Unshelved by Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum
comic strip overdue media

Monday, December 27, 2004

Oh, what destruction

Massive Tsunami kills thousands in South Asia

Nature is a beautiful yet dangerous thing. I didn't catch much news this weekend, so I didn't hear about this. A 9.0 on the Richter scale earthquake brought a wall of water up to 30 feet high crashing into a huge area along the shoreline, and tens of thousands are dead or missing. Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India...even Somalia in Africa...were affected. Saddest of all is that an early warning system akin to that of the Pacific rim based in Hawaii might have save tens of thousands, as the tidal wave took 2 1/2 hours to reach the shore. But the only warning that came was the characteristic sudden receding of water along the shoreline, a phenomenon that many did not understand until it was too late. Tsunamis on this scale are rare and many people have not been educated to their dangers.

Great Poseidon, what fury! My prayers and thoughts are with the victims and their families.

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