 13,000 dead. Some sources said it was more like over 19,000 (there are a lot of missing). Luckily, jolantru was somewhat away from the affected area and so was unharmed. We did a short bit of journeying last night to try to help some across. Many death images have been coming at me for the past week or so - including the "army of the dead" in the Return of the King", a dream my mom had about late friends and relatives, a workshop about the sacred ancestral dead that I attended, the sudden death of two of my mice, a couple of discussions about zombie movies, - and now this.

This earthquake was apparently so powerful (9.2?) it momentarily affected the Earth's rotation, causing us to wonder if shifting magnetics may be involved... In the event that I'm without a body (and I surely will be at some point sooner or later, preferably later, though if this keeps up, who knows...), I hope I can see plate tectonics and magnetic fields and stuff...

Comments

[gleef.livejournal.com]

For what it's worth, BBC is now listing 23,000 dead, but everyone's still counting, so expect even that number to go up. Whatever comes up as the final number, it will still not be right. They are only counting bodies found, not bodies completely lost into the sea. Entire villages have been washed into the sea. Some of these areas (especially the war zone in northern Sri Lanka) have poor or missing records, so the exact extent of the tragedy will never be known.

Surprisingly, Bangladesh is only reporting 2 fatalities so far. Bangladesh has millions of people living in lightweight housing at sea level in the river delta, and they tend to get major casualties whenever the ocean gets angry.

[helen99.livejournal.com]

Last I heard it was 44K and counting.

[helen99.livejournal.com]

68K and counting.

From Washington Post, 12/29:

"Standing among the dead and the rubble along Panglima Polim Street was Emi, 42. She had returned to the neighborhood Tuesday to see if the body of her 9-year-old son, Joanda, was among the bodies. The boy had slipped from his father's hand as they sheltered from the flood in a treetop.

Haggard with unkempt jet-black hair, Emi, who like many Indonesians uses one name, recounted how she and her family had dashed from their home in fright Sunday morning when the earthquake rocked the province, followed quickly by the onslaught of the dark sea.

As the water poured across Panglima Polim Street, many tried to outrun it. But the wall of water came too fast.

"Then people started yelling, 'The water is coming! The water is coming!' " Emi said. "I asked everyone to get into the car."

Her husband, son and two grandchildren clambered into the family's jeep. Emi caught a ride from someone on a motorcycle. The beachfront was more than a mile away, but it took the ocean no time to flatten buildings for blocks in every direction and whisk vehicles off the pavement. Wooden fishing boats up to 75 feet long were heaved ashore, setting down atop houses and against storefronts. Emi's two grandchildren, she said, were drowned instantly.

"The water kept rolling us, rolling us," Emi continued, tugging anxiously on her brown-and-white sarong. "I ended up on a rooftop hanging on. My husband ended up in a tree."

From the branches, he clung desperately to the hand of their son. But the boy slipped away, dropping into the churning waters, vanishing. "So I keep searching and searching," she said."

[helen99.livejournal.com]

80K and counting.

[helen99.livejournal.com]

114K and counting.

[helen99.livejournal.com]

140K and counting

[helen99.livejournal.com]

150K and counting -- I think it may be tapering off, Still haven't accounted for disease in the aftershock. Still only counting bodies, not missing. Hopefully minimized.