Fear of disease rises as death
toll from tidal wave nears 23,000

Just in case you hadn't noticed yet. From the AP via the Houston Chronicle:

Bodies washed up on tropical beaches and piled up in hospitals today, raising fears of disease across a 10-nation arc of destruction left by a monster earthquake and walls of water that killed more than 22,500 people. Thousands were missing and millions homeless.

Humanitarian agencies began what the United Nations said would become the biggest relief effort the world has ever seen.

The disaster could be the costliest in history as well, with "many billions of dollars" of damage, said U.N. Undersecretary Jan Egeland, who is in charge of emergency relief coordination. Hundreds of thousands have lost everything, and millions face a hazardous future because of polluted drinking water, a lack of sanitation and no health services, he said.

And

For most people around the shores across the region, the only warning Sunday of the disaster came when shallow coastal waters disappeared, sucked away by the approaching tsunami, before returning as a massive wall of water. The waves wiped out villages, lifted cars and boats, yanked children from the arms of parents and swept away beachgoers, scuba divers and fishermen.

In a scene repeated across the region Monday, relatives wandered hallways lined with bodies, searching for loved ones at the hospital in Sri Lanka's southern town of Galle — one of the worst-affected areas of the hardest-hit nation. People lifted blankets and soaked clothes to look at faces in a stunned hush, broken only occasionally by wails of mourning.

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Horrible, just horrible. For all the bitching I do here at Real Art about politics and what not, it's very sobering to realize what insects we all are when subjected to Mother Nature's wrath. People will look for someone to blame, but as far as I can tell, nothing really could have been done. There is this storyline about early-warning systems not having been installed, but I can understand how governments in the region would not be in a big hurry on this given the rarity of tsunamis originating in the Indian Ocean--I mean, I heard earlier today that the last time something like this happened was over 170 years ago. No, this was just an example of how fragile our existence really is. I'm horrified, and don't really know what else to say.

If you believe in God, say a few prayers for the millions of people caught up in this. Every little bit helps, I'm sure.

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