Three minutes silent for tsunami victims.

It was declared that the whole nation were to have a three minutes silences at noon time today. My co-workers were complaining why it's so long. Even 9/11's silence was only 2 minutes. I was at first, to be honest glad that the government took this event not as another typical disaster, but acknowledged it as it is.

I received an email from a friend in Malaysia. In his email, he expressed his thoughts and his experience there first handly. Here it goes, *WARNING - Lengthy*

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Hello everyone,

Fireworks went off just outside my house as I’m writing this. A few seconds of it heralded the New Year, and it dawned on me that this was the first time in so many years I’ve stayed home on a New Year ’s Eve. Have been following the news all day for a few days now. Was just watching some footage and latest updates of the disaster. By now, everyone must have known about the Asian tsunami that hit on Boxing Day. New Year celebrations were cancelled across Malaysia and firework displays called off as people mourned for the lives lost. A minute of silence just now for everyone, replacing the countdown routine.

Well, no one anticipated it. It was the first time such a disaster happened. I was back in my hometown Penang Island for the Christmas weekend when the tsunamis hit. It was the worst hit area in Malaysia, with 66 dead. But its nothing compared to the death toll in Indonesia which is expected to hit 100 000.  Didn’t witness the waves coming in, but was woken up by the tremors from the earthquake about 9 in the morning. My bed rocked sideways for a good minute or two. Thought it was a dream until dad told us to quickly get up and be ready to run. Mom was having morning tea when she noticed the table and later herself rocking. We were on the sixth floor of the Equatorial Hotel, and considering the height, must have felt it more. But then, it only lasted for a short while. It was really unusual as Malaysia is far off from any geographical fault lines or seismically active areas, so I guess no one really bothered as experience has shown that the prospect of danger is so minute as to be negligible. Also, we dismissed it as another quake on land in Indonesia, probably only a limited local effect. So I guess everyone went on with their Sunday activities. Also that day, the skies were clear and sunny, just like any perfect day I guess. And we were also told from young to look to the skies for any signs of danger as gathering clouds and strong winds signal rough seas and larger waves. Everything’s normal that day. Well, that was until a series of tidal waves crashed the north west coast of Penang in the afternoon.

Touted as the worst Tsunami ever, it was triggered by an undersea earthquake off the west coast of the Indonesian island Sumatra. The earthquake itself measured 8.9 on the Richter scale, the largest in 40 years. It vertically displaced a large volume of water which sent a shockwave through the Indian Ocean. Were it not for the Sumatra Island shielding Peninsular Malaysia, I don’t think Penang Island and the whole west coast of Peninsular Malaysia would stand, as it was only 500 odd kilometers away from the epicenter of the quake. On CNN the next day, seismologist and geophysicist were quoted as saying the waves traveled at speeds of 500 to 800 kms per hour and upon reaching the shallow coastal areas, were estimated to reach 30 feet in height, depending on the distance away, swallowing everything in its path. And no one expected it, for the last one that ever happened in the Indian Ocean was in 1876.

There were a few “what if” scenarios for us. We were supposed to have lunch with a friend of dad’s at Teluk Bahang, a fishing village at 1pm, but it was postponed. The area was on the north west coast, along with the adjacent Batu Ferringhi and Tanjong Tokong coastal tourist strip, were areas badly hit by the waves. If we were there at around 2 pm, we would have either witnessed it coming in as the restaurant’s backyard is the beach, or trapped at Batu Ferringhi as the waves rushed up to the road. We only knew about the tsunamis via the car radio that evening, which gave us a shock. The highest recorded on the island was 5 meters. Dad called his friend after we heard it. He owns a few fishing boats and said he could only watch as the waves crashed in and destroyed the jetty along with the boats moored there. He said what canone do, when the dragging force of the waves already has the power to pull down coconut trees which had weathered numerous storms.

Anyway, that day we didn’t have lunch, but ended up in the air conditioned confines of the Penang Museum on the Northern side of the island while the whole thing unfurled just barely 500m away on the seafront. Not knowing what just happened, we headed to the nearby Armenian E&O Hotel for a late lunch. I wanted to go there because I spent a good many weekends as a child on the retaining wall by the sea. Dad also fished there when he was young and we wanted to see it after many years of refurbishment as the area had just reopened. It was a historic hotel just by the sea, with only the retaining wall holding the coastline. We got there and there weren’t many people. We were curious as to why the ground was wet. And then we saw hotel workers hosing and cleaning the area adjacent to the hotel, so we thought it was probably clean up day after the Christmas bash last night. Dad actually questioned whether it could be a tidal wave, as we looked over the retaining wall and the sea was curiously full of floating debris and flotsam, more so than normal. I dismissed it as I recalled a documentary on Japan’s East coast Pacific tsunamis and the Krakatoa tsunamis, and that it would have hit land in 20 minutes to an hour, again depending on the distance away from the epicenter. We would have known if it happened by then. My brother and sister sat on the embankment for a while. Well, it only shocked us when we saw footage of the hotel in the news just yesterday, with waves shooting a story high after crashing on the retaining wall, where my siblings sat. The second came in, went over the wall and flooded the area. It happened just half an hour before we were there. Had it not been for the wall which broke the force of the waves, I don’t think the hotel would have stood, along with the guests as it was so precariously perched by the usually calm seas, as it has been for more than a 100 years. And we would have been swept away for not anticipating anything if there was a second after shock half an hour after the first.

Now, I am a bit puzzled as to why the tsunamis only came a few hours after the tremors were felt. Still waiting for the experts to comment on it.  However, if high school physics served me right (finally found a use for it), it could be a second shockwave and a diffracted one as the first must have had a direct hit in the morning. The one hitting Phuket was in the morning, so was Acheh in Sumatra. Now, if you look at a map, you would see that the island of Sumatra completely shields Peninsular Malaysia and Straits of Melaka. The epicenter was off the west coast of the island. The waves must have curled around the tip of Sumatra (hitting Acheh) and diffracted into the relatively calm waters of the straits, hence propagating from a north west direction. Earthquake that magnitude also probably moved the Sumatran Islands, and that might have contributed to the displacement of seawater. But then all this are merely theoretical, still waiting for what the experts have to say.

We were musing among us siblings how grandfather’s 90 year old prewar shop house, along with Georgetown’s historic sites, would have been inundated; in fact most of low lying Peninsular Malaysia would have been wiped out if not for the protection of Sumatra. But little did we know of the enormity of the disaster until we saw on CNN the exact location of the quake. The west coast of Sumatra was only barely 150 kms from it. Aerial surveillance the next few days revealed flattened towns, eerily quiet with little signs of life. The waves that hit were estimated to be 30 feet in height and swept inland as much as 3 kilometers. Death tolls were unaccounted for the first few days as forms of communication were wiped out, not to mention that these coastal villages normally had limited contact with the outside world. To date, 80 000 had perished on this island alone, and figures are set to rise to a 100 000.(Death toll from affected countries currently is 130 000.)

To many people, this may seem just like another event for the headline news. Statistics are just that, mere numbers. For many, it seems so detached from their everyday lives that a little new year’s merrymaking was still on way. Watching the news, however, one starts to fathom how big a human tragedy it is. Only when we see survivors and family of victims relate their story and their struggle that we start to see the human element of the disaster. It was a tragedy that the last some people ever saw of their kids were of them frolicking in the waves, or memories of a Sunday picnic by the beach gone wrong. Of turning back and seeing the waves engulf your family and your house, and of a cruel anticipation as one searches among the bodybags or rubble for a loved one.

But the aftermath could only supercede the initial shock and terror. Reports are coming in about outbreaks of water borne diseases as lands are still flooded and bodies lay rotting, made worse by the tropical heat and sun. The extent of the disaster has just begun to be appreciated as deaths from diseases could surpass those sacrificed. Those who survived not only have to face homelessness, food and water scarcity, disease, but also the added financial and emotional cost of rebuilding their lives. Millions are displaced and in dire need of medical attention. Livelihoods lost as all infrastructure went with the waves and lands inundated with saltwater deems it unfit for agriculture. What will the survivors from the numerous affected fishing villages do, as all their boats were pummeled and destroyed. The village of Kuala Muda in Northern Peninsular Malaysia which is solely dependent on fishing lost 300 boats. What about the people of Phuket who are entirely dependent on tourism do, when to date, a death toll of over 6000 people tarnishes its history, and with almost half of those sacrificed being foreign tourists from Northern European countries? And also the people of Sri Lanka, Maldives, Andaman and the Nicobar Islands, what can they do when an industry like this, along with fisheries, took years if not decades to build, all but gone in a few seconds? The enormity of the disaster has only begun to rear its head as even environmental changes and destruction also casts a negative if not long standing impact on regional communities. Already, reports of tsunami damage to marine environments around the Indian Ocean, especially the above mentioned coral islands, could trigger potentially disastrous effects on the fish population. Years of interest and National Geographic sprang to mind how coral reefs and mangrove swamps are the first to take the brunt of waves as it approaches shallow areas, normally acting as protective barriers to the land. They too, harbour the richest ecosystems in the world, and act as breeding grounds and sanctuaries for over 1/3 of the fish population, and take centuries to form. So what happens to these reefs then, when they are already sustaining bleachings from 1997’s El Nino, and now being hit by waves the speed of jet planes? Will it take decades, if not a century for the fish population to recover? What about lands and islands submerged? Banda Acheh in Sumatra, the regional capital and worst hit area, is already below sea level, effects of tectonic movements, with survivors wading in knee deep water. The northwestern tip of Sumatra Island too moved 36 meters to the southwest, and coastlines are forever changed.
So, even when boats and hotels and villages are rebuilt, would there be enough enthusiasm from tourists to sufficiently lift its economy again? Would there be enough fish to sustain the communities dependent on it. It really seems to be too big an issue to be tackled now, for its effects are far reaching, not just to the immediate future…well, only time will tell.

Well, there are good news amidst the chaos. A report came in about a British guy in Penang who saved more than 200 lives by alerting and urging people to run when he saw the white line of waves on the horizon. There are also reports of family members previously thought lost being reunited and of many countries providing aid at the drop of a hat. Perhaps one good thing that came out of this disaster was the propensity for barriers to be broken, uniting everyone together in times of adversity. The waves hit 10 countries, but the victims came from at least twice as many. New Year's Eve was as much a day of mourning in Sweden as it was for Thailand.  In Sri Lanka at least for now, conflict will take a standstill as Tamil Tigers and the government are focusing on alleviating the disaster instead of each other, and the volatile separatist government in Acheh would also start to accept the central government in aid.

Huh…Ok, enough of the babble.

I know its downrightly corny, but I still think I so wanted to end this with lyrics from a song, I gave in. Anyway, pondering on how reflective sentiments got the better of me two days ago on new year’s eve, ‘You Got To Be’ was in my head, you know, the song by Des’ree. Heard it in the car so many years ago (yeah, first year in high school, well, a time of facing changes and crossroads in life.) Loved it. And always remembered it as a song for new beginnings, and of empowerment and hope, I guess.

Listen as your day unfolds
Challenge what the future holds
Try and keep your head up to the sky
Lovers, they may cause you tears
Go ahead release your fears
Stand up and be counted
Don't be ashamed to cry

You gotta be
You gotta be bad, you gotta be bold
You gotta be wiser, you gotta be hard
You gotta be tough, you gotta be stronger

You gotta be cool, you gotta be calm
You gotta stay together
All I know, all I know, love will save the day

Herald what your mother said
Readin' the books your father read
Try to solve the puzzles in your own sweet time
Some may have more cash than you
Others take a different view
my oh my heh, hey, hey

Don't ask no questions, it goes on without you
Leaving you behind if you can't stand the pace
The world keeps on spinning
You can't stop it, if you try to
This time it's danger staring you in the face

Listen as your day unfolds
Challenge what the future holds
Try and keep your head up to the sky
Lovers, they may cause you tears
Go ahead release your fears
Stand up and be counted
Don't be ashamed to cry

Well, I can only wish everyone the best for the New Year, and hope that everyone, including those affected, can face it with much resillience and hope, cherishing the people around us at the same time. Again, i know its corny to say 'live every moment as if its the last... 'carpe diem'... but really, we never know what tomorrow might bring.

Regards